Description: C:\50megs\Hutch_Nationals\photos\Moore\Davy6.jpg

Davie at the age of six

 

Description: C:\50megs\Hutch_Nationals\photos\Moore\1972_Davy_Moore_in_Jr_Mod_2nd_car.jpg

Davie at 81 Speedway in the Chevy

powered junior modified he built in 1972

 

Description: C:\50megs\Hutch_Nationals\photos\Moore\17_Davy-Moore,trailer.jpg

Davie's Chevy powered junior modified in

1972.  Click on the photo to see the car on

the trailer behind Davie's 1961 Ford

Econoline pickup.

 

Description: C:\50megs\Mays\Hutchinson\73Hutchinson17Moore_18Peck_cropped.jpg

Davie in his 6-cyllendar Chevy junior

modified #17 leading #18 Bob Peck in

his V-8 in the B feature for super

modifieds at Hutchinson, KS on

September 15, 1973.

Leroy Byers photo from the Bob Mays collection

 

Description: C:\50megs\Hutch_Nationals\photos\Moore\1973-Gene_See-Davy-Ed_Kusar-Curt-Mohan_Morris-Mohan.jpg

L to r:  Gene See, Davie (in car), Ed Kusar,

Curt Mahon, Morris Mahon - 1973

 

Description: C:\50megs\Hutch_Nationals\photos\Moore\Morris-Mohan_Norman_GeneSee_Davy_Monica_Curt-Mohan_31May74.jpg

May 31, 1974 at 81 Speedway.

L to r: Morris Mahon, Norman Gumm,

Gene See, Davie, daughter Monica Moore,

and Curt Mahon

 

Description: C:\50megs\Hutch_Nationals\photos\Moore\17Moore_21Holman_58Brown.jpg

Davie, in Norman Gumm's #17 Ford, passes by safely

on the inside as #21 Larry Holman rides over the

overturning super modified #58 of Galen Brown while

#1 Lester Keene also passes by on the outside at

Lakeside Speedway at Dewey, OK in 1974.

Tim Malone photo

 

Davie

Dwane Wolfe collection

 

Description: C:\50megs\Hutch_Nationals\photos\Moore\3_Gumm_cars.jpg

Norman Gumm's 3-car racing team in 1975.

#117 Gene See, #71 Mike Peters, and

#17 Davie - Tony Peters collection

 

Description: C:\50megs\Hutch_Nationals\photos\Moore\3-rear.jpg

The 3-car Gumm racing team had just

arrived at Lawton, OK when this

photo was taken in 1975.

Mike Monatoboy photo from the Tony Peters collection

 

Davie in front of his Gumm-owned car before race

officials changed the car to #07 in April of 1975

Ray Cates collection

 

Description: C:\50megs\Hutch_Nationals\photos\Moore\07_Davy_Moore.jpg

The Gumm-owned car that Davie drove at

Lawton, OK was changed to #07 for this day in 1975.

Davie is walking by behind the car.  That is Curt Mahon

with the beard and in the blue jacket, and

Norman Gumm just in back of Mahon.

Mike Monatoboy photo from the Tony Peters collection

 

Description: C:\50megs\Hutch_Nationals\photos\Moore\left to right_Davy-Moore_Gene-See_Mike-Peters.jpg

The drivers on Norman Gumm's racing team in

April of 1975 were, l to r: Davie, Gene See, and

Mike Peters.  All three cars are visible in back of, and

just to Peters' left.  The white #59 in the background

at left in the photo was driven by Alvin Bennett.

 

Description: C:\50megs\Hutch_Nationals\photos\Moore\1DavyMoore_Wirths.jpg

Davie in Keith Wirths' junior modified

before he crashed it at Tulsa in 1975

 

Description: C:\50megs\Hutch_Nationals\photos\Moore\25DavyMoore_1stsuper_ride,1976,Wylon.jpg

Davie's first race in a super modified came

in Jerry Wilson's #25 in 1976.  Here, he is

shown racing with #14 Wylan Cattrell.

 

Description: C:\50megs\Hutch_Nationals\photos\Moore\79-Hembree-Moore.jpg

Davie, at left, with #79 Fred Hembree at Tulsa, OK

Randy Pierce collection

 

Davie diving under #70 Dick Walker at

Caney Valley Speedway, Caney, KS in 1976

 

Description: C:\50megs\Hutch_Nationals\photos\Moore\17DavyMoore31Jul76.jpg

Davie at Caney Valley Speedway, Caney, KS

on July 31, 1976 - Wells collection

 

Description: C:\50megs\Hutch_Nationals\photos\Vincent\17moore.jpg

Davie leading at the Kansas State Fair in

September, 1976

 

Description: C:\50megs\Hutch_Nationals\photos\Moore\17_Davy-Moore_headon_Hutch.jpg

Davie on the gas in his 4-bar super modified #17 at

the Kansas State Fairgrounds in Hutchinson in 1977

Jerry Leep photo from the Mike Pogue collection

 

Description: C:\50megs\Hutch_Nationals\photos\Moore\7Bryant_left,Moore_right,JimKennedy,Edmonds.jpg

The Kennedy Farms #7 super modified in

1978.  L to r: Roy Bryant, Marlin Klabzuba,

Jim Kennedy, unidentified, Fred Springs,

and Davie.

