Billy Moyer, Sr.
Earlier this year, one of the sport’s most recognizable stars announced that he would step away from full-time driving to focus on other projects. Billy Moyer, Sr. has piled up scores of feature wins, series championships, and crown jewel titles over the course of a legendary career that has taken him to countless tracks across virtually every region of the country.
A September press release from the Moyer camp alerted the National Dirt Late Model Hall of Fame member’s fans that the driver would be reducing his number of starts significantly in the coming season.
“I am looking forward to retiring from a full-time race schedule at the end of this season,” Moyer was quoted as saying in the press release. “You will still see me around at the race track supporting Billy, Jr. and all of our customer base. From time-to-time, I may also jump back behind the wheel for research, development, and testing purposes.”
In October, Moyer added to his more than 800 career victories when he invaded the Volunteer State and walked away with the $13,000 first prize and a trophy from the Deep Fried 75 at the Duck River Raceway Park in Wheel, Tenn. While there, the Iowa native who now calls Batesville, Ark. home took a moment to recall some of his racing memories from the eastern part of Tennessee.
“I’ve raced in east Tennessee, but not really a whole lot,” Moyer remembered in an interview with InsideDirtRacing.com. “Bulls Gap is always a lot of fun to go to, or it used to be back in the day, because of the banking. There’s not many places like that. Speaking of east Tennessee, when they put dirt on Bristol, that’s what comes to my mind. That was a cool deal there, for sure. I wish they’d keep doing it. That was definitely a highlight as far as what I can think of in east Tennessee.”
While there were some drawbacks to racing on the high-banked NASCAR speedway, Moyer believes there were enough advantages for the sport that it would have been worth it to continue racing at Bristol Motor Speedway.
“There are some pavement tracks where they’re putting dirt on them nowadays and then they take it back off,” Moyer explained. “They’re doing it with success, I guess. With Bristol, there was an issue there with going so fast that wheels were breaking and everything. Our cars aren’t built to run those kinds of speeds, but they could tame the motors down and they could do a few things to slow them down and make it more safe. I think they did that two years and kind of gave up on it, but I think it was just getting ready to get better if they would have stuck with it.”
Moyer’s wins include six World 100 globe trophies, five visits to victory lane in the USA Nationals, four Topless 100 triumphs, and two $100,000 Dream paydays. And that’s just a few of the major wins that the 59-year-old driver has compiled over the course of a career that has spanned several decades.
Moyer has ended many of his racing nights in victory lane
Moyer has maintained a high level of success well beyond the age at which drivers in other forms of racing can win on a regular basis. As a matter of fact, the driver often known as ‘Mr. Smooth’ has scored 11 victories in what will likely be his final full-time season. So why is it that dirt racers like him can have such long and productive careers?
“There’s a lot of work,” Moyer declared. “You’ve just got to dedicate your whole life to do this sort of thing and to try to stay on top of making the car faster each week. You’ve got to like to do it, for sure. You’ve got to love the sport, but it’s a lot of work though.”
And more, passion plays a major role in a form of the sport that does not offer as much money as NASCAR or other of the more recognized and publicized types of racing.
“It does,” the father of racer Billy Moyer, Jr. said. “It’s been good for me and it’s been a good living, nothing like NASCAR by any means, but my son has grown up and doing it now so I have fun trying to help him. When I slow down here, I’ll still be around helping him. And we’re building cars and selling them now so that’s another part of my life that’s fun.”
