Education
Lewallen attended an October 12, 1946 meeting that formed National Association of Stock Car Auto Racing.
Lewallen attended an October 12, 1946 meeting that formed National Association of Stock Car Auto Racing.
Lewallen began his racing career in motorcycles in 1934. He switched to racing cars in the late 1930s when he delivered illegal moonshine to other parts of North Carolina. Many early National Association of Stock Car Auto Racing drivers were moonshine runners.
He raced at a one-mile (16 km) dirt track in High Point, until he went off to World World War II in 1941.
He served in the European Theater of Operations (European Theatre of Operations) until 1945, including the Battle of Normandy. He resumed racing after he returned home from the war.
The meeting was held at the Rex Hotel on Peachtree Street in Atlanta Georgia. Around twelve people attended, including Bill France, Senior, Red Vogt, and Raymond Parks.
Bill France offered him a chance to "buy into National Association of Stock Car Auto Racing" for $500.00 ($6,06741 when adjusted for inflation) but Lewallen turned him down, saying "it would never amount to anything".
Lewallen raced in National Association of Stock Car Auto Racing"s first stockcar race at Charlotte Speedway in 1949. He finished sixteenth and earned $25 ($24864 when adjusted for inflation). That would result in finishing second for that race behind teammate Lee Petty.
He had three consecutive Top 10 finishes in the series points from 1953 until 1955.
Lewallen raced for various owners throughout his career. He raced in various divisions until 1975.
He helped found the "Old Timer Racing Club". Lewallen died from cancer on October 16, 1995 at a Winston-Salem hospital.
Lewallen, Fred Harb, and Bill Blair, Senior are the subject of the upcoming independent movie Red Dirt Rising, which is based on the book "Red Dirt Tracks: The Forgotten Heroes of Early Stockcar Racing" by Gail Cauble Gurley.