 

Description: C:\50megs\Hutch_Nationals\photos\Moore\25_Davy_Moore_with_track_employee.jpg

Bill McKay (writer for the Wichita Eagle) at left

with Davie and his daughter, Monica, in 1978

 

Description: C:\50megs\Hutch_Nationals\photos\Moore\2_Rich-Wilson_25_Davy.jpg

Rich Wilson in Lowell Stuckey's super modified

#2 and Davie in Jerry Wilson's super modified

#25 at 81 Speedway in 1978

 

Description: C:\50megs\Hutch_Nationals\photos\Moore\27_Uehling-25_Davy.jpg

Davie in #25 racing Terry Uehling in #27

at 81 Speedway in 1978

 

Description: C:\50megs\Hutch_Nationals\photos\Moore\25_Jerry_Wilson,_Davy_Moore.jpg

L to r: Jerry Wilson, Monica Moore, and Davie after

winning a heat and trophy dash at 81 Speedway in

1978.  Davie went on to finish second in the

A feature that night - 81 Speedway program

 

Description: C:\50megs\Hutch_Nationals\photos\Moore\4_Rick-Riner_1979.jpg

Rick Riner in the super modified that Davie

built for car owner Ray Riner in 1979.

Rick won the "Rookie of the Year" title at

81 Speedway that year - Jerry Leep photo

 

Description: C:\50megs\Hutch_Nationals\photos\News\5Moore_52Hahn.jpg

#52 Emmet Hahn passing Davie who was driving

Les Steinert's #5 Nance super modified, for the

lead in the 50-lap championship race at the

Hutchinson Nationals in 1979.

 

Davie in Les Steinert’s #5 passing Dwayne Cain

in Evart Isaac’s #6 super-modified on the inside in

1979 - 81 Speedway program

 

Description: C:\50megs\Hutch_Nationals\photos\Moore\Lewie-Thompson_Otto-Stuber_Davy-1981.jpg

L. to r: Lewie Thompson, Otto Stuber, unidentified

trophy girl, and Davie at 81 Speedway in 1981.

 

Description: C:\50megs\Hutch_Nationals\photos\Moore\17j-Davy-More_softplug.jpg

Davie in the Wilhelm #17j dirt champ

car at the Hutchinson Nationals in

1982.  Davie took a lot of good natured

ribbing for the name "Lynda" that was

painted on the cowl.

 

Description: C:\50megs\Hutch_Nationals\photos\Moore\17j_Davy_Moore.jpg

Davie at 81 Speedway with the 100-inch wheelbase dirt

champ car #17j that he and Jelly Wilhelm raced in 1982.

  

Description: C:\50megs\Hutch_Nationals\photos\Moore\trophy_turkey.jpg

Davie with his trophy turkey.  The bird's

beard measured 11 5/8 inches.

 

Description: C:\50megs\Hutch_Nationals\photos\Moore\Daves-Auto-Electric.jpg

Dave's Auto Electric

3402 W. Central Ave., Wichita, KS

Jim Petty photo

 

Description: C:\50megs\Hutch_Nationals\photos\Moore\17-Davy-Connie-Jelly_2006.jpg

L to r:  Davie with his wife, Connie Moore and

Jelly Wilhelm (no, Jelly was not making a Pepsi

commercial) in 2006 with Davie's 360 N.C.R.A.

sprint car known as "Frankenstein"

 

Description: C:\50megs\Hutch_Nationals\photos\Moore\17c_Cory-Moore.jpg

Davie's 360 A.S.C.S. sprint car #17c

being driven by Cory Moore

at 81 Speedway in 2008

In the Dirt photo

  

Description: C:\50megs\Hutch_Nationals\photos\Moore\17-Davy-Moore-1971.jpg 

Davie at Hutchinson, KS with the first Chevy

powered junior modified he built in 1971

  

Description: C:\50megs\Hutch_Nationals\photos\Moore\17_Davy_Moore_Jr_Modified.jpg

Davie with the first Chevy powered

junior modified he built in 1971

  

Description: C:\50megs\Hutch_Nationals\photos\Cornelison\17-Moore_99-Snowden_99-Peters.jpg

#95 Mike Peters, #99 Lonnie Snowden and

#17 Davie sitting in their junior modifieds on

the front straightaway at 81 Speedway in 1972

Mike Cornelison photo

 

Davie at 81 Speedway in 1972.

 

 Description: C:\50megs\Hutch_Nationals\photos\Moore\17_Davy_Moore,DodgeCity.jpg

Davie at Dodge City, KS with the Chevy

powered junior modified he built in 1972.

The white car, third from right, was #333

driven by Grady Wade.  #88 at right was

owned by Steve King and driven by

Dave Frusher.

  

Description: C:\50megs\Hutch_Nationals\photos\Moore\1973_Didge_City-Davy_Moore.jpg

  Davie at Dodge City, KS with the 6-cyllendar

Chevy powered junior modified that he built

in 1973.

