Almost 41 years ago, Larry Ernest “LW” Wright posed as a driver to enter the Cup Series race at Talladega in 1982.
He entered the race with a team based out of Nashville but then dropped out of the race and disappeared. He was able to qualify 36th for the race. However, after failing to maintain minimum speed, he was parked by NASCAR after 13 laps. After that, he vanished completely only to resurface back in 2022 when he also did an extensive interview explaining his decisions.
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However, after a two-and-a-half-week manhunt, Wright was arrested on February 13th. He was wanted on various charges in various states, including his attempt to pose as a racer for the aforementioned race. Widely considered to be the D.B. Cooper of NASCAR, Wright was arrested on charges of theft over $2,500, burglary, worthless checks and evading arrest in neighboring Jefferson County.
One of the charges in Grainger County includes Wright taking a large amount of money from a residence being rented by Wright. A four-wheeler, a Corvette and , a couple of motorcycles are said to be missing from there.
After his arrest, he was transferred to the Jefferson County jail. With a long history of conflicts with the law, it remains to be seen how severe Wright’s punishment is going to be.