Jerry Sims
"Rumblin' Ragtops" Part 3-"The Other Shoe (a Saddle Oxford)"
You've heard the expression, "Waiting for the other shoe to fall."? I imagine that poor ol' Ralph Moody was woefully well aquainted with it, having both Curtis Turner and Joe Weatherly as his drivers. Here's Joe's 1960 Rebel 300 winner ready to do battle at the old peanut field in Darlington.
There were times that those two would run most of the race not only outrunning but also knocking the competition out of the way and when they were through with the rest of the field they would start on each other. Poor long suffering Moody spent a lot of time explaining to visiting Ford brass in the pits just why he hired those two monkeys and just what kind of tree they had swung down from to drive their cars.
But while they were legendary in the party department, they were no slouches when it came to wheeling those fast HM Fords. I guess if publicity was why Ford was in racing then they would be hard pressed to find two more "ink generating monkeys" this side of King Kong.
I wonder just how much smaller Ralph's ulcer got when those two went to the Woods and Bud Moore in '61? Somehow I think their replacement, race winning, non skirt chasing, early to bed and early to rise tee totaler Fred Lorenzen, had to be a relief for ol' Ralph.