  

Description: C:\50megs\Mays\Hutchinson\73Hutchinson17Moore_38Martin.jpg

Davie in his 6-cyllendar Chevy junior

modified #17 leading #38 Lee Martin

in his V-8 Chevy super modified in the

B feature for super modifieds at

Hutchinson, KS on Sep. 16, 1973.

Leroy Byers photo from the Bob Mays collection 

   

Description: C:\50megs\Hutch_Nationals\photos\Moore\Davy_and_CRay_1974.jpg

L to r: Davie, unidentified trophy girl, and

C. Ray Hall at 81 Speedway awards

banquet at the Cotillion Ballroom in Wichita

in 1974 after Davie finished in third place

in season points in the junior modifieds.

 

Davie at speed through the third turn at 81 Speedway

 

Description: C:\50megs\Hutch_Nationals\photos\Moore\Norman-Gumm-trio.jpg

 Norman Gumm's 3-car racing team and

tow-rigg in 1975.  Note that each car

had a mascot that had been painted

on the side of the car by Troy Pulver.

#17 Yogi Bear for Davie,

#7 Wile E. Coyote for Mike Peters

and #117 The Road Runner for

Gene See.

  

Description: C:\50megs\Hutch_Nationals\photos\Moore\3-front.jpg

The Norman Gumm racing team

unloading at Lawton, OK in 1975.

Mike Peters, in white, is walking

toward the camera and

Norman Gumm is just to Peters' right.

Morris Mahon is bent over a toolbox

Beside the gooseneck trailer.

Mike Monatoboy photo from the Tony Peters collection

 

 Davie with an unidentified trophy girl after winning a

feature race at Dewey, Oklahoma in April of 1975

Dewey Speedway News

 

Description: C:\50megs\Hutch_Nationals\photos\Moore\10_Davy_Moore.jpg

 Davie in Clark Racer's junior modified

competing as a super modified at

81 Speedway in 1975 - Clark Racer collection

  

Description: C:\50megs\Hutch_Nationals\photos\Moore\Davy_Catillion_1975.jpg

L to r: Davie, unidentified trophy girl, and

C. Ray Hall at 81 Speedway awards

banquet at the Cotillion Ballroom at

Wichita in 1975 after finishing in the

top 10 in season points in the

abbreviated junior modified season.

 

Davie rolling the Keith-Wirths-junior-modified at Tulsa

in 1975.  Davie was not hurt but the car was destroyed.

 

Description: C:\50megs\Hutch_Nationals\photos\Moore\1_Moore_Keith_Werts,MooreBuilt.jpg

Davie driving the #1 super modified

that he built for Keith Wirths in 1976.

 

Description: C:\50megs\Hutch_Nationals\photos\Moore\17_Davy-Moore_&_2_unidentified_others.jpg

#17 Davie inside of two unidentified

super modifieds in 1976  - Mike Pogue collection

 

Description: C:\50megs\Hutch_Nationals\photos\Moore\Jan-Coe_Davy_Joe-Curt_Morris-Mohan-22Aug76.jpg

L to r: Jan Coe, unidentified trophy girl,

Davie, Joe Curt, and Morris Mahon at

81 Speedway on Aug. 22, 1976

 

Description: C:\50megs\Mays\Hutchinson\76Hutchinson17Moore_88Uehling_15Copeland.jpg

#17 Davie, #88 Terry Uehling,

#15 Herb Copeland during the

50-lap championship race at the

Hutchinson Nationals on

Aug 1, 1976 - Jerry Leep photo

 

Description: C:\50megs\Hutch_Nationals\photos\Moore\76EnidStart.jpg

Davie, in #17, is shown here leading

early in the 50-lap A feature at the

N.C.R.A. Winter Nationals in

Enid, OK on Oct. 3, 1976.  That is

#98 Walt McWhorter in the yellow car

behind Davie and Dave Frusher's

car #07 is the blue one on the inside

behind McWhorter.  Ray Crawford in

the black #55 is right behind Davie

and Roy Bryant, in the blue #7,

is right behind Crawford with the white

"T" top of Frank Lies' #56 visible right

in back of Bryant - Warren Vincent photo

 

Description: C:\50megs\Hutch_Nationals\photos\Vincent\1977,_25_Woodside,_1x_Dave_Moore,_22_Rick_Salem,_38_Frank_Offutt,_7_Roy_Bryant.jpg

The next three photos were taken in

sequence, all of the same crash,

at the Hutchinson, KS Nationals on

July 31, 1977.  #22 Rick Salem,

#38 Frank Offutt, and #7 Roy Bryant

pass by as Davie, in Keith Wirths' #1,

slides into the disabled #25 car

driven by Jay Woodside

Mike Howard photo

.

Description: C:\50megs\Hutch_Nationals\photos\Vincent\25_Woodside,_1_Davey_Moore_flip.jpg

#25 Jay Woodside at left with Davie in

#1 upside down - Mike Howard photo

 

Description: C:\50megs\Hutch_Nationals\photos\Vincent\25_Woodside,_1_Davey_Moore_flip_2.jpg

#25 Jay Woodside at far left and Davie in the

#1 laying on its side - Mike Howard photo

 

Description: C:\50megs\Hutch_Nationals\photos\Moore\17_Davy_Moore_1977.jpg

L to r: Davie, Jon Kalb, and Ray Riner

at 81 Speedway in 1977.  Davie soon

sold this super modified to

Richard Hanson for Jay Woodside

to drive

 

Davie knealing at left with Jerry Wilson in 1978

as Jan Opperman watches at Davie’s left.

