Clarence Hood

9/4/1926

Record updated 09-Apr-07

Hooker Hood was a legendary Super-Modified and Sprint Car driver who was also very good a building race cars. His best years were between 1965 and 1968. In 1967 he took 57 wins from 63 races and won the National Dirt Track Championship.

Clarence Hooker Hood was a legendary Sprint Car racer, was born in Memphis, Tennessee. He started competing in 1948 racing both motorcycles and midgets in the Memphis area.

Hooker was famous for his duels with fellow racer "Big Foot" Riley at tracks all over the south during the 1960s.

He ran a handful of NASCAR Grand National races in 1954 and 1955, most at the old Memphis-Arkansas Speedway. However he did have one start at North Wilkesboro in 1954 and one at Daytona on the beach in 1955.

His best years were between 1965 and 1968. In 1966 he won 20 out of 22 races, mostly on dirt and followed that by taking 57 wins from 63 races in 1967, winning the National Dirt Track Championship in Marshall, Missouri, over Ray Lee Goodwin. Then in 1968 he took 48 wins.

Not only was Hooker a very good driver but he was good at building race cars was well.  He once built a frame with a twist and screw adjustments to distribute the weight as needed.

He finished third in the 1972 Daytona Permatex 300. Hooker had hundreds of victories to his credit during his career.

Hood, who owned a petrol station, was inducted into the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame in 1999 in honor of his outstanding achievements as a super-modified and sprint car driver.



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