For the American composer, pianist, and educator, seeWayne Peterson.
| Wayne Peterson | |
|---|---|
 Peterson competing in the 2013 ARCA race atRoad America | |
| Born | Wayne Peterson (1938-05-24)May 24, 1938 (age 87) Boaz, Alabama, U.S. |
| ARCA Menards Series career | |
| Debut season | 1983 |
| Current team | Wayne Peterson Racing |
| Car number | 06 |
| Engine | Chevrolet |
| Starts | 118 |
| Wins | 0 |
| Poles | 0 |
| Best finish | 18th in2016 |
| Finished last season | 62nd (2021) |
| Military career | |
| Allegiance | United States of America |
| Branch |  United States Army |
| Years of service | 1954–1981 |
| Unit | XVIII Airborne Corps Third United States Army Army Special Forces (77th,10th,1st,5th,7th Special Forces Groups) |
| Battles / wars | Vietnam War Bay of Pigs Invasion Operation Eagle Claw |
Wayne Peterson (born May 24, 1938) is an American professionalstock car racingowner/driver and formerparatrooper andUnited States ArmySpecial Forces member. He currently operatesWayne Peterson Racing, a team in theARCA Menards Series.
Peterson grew up in a poor family inBoaz, Alabama, and when he was fifteen years old, his high school was visited byArmy National Guard recruiters. Attracted by the benefits of food and clothing, he enlisted and enteredactive duty at the age of sixteen, but was sent back to school upon the discovering of his age. After graduating, he returned to the military and was stationed atFort Bragg as a paratrooper in theXVIII Airborne Corps. Peterson was a member of theUnited States Army Parachute Team (Golden Knights), and worked withNASA on performingHigh Altitude Low Opening (HALO) landings.[1]
Peterson was later assigned to theThird United States Army for thirty days, during which he was placed in the77th and attendedRanger School inFort Benning, followed by survival training in Antarctica and language studies in California, the latter in which he learned French and Vietnamese. Peterson served in Germany and Okinawa with the10th and1st Special Forces Groups respectively before being deployed to Vietnam in 1963 as an advisor and eventually a combat role. He served multiple tours during theVietnam War until 1972.[1]
In 1961, Peterson trained Cuban refugees and participated in the failedBay of Pigs Invasion. Two years later, he guarded PresidentJohn F. Kennedy's body in theUnited States Capitol rotunda after hisassassination. He also served asRichard Nixon andSouth Vietnamese PresidentNguyễn Văn Thiệu's English/Vietnamese translator.[1]
Peterson was scheduled to complete his service in 1980 when the government extended it by thirteen months. He was ordered toDiego Garcia, where plans were made forOperation Eagle Claw, an effort to freeUnited States embassy members in theIran hostage crisis.[1][2] However, the mission failed after two aircraft were destroyed during refueling. Peterson compared the debacle and resulting public backlash to that received by American troops withdrawing from Vietnam: "We had to abort, put our tail between our legs, same way we came out of Nam. We just didn't finish the job. [...] We had way too much TV coverage in Nam. The public don't need to know our missions; it messed with intelligence. Nam was a hard time, soldiers condemned for pulling the trigger. Of course, if you waited one second and thought about it, you were dead. We fought for the country, and our own survival. It wasn't pretty. You were there to save your people."[1]
At the age of fourteen, Peterson swept floors for adirt track racing owner who would let him test his car. While he was stationed at Fort Bragg, he purchased a 1948Hudson and converted it into a dirt track car.[1] Peterson later joinedNASCAR driverLee Petty's crew as a gasman, followed by a tenure withJunior Johnson on theDiGard Motorsports team. As compensation, Johnson gave him a car, which he fielded forLennie Pond atTalladega Superspeedway.[1] He also competed inmodified stock cars in the 1970s.[3]
During the 1980s, he began competing in theAutomobile Racing Club of America.[4] In 1983, he entered theNASCAR Winston Cup Series'Atlanta Journal 500, but spun out during qualifying due to tire issues.[5] The following year, he tried to qualify for theDaytona 500, but did not make the race after suffering an engine failure in hisTwin 125 qualifier and finishing tenth in the consolation race.[6][7][8]
Wayne Peterson Racing fields various cars in the ARCA Menards Series. His drivers have includedTim Mitchell, acolorectal cancer survivor who raced for the team in the 2000s;[9]Zachary Gibson, son of ARCA Midget Series racer Larry Gibson and grandson ofIndianapolis 500 driverTodd Gibson, in 2009;[10] andNASCAR Craftsman Truck Series driverClay Greenfield in 2004. Greenfield, described byThe Leaf-Chronicle as a "talented kid with no name", finished 12th in his series debut atSalem Speedway, marking the team's strongest finish since 1998.[11][12] As of 2020,Tim Richmond,Steve Cronenwett andJim Walker share the team's best race finish of ninth atToledo Speedway and Talladega in 2004 as well as Toledo in 2020, respectively.[13] The team has continued to field cars for drivers such asBrayton Laster,A. J. Moyer,Nate Moeller, andCody Dennison.
Peterson was married to Sarah Peterson and has three sons, Michael, Brian, and Kevin, and five grandchildren, one of which isBen Peterson, who competed in ARCA for WPR in 2019, 2024, and 2025. Sarah died in February 2008.[14] Peterson currently resides inPulaski, Tennessee.
(key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time.Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)
| NASCAR Winston Cup Series results | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Team | No. | Make | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | NWCC | Pts | Ref | ||||||||
| 1983 | Peterson Motorsports | 83 | Buick | DAY | RCH | CAR | ATL | DAR | NWS | MAR | TAL | NSV | DOV | BRI | CLT | RSD | POC | MCH | DAY | NSV | POC | TAL | MCH | BRI | DAR | RCH | DOV | MAR | NWS | CLT | CAR DNQ | ATL DNQ | RSD | NA | - | [15] | ||||||||
| 1984 | 06 | DAY DNQ | RCH | CAR | ATL | BRI | NWS | DAR | MAR | TAL | NSV | DOV | CLT | RSD | POC | MCH | DAY | NSV | POC | TAL | MCH | BRI | DAR | RCH | DOV | MAR | CLT | NWS | CAR | ATL | RSD | NA | - | [16] | ||||||||||
| Year | Team | Manufacturer | Start | Finish |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1984 | Peterson Motorsports | Buick | DNQ | |
(key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time.Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)
| ARCA Menards Series East results | ||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Team | No. | Make | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | AMSEC | Pts | Ref |
| 2020 | Wayne Peterson Racing | 0 | Chevy | NSM | TOL | DOV | TOL | BRI 26 | FIF | 52nd | 18 | [41] | ||
| 2021 | 06 | NSM | FIF 13 | NSV 13 | DOV | 22nd | 90 | [42] | ||||||
| Ford | SNM 16 | IOW | MLW | BRI | ||||||||||
To prevent anyone of knowing about the plan, the helicopters had to be painted inconspicuously below deck with the hangar doors closed because the Russians were using submarines and cruisers to follow them. But the paint was left on Diego Garcia, an island in the Indian Ocean used as a base of operations of sorts.