The driver at far left in the background is unidentified.

 

Description: C:\50megs\Hutch_Nationals\photos\Moore\43_Jim-Selenke_Davy-Moore_1980.jpg

Jim Selenke at left with Davie who built this

#43 super modified for Selenke in 1980.

The photo was taken at 81 Speedway.

 

Description: C:\50megs\Hutch_Nationals\photos\Moore\5_Davey_Moore_Les_Steinert.jpg

Davie with Les Steinert's #5 at 81 Speedway

in 1980.

 

Description: C:\50megs\Hutch_Nationals\photos\Moore\17jDavyMoore.jpg

Davie in the Wilhelm #17j dirt champ car

in 1982.  The low-profile nose of the

car necessitated the design and

construction of a special radiator.

 

Description: C:\50megs\Hutch_Nationals\photos\Moore\17j_Davy_Moore-Jerry_Everhart-1982.jpg

Davie in the Wilhelm #17j leading

#37 Jerry Everhart in his dirt champ car

at 81 Speedway in 1982.  Davie finished

a close second to Everhart for the

season points title.

 

Description: C:\50megs\Hutch_Nationals\photos\Moore\trophy_fish.jpg

Davie drying off on board his fishing boat

 

Description: C:\50megs\Hutch_Nationals\photos\Moore\trophy_deer.jpg

Davie with a trophy buck

 

Description: C:\50megs\Hutch_Nationals\photos\Moore\44c_Davy-Moore,Ron-Cuda.jpg

Davie drove this Dirt Works modified #44c

in 1995 that he co-owned with Ron Cuda.

Davie chose the car's paint-scheme and

Cuda picked the car number.

 

Description: C:\50megs\Hutch_Nationals\photos\Moore\17_Frankenstine.jpg

Davie's 360 N.C.R.A. sprint car known as

"Frankenstein" that his son, Cory Moore,

drove, seen on display here in

Daryl Starbird's car show at Century II

in Wichita in 2004.

  

Description: C:\50megs\Hutch_Nationals\photos\Moore\71_Al-Unser-Jr_Pikes-Peak.jpg

Al Unser, Jr. on his way up Pikes Peak

in the Nance sprint car with the aluminum

frame in 1979

  

Description: C:\50megs\Hutch_Nationals\photos\Moore\81EarlMills.jpg

Replica of Earl Mills' Wayne-Chevrolet-

powered track roadster

 

 

Carl David "Davie" Moore

Junior Modifieds - Super Modifieds - Sprint Cars - Dirt Champ Cars

Car Builder - Engine Assembly - Driver

He Excelled At It All

 

Davie Moore was born November 18, 1946 at Ft. Smith, Arkansas, the youngest of three sons of Herman and Alene Moore.  He lived in the Ft. Smith area until 1956 when the family moved to Wichita so his parents could work for Boeing.

 

Davie attended Clearwater (Kansas) High School through his Junior year and played football, wearing jersey #17, a number that he would keep with him throughout his racing career.  He transferred to Wichita's West High School for his senior year to play football for coach Eddie Kriwiel.  One of Davie's brothers had played for Coach Kriwiel so the coach had agreed to take a look at Davie too, but, since he hadn't attended school in the Wichita school district as a Junior, it was ruled that he was ineligible to play for West High School during his senior year.  He did go on to graduate from West High in 1966.

 

Davie had grown up with friends Dick and Nunie Coleman so he had been acquainted with their father, driver Forrest Coleman, for some time.  After high school, he got a job at Walt McWhorter's A-1 Auto Salvage in Haysville, Kansas and was soon a member of McWhorter's pit crew at the races.  It was during that time that Davie decided he really wanted to try racing himself when he could.  While working for McWhorter, Davie got to meet several members of the local racing community including Bill Nelson whom he helped find just the right size steering wheel for the car that Nelson was racing at the time.

 

Davie joined the U. S. Army in 1968 and served in the Light Weapons Infantry in Vietnam.  In 1970, Davie returned to Wichita where he worked as an auto technician specializing in drivability, electrical, and air conditioning, eventually working at such Wichita dealerships as Price Auto, Turner Ford, Rusty Eck Ford, Mel Hamilton Ford, Merle Yost Ford, and Steve Hull Ford.

 

With the encouragement of McWhorter and the Coleman family, Davie decided it was time to try his hand at racing so he built his first junior modified in 1971 in his brother's single-car garage.  As would be the case with all of the engines that Davie would race, Jerry Wilson did the machine work and Davie assembled them himself.  He had concluded that a junior modified would be more affordable than a car that raced in the super modified class.  As a beginner, he also concluded that a super modified would be just "too big a bite".  Davie raced that junior modified for one year before selling it to Roger Blackshere of Oklahoma City for $1,200 without the 250 cubic-inch, six-cylinder Chevrolet engine which Davie kept.  Blackshere painted the car black and promptly destroyed it in a crash during a race at the Garfield County Fairgrounds in Enid, Oklahoma.

