That is the primary in a three-part collection from The Tennessean chronicling the story of L.W. Wright.
The con man parked his Cadillac in entrance of Coo Coo’s storage.
He was going by the identify L.W. Wright in these days, and he strode to that first assembly with the arrogance of a cat burglar, a wad of money able to dangle and a few automobile racers able to sucker.
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The interplay occurred over the past week of April 1982 on the Coo Coo Marlin household farm in Columbia, Tennessee, about an hour south of Nashville, off Interstate 65. The farm had been in Coo Coo’s household for the reason that Eighties. Seven hundred acres, 500 head of cattle and a steady of lickety-split racing vehicles.
Clifton Burton “Coo Coo” Marlin was a just lately retired nation inventory automobile legend. Blond as white oak, he made a reputation for himself on the quick tracks of the South in his crime-scene crimson 1964 Chevrolet Impala with the quantity 711 emblazoned on its doorways.
Coo Coo, although, hadn’t fared so properly on the huge ovals or within the huge time. He had tried, unsuccessfully, 165 occasions to win a NASCAR Winston Cup race between 1966 and 1980. His final race had been the Winston 500 at Talladega, the place he got here in thirty seventh out of 41. Coo Coo had completed within the prime 10 51 occasions and collected simply greater than $300,000 in prize cash.
It’s not a stretch to say, nevertheless, he had by no means been taken for a experience within the method he was about to be by the con man with the Cadillac.
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Coo Coo Marlin wasn’t the one mark. There have been plenty of victims who felt the sting of this con man’s crooked recreation through the years, in line with a whole lot of pages of police and court docket paperwork from states everywhere in the South. In some racing circles, L.W. Wright is an eccentric, enjoyable movie star like Rosie Ruiz (who faked her approach into the Boston Marathon), D.B. Cooper (who escaped justice by leaping out of an airplane) or Frank Abagnale (whose lifetime of cons was depicted within the film “Catch Me If You Can”).
In different circles, he is perhaps described as a (expletive) piece of (expletive) who tricked a bunch of individuals whose solely mistake was making an attempt to assist a man chase a dream.
The con man’s life story was as elusive as an echo − with one large spotlight in 1982 − till podcaster/NASCAR historian Rick Houston and a Tennessean reporter started in search of him a number of years in the past.
What they uncovered was an audacious story, type of unhappy, a couple of man who swung so huge and have become so small.
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In 1982, L.W. Wright was a wiry 33-year-old with sideburns as huge as racing tire’s skid marks. Raised in Virginia, he talked like a superb ol’ boy. All gear shifts, crank shafts and gusto. He was quick and excited about going sooner. There was this one tiny element.
He had by no means, ever, not as soon as, competed on a superspeedway in a race automobile.
Which is like saying, I’ve by no means touched a cobra, however I would like to present hooded snake-wrangling a strive. However extra harmful.
The entire superb story started to unfold the primary time the con man known as the Marlin home.
“That is L.W. Wright, and I would wish to go to Talladega,” he stated.
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Now maintain on there, you is perhaps saying to your self. Talladega? Of all of the tracks in all of America, the Alabama Worldwide Motor Speedway, because it was known as then, or Talladega Superspeedway, as it’s known as now, is thought for its restrictor plates (mandated smaller and fewer highly effective carburetors) and is NOT the place for a first-timer. Keep in mind what occurred to Bobby Allison (1987), Rusty Wallace (1993) and 13 vehicles in “The Large One” (1996)? In 2024, there was a 28-car mangled metallic ballet on that very observe.
On this planet of NASCAR, and Daytona, the opposite most treacherous observe, are usually not locations for the inexperienced.
The observe at Talladega is 2.66 miles, with banked turns at 33 levels. It is thought of one of many quickest tracks in NASCAR.
