SARANAC LAKE – The car racing track at the state fairgrounds in Syracuse is still known as “The Moody Mile,” a tribute to Saranac Laker Wes “Slugger” Moody, who on Labor Day in 1970 became the first racer to average 100 mph for a lap on the track.

More than 40 years later, Moody remembers the day well.

“It was one of those deals where we had been racing three or four nights a week,” Moody said. “We went down (to Syracuse) and we were just dog tired. The whole gang was really beat. We went out and, all of a sudden, the car was just fast. All the stars aligned and we were just smoking that day. We beat the track record by two seconds – not two-tenths, two seconds. It was unbelievable.”

The milestone earned him folk-hero status among race fans, but it was just one of many big moments in a long and remarkable career for Moody, who will be inducted today into the New York State Stock Car Racing Association Hall of Fame. The ceremony will take place at the Saratoga Automobile Museum, site of the association’s permanent Hall of Fame display.

Moody’s contemporaries and friends say the honor is well deserved and a long time coming.

“I think it’s long overdue,” said Doug Hoffman of Lake Placid, a classic car enthusiast who watched Moody build and race cars when he was young. “He should have had it a long time ago, but it usually comes around to people that deserve it like him, so it’s wonderful.”

“I think it’s fantastic,” said Tim Kilroy of Saranac Lake, who used to work on cars with Moody. “He deserves it. He’s done a lot for the sport.”

Moody, now 74, said he started racing on dirt tracks when he was 16 or 17 years old back in the mid 1950s. He was able to race with older drivers thanks to his older brother, Sonny.

“We were racing NASCAR and you had to be 18, so I had my brother sign my parents’ names,” Moody said. “They didn’t even know I was racing. I’ve been going ever since.”

Some of Moody’s first races were at Airborne Speedway in Plattsburgh. When the Saranac Lake Speedway opened in 1959, Moody was a regular on the half-mile dirt track built on the Hoyt family farm off of Trudeau Road. The track operated for about 10 years until it shut down due to financial problems.

In its heyday, however, locals say the weekend races under the lights were the place to be.

“Almost everybody would go because, I mean, you could hear it all over town, those cars are so noisy,” said Ruth Sofield, Moody’s sister. “There would be a lot of people there. That’s where you had to go.”

Moody was obviously a hometown favorite for Sofield and plenty of other spectators at the local track.

“When I was in my early teens I used to go on Saturday nights and get some really good entertainment from Wes,” Hoffman said. “He was in it to win, let’s put it that way. He was very aggressive. He took chances and the chances usually paid off. He would more than likely be leading the pack.”

“He was a great racer,” said Steve Salls, who worked on Moody’s and other racer’s cars back then. “His class was mostly old coupes, ’36 Chevys and stuff like that. Of course they put in big engines in them, big tires, roll bars and all that safety stuff. There was always good variety of cars and drivers at the speedway.”

Moody said the local track drew cars from all over the country, including some big names in stock car racing at the time.

“It was the real deal,” he said. “A lot of friends and a lot of fans would come out. There’s still a piece of the front straightaway wall that’s there.”

The outline of the old track can also be seen today in satellite imagery of the area, like Google Earth.

Moody said those early races helped lay the groundwork for his racing career.

“I was young, and the old pros would come up, and you’d have to race against guys that really knew what you were doing,” he said. “You got knocked around a lot but you also learned.”

Moody learned his trade at the old Saranac Lake Speedway, “but he soon burst on the regional scene, where his flat out style made him an instant star as he competed on some four dozen different speedways,” reads a NYSSCA press release announcing Moody’s selection to its hall of fame.

“When Jimmy Shampine built up a five race win streak at Rolling Wheels (Raceway in Weedsport), ‘Slugger’ appeared the next week and won in his first ever appearance there. Equally quick on asphalt, Moody ran fourth in the Race of Champions at Langhorne (Pennsylvania) after winning the Devils Bowl qualifier, had a winning streak at Shangri-La (in Owego) and was named the Gater New ‘Best All-Around Dirt and Asphalt Driver’ in 1971.”

“I raced 44 different race tracks around the country from Florida to Canada,” Moody told the Enterprise. “We stayed pretty busy with it.”

While he had his share of success on the track, Moody also had plenty of crashes. He suffered broken legs and, in one bad wreck in Florida, a broken neck. But he kept coming back for more.

“I just had to be tough, I guess,” he said. “And when you hear the motors run and get that feeling and that speed, it’s like worse than drugs.”

His toughness may also have something to do with his nickname, Slugger. Moody said his father, also named Wesley, gave it to him.

“I think my father wanted me to be a tough guy, so it’s like naming your kid Sue,” he said, referencing the Johnny Cash song. “You had to fight your way through life.”

Moody stopped driving in 1983 because he says he didn’t have the time to devote to it while trying to run the family business, Wesley Moody Landscaping.

“My business was taking too much of my time, and the cost of racing was way out of hand,” he said. “It became $25,000 for a motor. Now they’re $50,000. The big teams and the big money guys were doing the winning, and I just said, ‘I’ve got to stop.'”

Still, Moody never completely left the racing business. He ran a racing team that featured his stepson, Patrick Dupree, and other drivers.

“Patrick’s done very well racing stock cars,” Moody said. “He raced NASCAR for three years, so that was pretty cool. We built some dirt cars, some dirt modifieds, and that’s what we’ve been running now. Patrick’s still racing. He’s still at it.”

Moody lived in Onchiota for 25 years until his family bought Asplin Tree Farms in Gabriels, where he and his wife Deborah live during the warmer months. In the winter, they spend their time fishing in the Florida Keys, where Moody was when the Enterprise interviewed him Thursday. They planned to fly up to Albany for today’s ceremony in Saratoga.

Asked about his induction to the NYSSCA Hall of Fame, Moody said he was honored to get the recognition. He was also quick to mention that he’ll be one of two Saranac Lakers in the Hall of Fame. The other is Brian Ross, who grew up in Saranac Lake and had his racing prime about 20 years after Moody’s.