 

In 1972, Davie built another junior modified that was a black #17 with a six-cylinder Chevrolet engine.  He had that car on display at the dealership where he worked when Norman Gumm introduced himself and told Davie that he would be willing to sponsor his car except that it had that Chevrolet engine.  Gumm was a fervent Ford enthusiast.  In 1973, Davie painted his junior modified yellow but kept the Chevrolet engine.  Gumm decided that he would sponsor the car anyway although the engine "left a bad taste in his mouth."

 

The top car at the Hutchinson Nationals in 1973 was the #11 super modified owned by Les Steinert and driven by Jim Harkness.  Harkness allowed Davie to photograph the car and he was able to get up close to photograph it from every angle.  Davie studied those photos intently over the next couple of years.  Meanwhile, he finished third behind winner Don McElhinny and Oren Haas in the junior modified season points chase that year at 81 Speedway.

 

Davie installed a 240 cubic-inch, six-cylinder Ford engine in his car in 1974 and among the races he competed in that year was the ill-fated Hutchinson (Kansas) Nationals on July 28th.  He started near the back of the 44-car field for the scheduled fifty-lap championship race that day but found the conditions too dusty to do much actual racing.  He was one of the many drivers who drove into the big pileup on the front straightaway on the second lap of that race but his late arrival to the accident scene, coupled with not having up a lot of momentum due to the poor visibility, kept him from being injured and his car from receiving much damage.  He immediately got out and pushed his car back away from the scene of the melee.  He then returned to assist Lonnie Snowden in pushing his #99 car to safety before the cars that had not been removed in that manner were engulfed in the ensuing fire.

 

Gumm purchased the junior modified from Davie later that year and retained him to drive it.  Gumm also had an experimental 250 cubic-inch, six-cylinder Ford engine built and installed in it.

 

Gumm then paid $4,700 the nearly new junior modified #117 (less the engine) for his son-in-law, Gene See, to drive.  The car had been built at the Performance Engineering shop in Wichita and won the "Best Appearing Junior Modified" award at Tulsa that year.  The Gumm team raced at Dewey, Oklahoma on Friday nights before going on to compete at Tulsa on Saturday nights and then back to 81 Speedway at Park City, Kansas for their Sunday night racing program although Sunday nights were soon dropped from the Gumm team's busy schedule.  While still driving for Gumm in races away from Wichita, Davie also finished out the 1974 racing season at 81 Speedway driving Clark Racer's #10 junior modified.  The points Davie made in that ride, added to the points he had garnered driving his own car there before selling it to Gumm, landed him in third place in the final points behind champion Oren Haas who drove Glenn Stults' #111, and runner-up Lonnie Snowden who drove his own #99.

 

In 1975, Vic Cline built a 240 cubic-inch, six-cylinder Ford junior modified in the Performance Engineering shop and Gumm added that car to his racing team for Mike Peters to drive.  The car started out as #7 but, as that number was already being used on another junior modified in Oklahoma, Peters' car number was soon changed to #71.  With the addition of Peters to the team, it thus became the famous Norman Gumm three-car Ford junior modified racing team.

 

Despite appearances, no two of Gumm's cars were alike.  The #17 was the oldest and lightest.  It was two inches narrower than the other two cars, had a two-inch rear axle and a longer roll cage.  Although the engine in the #17 car had ten more cubic inches than the engines in the other two cars, that engine had smaller pistons, a longer stroke, and an intake manifold that had been hand-made by Jerry Wilson.  The result was that the engine in the #17 took quite a bit longer to build up momentum than any of the Gumm team's other engines.

 

The #117 was probably Gumm's favorite due to it being the first car that he had built.  It had a three-inch rear axle and an aluminum intake manifold.

 

The #71 was offset two inches in the front and one inch in the back.  It had a little different roll cage, an aluminum intake manifold and some other changes that made it different from the other two cars.

 

One day in May of 1975, while Norman Gumm was out of town, Davie removed the 250 cubic-inch engine from the #17 he had been driving and replaced it with a spare 240 cubic-inch engine that Gumm had for the cars driven by Peters and See.  Gumm arrived back in Wichita just in time to help load the cars for the Friday trip to Dewey.  As the cars were being loaded, Gumm noticed the engine switch and things became rather frosty between Davie and Gumm for the rest of the weekend.  Switching the engines worked though as Davie won both his heat race and his feature at the Memorial Day races at Dewey.  At the N.C.R.A. races at Tulsa the next night, he won his heat, the trophy dash, and finished third in the feature.  Thus, Davie won four of the five races he competed in for Gumm that weekend.  Davie told Gumm that he had made the switch to see how he could do with a proven engine equal to those in the other two cars.  Some hard feelings remained though and the two agreed to part ways when they returned to Wichita.  Davie drove Clark Racer's six-cylinder Chevrolet powered #10 junior modified at 81 Speedway for the rest of that season although they had to compete there against the super modifieds as 81 Speedway discontinued running the junior modified class near the end of the 1975 season.  Competing against the super modifieds in a junior modified though did earn him the super modified "Rookie of the Year" title a 81 Speedway.  Davie also competed in six of the eight N.C.R.A. races in 1975 finishing the season in fifth place in the junior modified division while Mike Peters went on to win the junior modified points championship at Tulsa for Gumm that year.  Davie finished second to Gene See in the junior modified season points at Dewey, Oklahoma as well.

