Jimmy Mosteller – Racing’s Little Bitty Buddy


Everybody’s “Little Bitty Buddy”

Jimmy Mosteller relazes at his home in Powder Springs, Georgia.

Jimmy Mosteller relaxes at his home in Powder Springs, Georgia.

Jimmy’s popularity is universal in the world of speed.  His sense of equality between the fans and drivers is unique from the rest of sports.

As he told us, “It breaks my heart when I reminisce about racing.  All the lost friends and the good times back in the fifties and sixties when people took a moment to visit.  Whether it was the boy selling Cokes and programs, the fans or the drivers, they all knew the importance of each other and could rub elbows.  That is what our sport was all about.  Hopefully through our club and the efforts put forth, we can return to those days, and bring back the memories of the past and put them to use in educating the future.”

As super speedways spring up across the country faster than merging corporations, Jimmy Mosteller remains that constant link between the days of old when everybody was somebody like a backyard cookout.  There are some big and influential people today that control the financial course of motorsports, but none so big to fill the shoes of Mr. Mosteller, who still dictates the heart and soul of racing.

One night he was receiving an award when some fellow in the stands turned and hollered, “Mosteller runs his mouth enough, he ought to get something!”

Laughing, he told us, “Cuz, for a country boy like myself, that was one of the nicest things somebody could say.  That young man was hooting in good nature because he is family, my racing family, an they make me extremely proud.”

And we think of ol’ Roswell King, and how proud he too would feel toward Jimmy Mosteller, Jack Smith and so many others who came from his town so many years later.

Editor’s note: This story was originally published in the December 2000 edition of the Pioneer Pages.  In 2003, Mr. Mosteller was inducted into the Georgia Racing Hall of Fame, and continues to be one of the greatest supporters of and friends to Georgia Auto Racing.  A book on Mr. Mosteller’s life, entitled “Jimmy Mosteller: 60+ Years of Precious Memories”, by Gerald Hodges, has recently been released.  The cost is $25 plus shipping.  Mr. Mosteller will be donating a portion of each sale to the Georgia Racing Hall of Fame.  For more information, contact Neil Rucker at 770-667-0136.

Eddie Samples is a racing historian and writer, and is the son of champion stock car racer and Georgia Racing Hall of Famer Ed Samples.


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