Talladega is 2.66 miles of asphalt foolishness. The banked turns had been designed at 33-degree angles, which means, whenever you’re turning, your passenger’s window should really feel prefer it’s on the prime of Mt. Everest whereas your driver’s seat should really feel prefer it’s within the depths of hell.
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Race weekend:
Talladega is loopy.
L.W. Wright was crazier.
Sterling Marlin, Coo Coo’s son, was 25 when the con man parked his Cadillac close to his daddy’s storage. He was there for that first assembly. (Coo Coo died of lung most cancers in 2005, or he’d in all probability nonetheless be speaking about L.W. Wright).
Marlin’s feedback are from a number of interviews with The Tennessean together with one wherein a crew of journalists visited him on the Marlin household farm.
Sterling appeared to type of like the concept of a first-timer making an attempt at Talladega. Marlin remembers telling Wright, “Go forward, boss. Go get you some.”
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Even when you might have the center, the moxie, the correct stuff to take a stab at Talladega, there may be yet one more factor you want.
A race automobile.
L.W. Wright and his racing swimsuit.
“I stated, ‘Nicely, I am going to get a automobile collectively,” Sterling Marlin informed Wright.
And boy did he. There occurred to be, simply sitting there on the Marlin farm, a 1981 Chevy Monte Carlo able to roll, with sufficient giddy-up to compete at Talladega. Apparently, the con man had performed his homework.
Marlin stated he was caught unaware.
“It was type of loopy,” Marlin stated. “The place’s this man come from? I had by no means heard of him.”
The automobile, on this con, was the shiny object. What L.W. Wright was actually after, on that April day in 1982, was the Marlin identify. If he might present he had help from the nice Coo Coo and his up-and-coming son Sterling Marlin, it was clear crusing to Talladega.
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Wright requested Sterling to function his pit crew chief at Talladega.
Sterling Marlin could or could not have been certified for the job − “Most likely not,” he stated with amusing − however what the heck?
He took the job.
The automobile’s value, together with a pit crew chief: $21,700.
This is the factor. L.W. Wright informed the Marlins he solely had $18,000. So he paid the remainder of the payment with a $3,700 verify. Spoiler alert: That verify bounced like a spring-loaded basketball.
And that $18,000? It wasn’t his cash.
Forty-some years later, Sterling Marlin stated this about L.W. Wright.
If he ever noticed him once more, “I would (expletive) kill him.”
Some issues about L.W. Wright had been at all times type of proper. Like his identify.
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His given identify was Larry Ernest Wright, born in Richlands, Virginia on April 17, 1949. How and why he selected “L.W.” as a substitute of simply going by “Larry” for his huge con is a thriller, as is a lot about him.
His backstory is essentially depending on his personal retelling, so it might be as true or false pretty much as good fiction. Wright had 5 brothers and two sisters, and his father was a coal miner who broke his again, an damage that rendered his household poor. The Wrights lived in Tazewell County within the mountains of southwest Virginia. In a city of lower than 5,000 hearty souls.
If you happen to’ve heard of Tazewell County, it might due to the current rise of . The brand new Black Lung instances are reminding individuals of the outdated days, which produced death-defying youngsters like Larry Wright.
Wright informed Rick Houston, host of the Scene Vault podcast, he by no means completed seventh grade, and he was working moonshine by the point he was 17 to assist his household. Dodging regulation enforcement had apparently began early for Larry Wright.
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The day after Wright turned 19, his brother, Grover Wright Jr., died in Bien Hoa Province, Vietnam.
Grover, two years older than Larry, was an Military infantryman within the Air Cavalry Troop, eleventh Armored Cavalry Regiment. On April 18, 1968, Grover discovered himself in a Bien Hoa river, swimming seeking a crossing route for his unit. He drowned within the midst of that fight operation, and was awarded the Bronze Star, Purple Coronary heart, Nationwide Protection Service Medal, Vietnam Service Medal and the Republic of Vietnam Marketing campaign Medal.