 

Learning that he was still in contention for the 1975 "Rookie of the Year" crown at Tulsa, Davie asked Keith Wirths if he could drive his #1 junior modified in the end of the season races at Tulsa.  Wirths agreed but the trip ended in disaster when Davie collided with the Tulsa crash wall destroying Wirths' car.  Feeling bad about that turn of events, Davie built a new four-bar super modified for Wirths.  Another of his projects that winter was to put a new "Amarillo-T" style body on the ex-Larry-Prather-owned super modified that had become Frank Lies' white #56.

 

Davie drove a super modified himself for the first time early in 1976, racing Jerry Wilson's #25 some at 81 Speedway while he finished the new Wirths #1 super modified.  He then built a new four-bar super modified for himself.  After he completed the new Wirths car, he drove that until his own car was finished at which time Jerry Everhart took over the Wirths ride.  Davie remembered the photos he had studied of Les Steinert's #11 car at Hutchinson in 1973 and those photos were now the inspiration for the design of Davie's new car.  He also designed and fabricated new "duck tail" rear body work for the car.  LaVern Nance, of Nance Speed Equipment, liked the design so well that he had a mold made of it.  He then sold fiberglass "duck tail" bodies at his business and through the company's catalog.  The style became so popular on super modifieds raced throughout the Midwest that Nance presented Davie with a new frame kit for having come up with the design.

 

While building his own super modified that year, Davie accidently got the torsion bars mixed up and unintentionally ran "cross torsion" suspension that year.  The setup worked well though, especially on the Kansas State Fairgrounds racetrack.

 

Davie started on the pole of the first ten-lap heat race at the 1976 Hutchinson Nationals that summer and led the entire distance fending off a late race charge by Herb Copeland in his own #15 car.  Davie then started the fifty-lap championship race on the pole with Jerry Stone on the outside of the front row in Shot Hampton's #94 car.  Stone led the whole race with Davie constantly challenging him for the lead until the forty-second lap when Davie went low on the racetrack in an attempt to get inside of Stone but he hooked a half-buried corner-marker tire on the inside of the fourth turn and spun out, dropping him to fourth place at the finish.

 

Davie won the A feature at Caney Valley Speedway on August 21, 1976 and, although he only raced a few other times at Caney that year, that victory helped propel him to an eighth place finish in their season long super modified points championship.

 

In September of that year, Davie wanted to compete in a two-day racing program for super modifieds being promoted over the first weekend of the Kansas State Fair in Hutchinson by Jack Merrick.  Davie's engine was at Chet Wilson Engine Service in Wichita though and there was $1,200 due on it.  Davie had $400 but the bookkeeper at Wilson's wouldn't take the "down payment" that would allow Davie to take the engine so he could race at Hutchinson and then pay the balance due later.  Chet overruled the bookkeeper, accepted Davie's $400 and wrote off the balance letting him have the engine in time for him to race.

 

Davie drew a good starting position in the second heat race at Hutchinson and won both that heat race and the A feature on Saturday but he was not allowed to collect his share of the purse until the conclusion of the second day of racing.  He had worn out his rear tires on that first day and, not having funds to purchase new tires for Sunday's racing, he had approached a Tulsa Firestone tire dealer with a tire truck at the races there at Hutchinson to see if he could purchase two new rear tires on credit until he could collect the prize money he had already won on Saturday.  The dealer denied him the credit.

 

Davie told LaVern Nance of his dilemma and asked if he knew of any tires that he might be able to use in Sunday's races.  Nance said he thought he might be able to come up with some.  The engine in the Dale-Reed-driven, Shot-Hampton-owned #94 car had expired on the first day of racing at Hutchinson and Hampton took that car home for the remainder of the weekend.  The rear tires on that car were nearly new so Nance made arrangements to get those from Hampton and take them to Hutchinson for Davie.

 

Sunday's races were started inverted from the finishes of the races on Saturday meaning that Davie had to start both his heat race and the A feature from the last position on Sunday.   He placed second to Dave Frusher in his heat race before winning his second consecutive A feature.  After that race, the Firestone dealer went to Davie’s pit and gave him two new rear tires for having won the race.  This was the same Firestone dealer who had denied Moore credit to purchase those same tires earlier.  Moore then gave the two new tires to Nance to replace the tires he had gotten from Hampton.  He also gave Chet Wilson $800 feeling he still owed him that for the work Wilson had done on his engine.  Davie was crowned the 1976 Kansas State Modified Racing Champion having finished two points ahead of Roger Thompson in John Schippert's #4 super modified for that title.  Davie was also crowned the Merrick Racing Promotions "Rookie of the Year" for 1976.

