User:Dspillmann/John Holman

'''THIS ARTICLE WAS USED AS A SOURCE FOR THE John Holman (NASCAR) ARTICLE WHICH HAS BEEN CREATED. Thank you for your contributions.''' RoyalbroilT : C 13:53, 8 March 2007 (UTC)

This page is currently a very rough draft.


 * Parts Book page: (Courtesy of Lee Holman

''The partnership of auto and boat racing's John Holman and Ralph Moody must rank as the most unlikely, and most successful, in sports history since Sir Edmund Hillary teamed with Sherpa Tenzing Norgay to conquer Mount Everest. The "Competition Proven" trademark of Holman-Moody, Inc., Charlotte, N. c., has sparkled on the side of more winning stock cars than that of any other racing organization in NASCAR history. The winning performance of the marine Holman-Moody enqines matches their auto counterpart. Since its inception in 1957, Holman-Moody, Inc., has grown from a lOman shoestring operation in a single rented garage building to a multi-million dollar business with faci lities located in Charlotte, N. c., Miami, Fla., and long Beach, Calif. A company not only devoted to racing cars and marine engines, but to high-performance component design, engineering development, testing, manufactures and marketing on a world-wide basis. Holman-Moody's unlikely partnership began shortly after the Automobile Manufacture's Association banned factory participation in stock car racing. in June 1957. At the time, John Holman was manager of Pete de Paolo's Ford stock car racing team operation in Charlotte, and Ralph Moody was a star Ford driver-mechanic. The ban instantly unemployed both men. But, "because it was there", Holman and Moody pooled their resources, got a business loan from a Charlotte bank, and bought out the entire de Paolo Ford operation. As Holman recalls that historic day in 1957, "the first thing we did was to stop racing all of the existing cars. They weren't winning, so why race them? Then Ralph and I built a new car and Ralph drove it on the NASCAR track in West Memphis, Arkansas. It was a make or break race, financially. Ralph won it in our car, even though the windshield collapsed on the last lap, knocking out Ralph for a few seconds. He managed to come in first even though he was semi-conscious. That was the beginning of the racing concept that exists with us today. Had the car lost?-well, who knows. But it didn't, thank the lord. And the shop has been a going concern ever since." John Clarence Holman, 49, born in Nashville, Tenn., two days before the Armistice was signed, is a character straight out of John Dos Passos' U.S.A. He is the archetype of the American success story. . . a Horatio Alger figure. . . a wheeler-dealer. . . a promoter. . . a great, loving father. . . a true believer in the American Dream. . . a ferocious competitor. . . a pioneering spirit. . . a self educated intellectural-in-the-rough. . . When World War II started, Holman began a career as a tool and die maker and as a shipyard worker. After the war, he went trucking. Between trips he assembled a Mack truck in the front yard of his South Gate home. Daughter Jolana still recalls the sensation this created among the other neighborhood children, not to mention their parents. In 1952, destiny led John Holman into automobile racing on the basis, of all things, of his experience racing trains with his truckloads of salvage. Clay Smith and Bill Stroppe had convinced Ford Motor Company management that Lincoln could win the torturous Mexican road race. (And lincoln did win it, under Smith-Stroppe direction, in '52, '53, '54.) They needed a man who could drive their parts truck over each leg of the race the night before the racers and stay ahead of them. Holman was the man. Following the 1952 Mexican Road Race victory, Holman went to work full-time for Clay Smith and Bill Stroppe at their shop in long Beach, Calif., as a parts man and mechanic. Clay Smith was killed in a freak racing accident at DuQuoin, III inois in 1954. Bill Stroppe took over and Holman continued to work for him until 1956, when he moved to Charlotte to work for de Paolo and set in motion the chain of events that led to the formation of Holman-Moody, Inc. Ironically, Holman-Moody bought out Bill Stroppe in 1965 and the long Beach facility at 2190 Temple Ave, became Holman-Moody-Stroppe, and Holman & Moody Marine, the west coast branch of the H-M empire. . Ralph Moody is 48. He was born and raised in Massach usetts. I n at least one respect, Moody is a typical New England Yankee-he is taciturn beyond belief. While he is rei uctant to talk about it, it is known that Moody began racing shortly after graduation from high school in the thirties, and was unbeatable in midgets and sprint cars on all the New England tracks for years. He operated two speed shops in the New England area before moving to Florida after the War and opening a shop in Fort lauderdale. Moody was one of the early stars of NASCAR and has 5 Grand National victories to his credit. Moody is almost a legend in his own time. Since joining forces with Holman, Moody has been the coach of the Holman-Moody race team, developing some of auto racing's greatest new drivers. His most famous discovery was "Fearless Fred" lorenzen, one of the greatest money-winners in the history of NASCAR, who retired April 24, 1967, after six and one-half years with Holman;Moody. Moody's primary responsibility at Holman-Moody is the race team. At the beginning of each season, he determines the complete racing package for the new model Fords. Du ring the season, he is the H-M man on the scene at every race, directing race strategy for the H-M entries and lend ing his advice and counsel to other teams racing Fords based on H-M components.

In addition to having starred on the NASCAR circuit in his driving days, Moody starred on the USAC stock car trial and won 3 consecutive races at Milwaukee in 1957. He was on the pole for the 4th Milwaukee race, but it was rained out. This experience has proved invaluable to him in this era of driver exchange. USAC star Mario Andretti is a regular driver for Holman-Moody, and USAC veteran Pa rnelli Jones is running the USAC stock car circuit in a Holman-Moody-Stroppe Ford. Holman-Moody prepared cars are running not only in stock car racing, but in sports car racing and sports-prototype racing. Major open-sea speedboat races have been won by boats prepared by Holman-Moody's Marine Division. SOHC and wedge engines prepared by Holman-Moody have powered many an overall winner at the strips. Holman-Moody hopes to put Ford Motor Company products in the winners circle of every major automotive and marine competition event in the world.'' HMF- 1007

V-8 powered Chevrolets began to dominate NASCAR around 1955. Ford asked John Holman to move from California to Charlotte and make Ford competitve again. When Chevoret urged the Automobile Manufaturers of America to ban factory support for racing, Holman was left with a shop full of Fords unwanted by the factory. Holman pooled his money with Ralph Moody and started a successful racing business.

Died of a heart attack in 1975.

The John Holman Story of the GT40 at LeMans