Larry Wright has informed quite a few tales about what occurred after his brother’s loss of life. He stated he was prevented from going to Vietnam due to his brother’s plight. He additionally stated he served three excursions of responsibility within the Particular Forces, which was not true.
There wasn’t a lot Wright would not lie about.
The Talladega Superspeedway is likely one of the quickest tracks in NASCAR.
His racing historical past, for instance, seems to be a whole fabrication. Wright stated when he was in his 20s and early 30s, he raced quick tracks within the NASCAR Busch Grand Nationwide Sequence. He informed everybody he had 43 begins. He additionally stated he ran “outlaw” races, these unsanctioned occasions which can be many occasions the racing equal of beer league softball.
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It was that lie about his racing background that appeared to launch his Talladega dream.
Who was going to verify on his veracity? This all occurred within the pre-Google world of 1982. If you happen to do not bear in mind 1982, listed below are a number of impactful moments. Kelly Clarkson was born in April of 1982 (about six weeks after John Belushi died). It was the primary 12 months of The Climate Channel. “E.T. The Additional-Terrestrial” opened in theaters. The World’s Honest was in Knoxville, the place fairgoers might use a touch-screen pc for the primary time ever.
By the sheer energy of his storytelling means, Wright satisfied Nashville-based Bernie Terrell, who owned the House Age Advertising firm, to mortgage him $30,000 to fund the Talladega gambit. With that cash in his pocket, Wright registered his crew identify: “Music Metropolis Racing.” And he paid $115 for a NASCAR license.
His crew included a bunch of his buddies, which, after all it did. And, sprinkled in for good measure, had been nation music stars Waylon Jennings, Merle Haggard and T.G. Sheppard.
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Once more, there was a kernel of reality in his connection to these nation stars. Wright had labored for a time repairing and cleansing tricked-out tour buses. He could have ran into Jennings, Haggard and Sheppard whereas vacuuming their rolling domiciles.
If anyone would learn about Music Metropolis connections to NASCAR, it will be Gary Baker, who was a former driver on the circuit, and a Nashville lawyer.
And he represented T.G. Sheppard.
“I used to be his (T.G.’s) tax lawyer on the time,” Baker stated in a current interview. “I put collectively all advertising offers with T.G. and Proctor and Gamble. I might have been the primary one to have been in touch with this man, and I’ve by no means heard of him.”
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Baker stated Wright’s lies had been spectacular.
“You bought at hand it to the man,” Baker stated. “He was good at what he did and what he was good at doing was being a con artist. If he utilized those self same abilities and persona traits to official variations of enterprise, the man would have been an automated success. It is only a disgrace that he selected to go on this route and conned so many individuals in so some ways.”
As soon as he had the cash and the automobile, the con man wanted a trailer and a giant rig hauler to get the celebration right down to Talladega, Alabama. Wright spent $7,500 for that transport.
There was yet one more concern. As a result of Wright was a little bit of an artist when it got here to cons, he wished that Monte Carlo painted. Coo Coo Marlin’s vehicles had been at all times crimson.
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L.W. Wright wished that sucker painted black, the colour of Johnny Money, pirate flags and daring deeds.
Oh, and make that hood, simply the hood, metallic gold, hanging on the market just like the solar’s tongue.
Wright purchased Goodyear tires (about $1,500) and racing jackets (a complete of $168) for his crew. After all, he paid for every thing with rubbery checks.
There was yet one more factor he wanted the Marlins to assist him with earlier than he might race.
He wished a quantity.
It needed to be 34.
If L.W. Wright had a racing hero, it was Wendell Scott, a Black man who acquired his NASCAR license in 1953 within the Jim Crow South, and received in each division NASCAR had regardless of being banned, disqualified and disrespected extra occasions than you’d need to depend.
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Scott was from Danville, Virginia, about three and half hours of driving time from the Wright dwelling in Richlands.