 

On October 3rd, Davie won the first heat race over second place Frank Lies in his own #56.  The feat earned Davie the pole starting position in the A feature at the N.C.R.A. Winter Nationals at the Garfield County Fairgrounds in Enid, Oklahoma.  Buck Cadwell jumped into the lead in car #2, at the start of the fifty-lap A feature but Davie passed him to assume the lead one lap later.  Davie led for three laps before being passed by Walt McWhorter in his own #98, in the fourth turn.  Dave Frusher, in Maurice Richardson's #07, passed Davie for second place one lap later and moved out in pursuit of McWhorter, passing him for the lead on the sixteenth lap.  McWhorter and Frusher exchanged the lead several times before Davie got by McWhorter for second place on the thirty-fourth lap.  Frusher held on for the victory while Davie settled for a strong second place showing.  After that race, Davie sold the his car to Les Steinert who purchased it for Harold Leep, Jr. to drive the following year as car #5.  Leep destroyed it in a crash at Dodge City, Kansas.  Davie only competed in three of the ten N.C.R.A. races for super modifieds during the 1976 season and finished in seventeenth place in the final point standings that year.

 

Davie drove Wirths' #1 super modified during the 1977 racing season while he built another new #17 super modified for himself.  One of those outings with Wirths was to the Hutchinson Nationals.  Davie was riding high on the racetrack in the fifty-lap championship race and trying to pass Jay Woodside in Jerry Wilson's #25 car on the outside on the twelfth lap when Woodside’s right-rear tire blew out.  That caused the #25 to spin up the racetrack in front of Moore.  Davie slid sideways but collided with the front of Woodside's car and overturned along the outside crash wall.  No one was injured and the cars were repairable.

 

Not long after Davie completed his new super modified, he was approached by Richard Hanson of Lindsborg, Kansas who asked if he could purchase the car.  Hanson wanted Jay Woodside to drive for him and Woodside had agreed to do so if he could acquire Davie's new car for the effort.  Hanson offered what Davie felt was a very good price for the car so he sold it to him.

 

Davie put a new body on and, in the process, lightened up a Don-Edmonds-built super modified for car-owner Jim Kennedy in time for the 1978 racing season.  Roy Bryant drove the #7 Kennedy Farms car to several victories that year including at the Hutchinson Nationals.

 

Davie drove Jerry Wilson's #25 super modified in Wichita area races (when Jan Opperman was not available to drive it) during the 1978 racing season.  He was able to get enough seat time to finish the racing season at 81 Speedway in the runner-up position for the season points title to his longtime friend and mentor, Walt McWhorter.

 

Davie built a new 100-inch wheelbase super modified #4 for Ray Riner over the winter months and Riner's son, Rick, drove it to the "Rookie of the Year" title at 81 Speedway in 1979.  Davie drove Les Steinert's new Nance built #5 super modified in 1979 and his finishes that year included a heat race win and a sixth place finish in the fifty-lap championship race at the Hutchinson Nationals.  Davie put a new body on the Steinert car over the winter months and drove the car again during the 1980 season.

 

Davie went to work for Jelly Wilhelm's Performance Engineering helping build cars (one of which went to Pete Forshee) in 1980.  He also built a new #43 super modified for Jim Selenke to drive that year.

 

In 1981, Davie not only worked for Jelly but he occasionally drove for him too.

 

Davie and Jelly built a new 100-inch wheelbase dirt champ car for a customer for the 1982 racing season but, when the car was not paid for, it was returned to Jelly's shop complete with the lettering that had been added that included the #17j.  Although it was a coincidence that the car was so numbered, Jelly told Davie that, since the car bore Davie's traditional #17 as well as Jelly's initial "j", they should probably race the car.  Davie drove the car at the Hutchinson Nationals in 1982 finishing third in his heat race.  The car was running well in the fifty-lap championship race but blew a soft plug on the front straightaway and Davie rode out a wild slide in the car's own water before finally coming to a stop near the inside of the racetrack without hitting a thing.

 

Davie also drove the #17j in the weekly races at 81 Speedway that year finishing second to Jerry Everhart in his own #37 car in the season points chase.  Davie lost that title by less than a dozen points blowing the engine on the final night.

 

Davie did not race during the 1983 racing season as he moved to Tulsa and took a job at the Don Thornton Ford dealership.

 

In 1984, Davie raced Tony Smith's #8 super modified at Tulsa.

 

1985 found Davie fishing at Table Rock Lake in Missouri; hunting deer, elk (in southern Colorado), and turkeys and enjoying it all immensely.

 

In 1986, he moved back to Wichita and got married.  He confined his sporting outings to hunting and fishing though.

 

In 1994, Davie opened Dave's Auto Electric in Wichita and operated the business until retiring in 2014.

 

In 1995, Davie returned to 81 Speedway to start watching the races again with his son, Cory.  He also formed a race team with Ron Cuda and the two purchased a new Dirt Works  I.M.C.A. style modified chassis.  They installed a 377 cubic-inch Chevrolet engine, that had been built for a local "street stock" car, and raced the modified as #44 for the first time at 81 Speedway.  Davie found the car a bit cumbersome as it was much larger than any race car he had raced previously.  In the heat race that night, he slide the car over the track's third turn banking and all the way to the outside fence bending the belly-pan and the right-rear wheel in the process.  He also competed rather unspectacularly in the B feature that night.

