Scott and Marlene Mosley, in partnership with Jeff Taylor, took over the ownership and operation of Larry Shaw Racing on July 1, 2019. The company was then renamed Shaw Race Cars.

“We’ve met many great people throughout the last ten years of racing,” Scott Mosley noted. “When this incredible opportunity came along, allowing us to be more involved in the racing community, we couldn’t pass it up.”

In addition to their involvement in racing, the Mosley family also have various business endeavors within their home state of Arkansas. The opportunity to invest in the racing community was a dream come true.

“We’ve made a lot of great memories with our son [Travis], our family, and friends at the racetrack over the last decade,” Scott Mosley continued. “What Larry Shaw and his staff have built with their company over the past 40 plus years is extraordinary. To carry on the storied tradition of this legendary company is truly an honor.”

The existing staff at Larry Shaw Race Cars, including Larry’s son Kevin, retained their existing roles as the company mad the transition to Shaw Race Cars.

“Larry [Shaw] has put together a topnotch staff, and we are excited to continue building on what he has in place,” Scott Mosley said. “Adding the expertise of Jeff [Taylor] only adds to what is already an exceptional staff. Jeff is going to lead our house car program, while also providing tech support both at and away from the track.”

Scott’s wife, Marlene, went on to elaborate on Taylor’s roll in the new endeavor.

“Jeff Taylor is an important part of this transition,” she shared. “His innovation, knowledge, and skills are vital in achieving our goal to offer the same quality service and cars Larry Shaw Racing is known for.”

Over the past 40 years, Larry Shaw Race Cars has built over 5,000 racecars, including both Modifieds and Late Models. Shaw Race Cars will continue to provide tech support and part’s services for all chassis, including past, present and future.

For Larry Shaw, he knows that he will miss being in the office each day, but on the same token he’s excited to see what the future will hold under the direction of the Mosley family.

“I couldn’t imagine a finer group of folks than the Mosley family to carry on the tradition of Larry Shaw Race Cars,” Shaw said. “Selling this company is not something I was sure I’d ever do, but always said if the right people came along that I’d definitely consider it. Well, the Mosley family is indeed the right folks to carry on what my family and I have built over the past four decades.

“I just want to say thanks to everyone, who has ever supported this company. I look forward to seeing what Shaw customers continue to accomplish for many years to come.”

SHAW RACE CARS HISTORY

THE BEGINNING
In 1979 Larry Shaw started Shaw Race Cars, then named Larry Shaw Racing, by being a dealer for Howe Racing Enterprises. Shaw had been around racing for several years, working on cars with Mark Martin in his early years before Martin went to NASCAR. Shaw began producing his own late model design based on a Ford Torino with front strut rods in 1981. At this time, most late models were running Camaro-based front stubs and were all run with leaf spring rear suspensions.

In 1985 the late model world was predominantly leaf spring rear suspension but Shaw and Billy Moyer were sure 4-bar suspensions were the way of the future. They spent many races working with both suspension models before making a commitment to stay on the 4-bar set up in 1986. That year they won the Dirt Track World Championship at Pennsboro Speedway. Small changes were made to the Shaw late models from 1986 to 1994.

In 1991 Shaw saw that the IMCA Modified was becoming popular and decided to start building them. He started building the first modifieds off of the Ford Torino-based chassis and they were very successful. However, rule changes caused him to discontinue building these cars based on the Torino and start building them on the Mid-size (A-Style GM chassis). These early modifieds were built with leaf spring or 3-link type rear suspensions.

The early 90’s to early 2000’s
In February 1994 Shaw Race Cars had a fire that destroyed 90 % of the shop. While most of the parts inventory was recovered, everything that Shaw had worked to create - all of his notes and jigs - was lost. The fire occurred during the busiest time of year for chassis production so Shaw called his customers to let them know they may not get their cars as originally planned. Everyone was understanding of the circumstances involved but many racers bought other brands of chassis so they could continue racing. This really hurt the business so Shaw contacted a couple of other car builders and were fortunate that Dirt Works and Larkins Race Cars gave Shaw Race Cars the ability to provide cars to racers during the rebuild.

Shaw rebuilt his shop and started over from scratch. In 1994-2000, the Shaw 3-link modified took off strong and was winning races all over the country. Shaw Race Cars built between 80-100 modified and late model chassis per year. The late models won National touring events as well.

