Former Bud Moore garage destroyed in overnight fire
SPARTANBURG, S.C. (WSPA) – Where the home of Bud Moore Engineering once was, now lays a pile of rubble and ash.
“You can smell it, you can smell the charred ruins, when you used to come here and smell oil and gasoline,” Spartanburg resident and race car author, Perry Allen Wood said.
It is a shocking sight for those who knew the building for its connection to NASCAR.
“They built race cars here, lots of them winners too, championship winners.” Wood said.
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Some of those famous names include Dale Earnhardt, David Pearson and Bobby Allison.
“A lot of race car drivers would be here and other politicians, celebrities but gosh there are so many famous cars come out of here,” Wood said. “Anybody who was anybody drove a car out of Bud Moore’s garage at one time or another.”
On Monday, fire fighters said a police officer noticed fire and smoke coming from the building.
“Several units arrived and found a third of the building involved in heavy fire and smoke,” William Smart, City of Spartanburg fire marshal, said. “(Firefighter’s) ensured there were no residents, citizens in the structure, the building was found unsecured, there was no power to the structure and no gas to the structure, no natural gas being fed to the structure. The structure was not being used at the time of the fire, it was empty.”
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Crews worked until around 4 a.m. Tuesday putting out the fire.
“In 1964 I was 12 and I used to come here with my father… I would sit the race cars and play and for me, it was better than Disney World or whatever. I would pretend I was Billy Wade, one of Bud’s drivers,” Wood said. “It was a famous building for a long time and as far as I am concerned a big piece of Spartanburg and auto racing history in general is kind of ruined.”
Smart said the fire was human-caused. How it was started is under investigation, anyone with any information is encouraged to call the City of Spartanburg Fire Department.
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