There could have been more durable males than Wendell Scott, however not many. On the Dover Motor Speedway, Scott was poisoned by a “fan” who gave him a spiked drink earlier than a race. He was confronted by the Ku Klux Klan. He raced with out sponsors and below fixed loss of life threats.
Someway L.W. Wright felt a kinship with Scott, and he wished to race at Talladega with Scott’s No. 34 on his doorways.
Some individuals, whereas making an attempt to tug off the sports activities con of the century, may attempt to function quietly. Within the shadows. Below the duvet of maintaining your dang mouth shut.
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Not L.W. Wright.
A few days earlier than the Winston 500 at Talladega, Tennessean columnist Larry Woody acquired concerned within the story.
“I used to be sitting at my desk one morning, the telephone rings, and it is some man that claims he is representing a race driver named L.W. Wright who simply moved to Nashville to additional his racing profession,” Woody remembers. “And would I be excited about doing a narrative? And I stated … ‘Coincidentally, I am doing a racing notes column tomorrow for the following morning’s paper.'”
Woody took some notes and added a pair paragraphs to the underside of his racing column.
The Tennessean from April 25, 1982
“This driver named L.W. Wright got here to city making an attempt to begin his racing profession,” Woody stated. “He was going to be sponsored by Waylon Jennings and T.G. Shepherd and Merle Haggard … T.G. was a giant identify again then, and so I included that within the story.”
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The subsequent morning Gary Baker, the lawyer who represented Shepherd, known as Woody.
“So I informed Larry on the time, ‘Woodrow, hear, simply, that is completely fishy,'” Baker stated. “I do know that was the phrase I would used solely as a result of I’m going again and have a look at a few of these information clippings. It tells me that I used the phrase fishy, even earlier than I hung up the telephone for the very first time listening to his identify. So I knew there was one thing flawed. You simply do not throw a reputation round, that is going to sponsor you, when you have not even had any contact with them.”
So Woody, being the great journalist he’s, acquired in contact with L.W. Wright.
“I stated, L.W., that is Larry Woody from The Tennessean,” Woody remembers. “I did a be aware about your racing, coming to Nashville on this morning’s paper. And (L.W.) stated, ‘Yeah, I admire it.’
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“I stated, ‘Nicely, there’s a bit hitch.’ I stated, ‘A good friend of mine, Gary Baker, who represents T.G. Shepherd, says he did not know something concerning the sponsorship. And (L.W.) stated, ‘Nicely, possibly it is a bit untimely.’ He stated, ‘We’re engaged on some sponsorship offers with T.G. Sheppard, Waylon Jennings and Merle Haggard …’ “
Sterling Marlin and Larry Woody reminisce whereas standing subsequent to one in every of Marlin’s vehicles at Sterling Marlin’s storage in Columbia, Tenn., Friday, April 11, 2025.
L.W. Wright implied that possibly he could have been “misled” by these huge stars.
Woody thinks it was Wright who was doing the deceptive.
“I kind of suppose he exaggerated,” Woody stated.
That is what con males do.
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Perhaps the con man did not admire what journalists do.
As a result of whereas L.W. Wright was heading south to Talladega, Larry Woody began doing a bit digging.
“I did one other interview with L.W. on the telephone earlier than Talladega,” Woody stated. “I known as him yet one more time and to double verify on his credentials. And he stated he had performed plenty of racing within the Virginias, within the Carolinas … He had raced on the Grand Nationwide circuit, which is what the highest degree NASCAR is now.”
Woody known as a Grand Nationwide supply.
“They by no means heard of him,” Woody stated.
All of this might have been only a blip in historical past, a con man with delusions of grandeur set his sights on an enormous NASCAR race. Not a lot of a narrative.
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As a result of there was yet one more impediment to pulling off the con.
L.W. Wright needed to get in Coo Coo’s Monte Carlo and truly qualify for the dang race.
He wanted to drive quick sufficient at probably the most harmful tracks in America to tug it off.
And he wanted to outrun a journalist.
