Meet L.W. Wright, the NASCAR driver that never existed

On May 2, 1982, the green flag flew for the NASCAR Winston 500 at Talladega Superspeedway, and among a grid of legends like Dale Earnhardt, Bill Elliott, Benny Parsons, and more was a mystery racer no one had ever heard of before: L. W. Wright.

Wright managed to nab a competition license, a race car, and some positive press, but there was just one problem. He wasn't a race car driver. He was a conman with a big dream and studied confidence so strong that no one much questioned this stranger. At least, not until his checks started bouncing. 

Today, we're digging into the story of L. W. Wright, the NASCAR driver who never existed.

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Episode Bibliography: 

• Driven to Crime: True stories of wrongdoing in motor racing by Crispian Besley

• https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-tennessean-lw-wright-debut-announcem/29780910/ 

• https://www.newspapers.com/image/215977023/?clipping_id=29781516

• https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-tennessean-officials-searching-for/29780992/

• https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-salina-journal-nascar-fell-for-bogus/29781484/ 

• https://www.thescenevault.com/podcast/episode/7995e7c6/episode-193-lw-wright

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TLCPWLKaOVE

• https://www.espn.com/racing/nascar/story/_/id/33839544/the-story-lw-wright-one-nascar-enduring-mysteries

• https://historicalf1stories.wordpress.com/2024/11/27/driver-profile-helmut-koinigg/