 

The team's next outing was to a race at Fun Valley Raceway at Hutchinson where Davie finished second to Randy Wilson in the B feature.  He then transferred to the A feature where he managed to garner a top-ten finish.

 

Davie drew a poor starting spot in his heat race at the Hutchinson Nationals that July and finished far back in the field.  That qualified him to start three-quarters of the way back in the modified C feature.  Davie refused to do that feeling it would abuse the car too much "racing through the alphabet" to win any significant prize money so he loaded the car into their enclosed trailer instead.  That decision caused a split in the team that led to Ron Cuda buying out Davie's share of their race team and Davie choosing to end his driving career.

 

In 2004, Davie utilized parts from several different sprint cars to build a 360 sprint car #17 to N.C.R.A. specifications for son Cory to drive that they affectionately named "Frankenstein".  Cory finished as runner-up to Cody Forshee for the season title at 81 Speedway driving Frankenstein in 2005.

 

On February 10, 2006, Davie received a phone call from Norman Gumm.  The two had not spoken to each other in more than thirty years.  During the course of their visit, Davie asked Norman where he was and Gumm said that he was in the hospital.  Davie asked why and Norman said he had just worn his body out.  They had a nice visit that day and were able to put years of hard feelings behind them.  In fact, the conversation ended with Gumm telling Davie that he loved him and Davie assuring Norman that he loved him too.  Norman Gumm passed away the following day.

 

In 2007, Davie purchased a 360 sprint car for Cory Moore to race.  This one carried #17c and was built to A.S.C.S. specifications.

 

During his racing career, Davie raced on tracks at Wichita, WaKeeney, Liberal, Hutchinson, Dodge City, Yates Center, Caney, and Salina in Kansas; at Dewey, Enid, Lawton, and Tulsa in Oklahoma; and at Amarillo, Wichita Falls, and the "Devil's Bowl" at Dallas, Texas.  He built a total of eight open-wheel racing cars, helped build several others, and installed new bodies on six others.

 

Davie was inducted into the 81 Speedway's Hall of Fame in 2012.  Later that same year, Davie assisted in building a replica of the late Earl Mills' Wayne-Chevrolet-powered track roadster #81 for Earl's son, Bryson Mills.  Bryson passed away later that year and, for Davie's work on the track roadster, his widow presented Davie with a Fred-Linder-designed, Nance-built coil-over aluminum frame that Bryson had purchased at the Nance Speed Equipment auction held after the death of LaVern Nance.  The frame had been the base of a #71 sprint car that Al Unser, Jr. ran in the annual Pike's Peak Hill Climb in his first appearance in competition there in 1979.  A blown engine kept Unser from finishing that event.

 

In 2014, Davie sold the aluminum frame to Larry Foley who had been the fabricator that, as a Nance employee, had originally assembled the frame.  As a condition of the sale, Foley agreed to restore that #71 sprint car.

 

 

 

  

Description: C:\50megs\AAUpload\CLICK_HERE.gif

For Davie Moore's Career Driving Record at the Kansas State Fairgrounds in Hutchinson, KS

  

 

 

 

 

Race Cars Built by Davie Moore

 

Year

Car # & Color When First Built

Classification

Car Owner

Car Went to

1

1971

#17 white1

Junior Modified

Davie Moore

Roger Blackshere

2

1972

#17 black2

Junior Modified

Davie Moore

Norman Gumm

3

1976

#1 blue

Super Modified

Keith Wirths

Keith Wirths

4

1976

#17 black3

Super Modified

Davie Moore

Les Steinert

5

1977

#17 white

Super Modified

Davie Moore

Richard Hanson

6

1979

#4 maroon, blue & gold

Super Modified

Ray Riner

Ray Riner

7

1980

#43 white, blue & gold

Super Modified

Jim Selenke

Jim Selenke

8

2004

#17 black, white, red & yellow

Sprint Car4

Davie Moore

Richie Dewell 

1Painted black after it was sold to Roger Blackshere

2Painted yellow after the first year

3Became car #5 after it was sold to Les Steinert

4Car was known as "Frankenstein" 

 

 

 

 

 

Race Cars Rebodied by Davie Moore

Year

Car # & Color With New Body

Classification

 Driver

Car Owner

1

1973

#111 black & silver

Junior Modified

 Oren Haas

Glenn Stults

2

1976

#56 white

Super Modified

 Frank Lies

Frank Lies

3

1977

#79 blue & white

Super Modified

 Fred Hembree

Robert Hembree

4

1978

#7 blue & gray

Super Modified

 Roy Bryant

Jim Kennedy

5

1978

#2 blue & white

Super Modified

 Rich Wilson

Lowell Stuckey

6

1980

#5 black

Super Modified

 Davie Moore

Les Steinert

7

2007

#17c black, white, red & silver

Sprint Car

 Cory Moore

Davie Moore

 

 

 

 

 

  

Unless otherwise noted, all of the photographs on this web page are from the Davie Moore collection

 

 

 

 

 

 

Description: C:\50megs\AAUpload\Web_Ring_Logo.jpg

 

 

 

Davie Moore

Davey Moore

Carl David Moore