Driver: Vic Stirewalt

Car: No. 12 wedge-body Late Model

Track: Various dirt tracks in North and South Carolina (1970s and 1980s)

Bio: This addition to the hallowed grounds of the Racecar Graveyard is one that gave all for the cause. Vic Stirewalt, owner of Vic’s Wrecker Service in Kannapolis, had driven the car at local dirt tracks, most often Metrolina Speedway near Charlotte and Cherokee Speedway in Gaffney, S.C. in the 1970s. He won a lot of races in it, too.

Sonny Lunsford, who manages the Dirty Mo Acres property, obtained the Stirewalt car while working on a restoration project for Tony “Pops” Eury Sr. Dale Earnhardt Jr. came up with the idea of restoring the car that “Pops” drove for Danny Simmons on the same circuit in the 1970s and early 1980s, and Lunsford found it in the dirt-floor shop of Tiger Tom Pistone in Charlotte. Lunsford needed a driveline and engine for it for the rebuild to proceed, and he contacted Stirewalt to see if he would be interested in selling this car for that purpose. Stirewalt was, with the caveat that Lunsford buy all the equipment and spares that went with it. The transaction was consummated and Lunsford had his parts car.

After Lunsford bought the car, he picked it up and transported it back to Dirty Mo Acres. Lunsford took the parts that were needed as part of the resto, then outsourced the project at some point. The car was restored and presented to Eury Sr. as a surprise gift from Dale Jr. in the days before Eury Sr. came to work at JRM. It now resides in the North Carolina Auto Racing Hall of Fame, a couple of miles from the JRM campus in Mooresville.

Lunsford, who has had a hand in bringing most, if not all, of the residents of the Racecar Graveyard to the lush forest burial ground, said this car was the first to call the Farm its eternal home. Some of those spare parts, mostly sheet metal, were used for JRM Late Models as well, including those driven by Jeff and Jamie Caudle.

Interestingly enough, the actual Metrolina Speedway sign, recovered from the now-defunct site, was recently restored by Dirty Mo Acres craftsmen Lunsford and Brad Burroughs and is standing on the Farm property. Coupled with this late model, the sign serves as a nostalgic tribute to local tracks and racers.  

Special thanks to Chairman Don Miller and the crew at the North Carolina Motorsports Hall of Fame for allowing us to photograph the finished car. For more information, visit www.ncarhof.com.