In 1966, owner Bud Moore and driver Darel Dieringer seemed to have a pretty good thing going. The duo won back-to-back races they entered at Asheville-Weaverville and then at Darlington in the Southern 500.
About a month after Darlington, however, Dieringer wrecked Bud's car at North Wilkesboro. The crew was unable to repair it in time for the next race - the National 500 at Charlotte.
Though Bud's car wasn't going to be at Charlotte, Dieringer planned to be. He hitched a ride with Junior Johnson AND brought crewman Mario Rossi with him.
Darel planned to run car number 16 on Junior's Ford as he had done on Bud's Fords. But Moore was having none of it after apparently feeling he'd been betrayed. The 16 was removed and replaced with 15 ... and a +1 to equal 16.
Junior's car was stout at Charlotte, and Dieringer drove 15+1 to a second place finish behind winner Lee Roy Yarbrough. The twosome paired together again the next week in the American 500 at Rockingham.
Moore moved on. Despite winning the back-to-back races, Dieringer did not return to Bud's team. After after repairing the wrecked Wilkesboro car, Bud kept his team parked the remainder of the season. He returned in February 1967 at Speedweeks with Sam McQuagg in a #15 Mercury.
Now the challenge for RacersReunion. I've seen plenty of photos of Dieringer in Bud's #16. But I'm now want to land a photo of the 15+1 car at Charlotte.
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Schaefer: It's not just for racing anymore.
updated by @tmc-chase: 12/05/16 04:00:58PM