In 1997 Shaw and Randy Sweet of Sweet Manufacturing came together to design a completely different late model that Sweet designed. The first race this car hit the track was during Speedweeks in Tampa Florida. It was fast right out of the box winning on the 2nd night and finishing strong every night of the week-long event. In August of that same year, Moyer got in one of these cars and won the Topless 100 at Batesville Motor Speedway.

2000’s
2001 would be the first year that the modifieds would start running 4-bar rear suspensions. The Shaw modifieds were still being built with leaf springs and 3-link rear suspensions as well. Over the next few years most modifieds gradually went to the 4-link rear suspension. In 2003, Larry developed the modified chassis that he felt would be a really great race car. From 2003-2010 the chassis saw small changes and at this time Shaw Race Cars produced 200-250 chassis per year. These cars were winning all over the country. Until 2008, the modifieds were built from used chassis out of the salvage yard. From 2008-2019 the modifieds were built on Southwest Speed reproduction chassis.

With the modifieds being so popular in this area and the weekly late model racing starting to diminish, 2010 was the last year that we built late models on a large-scale production. We did build a few in 2013 for a couple of customers upon request.

2010’s
In 2010-2013 the modifieds were built with slightly larger roll cages to accommodate the drivers better but all of the mounting points were the same. The trailing arm plates were made to accommodate the different rules around the country. Up until this point there was mainly just IMCA, UMP, or USMTS series being run. B-mod, or Sport mod type racing increased in popularity. Therefore, Shaw Race Cars incorporated the ability to be able to run multiple series with very few changes having to be made into the chassis.

2014/35 Series Chassis
In 2013 Shaw Race Cars saw the lift arm type suspension becoming popular and running well. These lift arm type suspensions wouldn’t fit into the existing chassis. So, the cars were redesigned to accommodate the lift arms. These cars were built to be more left-side dominant. On these cars, some suspension mounting points were relocated and roll cage was offset to the left. The motor was offset to the left and an offset rear end was used in these cars. These cars were good in the traction or if drivers were on soft compound tires. In 2014, changes were made to get the cars better in the slick. Then new rules in some of the sanctioning bodies decided to not allow lift arms so we stopped production on the 35 series chassis.

2015/Early Stages of the XL Chassis
In 2015 Shaw Race Cars started developing what would become one of the most popular chassis built. The XL Series chassis in its early stages was built with fewer materials in the chassis to make it lighter. The XL chassis saw relocated suspension mounting points, roll cage locations, and motor positions. This new chassis was very good but there were issues with the car flexing too much. Only 10 of these chassis that were built had less materials in them.

2016-2019 XL SERIES CHASSIS
In 2016 the XL series chassis was Shaw’s main production car. It has been one of the most popular chassis. These cars were built on the SWS front stubs.

MID-2019-2024 XL SERIES CHASSIS
In July 2019 Shaw sold his business to the Mosley family. For the most part, nothing changed on the XL series chassis with the exception that the chassis were now being built on the Afco front stubs and the rear trailing arm mounts were now a bolt-on option. During this time, an under rail option on the rear of the chassis was offered as well.

2023 LATE MODEL
Shaw late models returned in 2023, with the resurgence of weekly and regional late model racing again in our region. One Shaw employee has raced the new design car and has already won a race with it. Shaw looks to continued improvement on the setup and getting more on the track soon.

2023 WISSOTA SUPER STOCK
In 2023 Shaw also started building the Wissota Super Stock Chassis after being contacted by some racers from Canada who asked if Shaw would be interested. Shaw didn’t have to make a lot of changes to the jig to be able to build these cars. These cars have been successful in the first year of production.

2023-2024 XM SERIES CHASSIS
In 2023, Shaw created a new design chassis that would be quite a bit different than the XL series chassis. This chassis was developed as another option for racers. The XM chassis has all new front suspension mounting points including cross-shaft designed upper a-arm mounts and a new motor location. The roll cage has been relocated and incorporates an under rail designed tail section. The chassis is constructed out of Pro-Moly Tubing. All previously built chassis have been built out of DOM tubing. This car has bolt-on shock mounts and Panhard bar mounts to make the car modular in design. This will allow us to relocate suspension points by simply bolting on different mounting plates.