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Notorious NASCAR Conman Breaks His Silence After 40 Years to Reveal Sensational Dale Earnhardt Advice

Published 05/03/2022, 8:57 AM EDT

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For 40 years, everyone believed that LW Wright was nothing but an urban NASCAR myth. An anecdote suggests that he somehow managed to convince a sponsor that he was an experienced driver and had a license. With that, he snuck onto a grid filled with stars like Dale Earnhardt and Richard Petty. Unfortunately, Wright could not put money where his mouth was, and was disqualified after 13 laps.

Now, the man has finally resurfaced after a 40-year disappearance in an interview. He claimed on the Scene Vault podcast that Dale Earnhardt gave him some sound advice. Wright alleged that Dale Sr told him, “When you get out there, you get on the back of someone who’s been here before and follow them. Stay with them, and then make your move.”

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Sadly, the great Dale Earnhardt is no longer with us, so that he could verify that statement. So, people will have to take Wright’s word at face value.

What happened to the NASCAR ‘driver’ afterwards?

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After the disqualification, he ditched the car on the track and disappeared off the face of the map. He clearly took lessons from Houdini, as he laid low for 40 years and there was no trace of him. Not even an arrest warrant and a private investigator could coax him out of hiding. However, things have now changed as Wright poked his head out of his little hiding place.

USA Today via Reuters

The 1982 Winston 500 at the Talladega Superspeedway would remain as his only race. Considering that he only completed 13 laps before being disqualified for being too slow, was it even a race for the con man? One thing is for sure, NASCAR and his sponsors definitely felt cheated, and were furious when he pulled a runner.

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Since then, very little information has been made available about him, and there was only one published image of him. So no one could really be blamed for thinking that LW Wright was nothing more than an urban legend.

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Written by:

Dhruv George

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Dhruv George is a senior Motorsports author for EssentiallySports, having authored nearly 12000 articles spanning different sports like F1, NASCAR, Tennis, NFL, and eSports. He graduated with a PG Diploma in Journalism from the Xavier Institute of Communications. Dhruv has also conducted interviews with F1 driver Pierre Gasly and Moto2 rider Tony Arbolino.
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