Banjo Matthews was an ordinary man with an extraordinary gift. A master craftsman who wasn’t in it for the fame or fortune, he let his work speak for him.
In this modern era of quicker is better and quantity over quality, it’s easy to forget men like Matthews. But that would be a huge mistake.
Edwin Keith Matthews was born on February 14, 1932 in Akron, Ohio. Matthews got stuck with the nickname “Banjo Eyes” in grade school because of the thick-lensed glasses he wore. Surgery later in life helped improved his vision but the nickname, shortened to Banjo, remained.
When he was fifteen, he moved to Miami and spent five years racing and working on cars. After deciding that he wanted to earn his living as a racer, he moved to Asheville, North Carolina in 1952.
Matthews raced on both dirt and asphalt tracks and became one of the best modified drivers around. In the early 1960’s he headed for the superspeedways of NASCAR. He had 50 career starts on the Grand National circuit. His best finish was a second place at Atlanta.
You might read those statistics and see an uneventful career. But Banjo Matthews was about to find his true destiny.
In 1963 he left racing and began building cars for the Ford factory team. When the factory teams pulled out of NASCAR, Matthews opened his own shop and began his second career as a car builder.
One of his most successful collaborations was with John Holman of Holman-Moody. He made a deal with Holman to build kit-type Fords in 1971. Matthews built the body and framework for the cars and Holman-Moody put in the motors. He later went on to build cars for Chevrolet.
When it came to building cars, Matthews was in a class by himself.
As an owner, Matthews’ cars claimed nine victories with 14 poles in 160 starts. His cars won the Firecracker 400 at Daytona three times with legendary drivers Fireball Roberts, A.J. Foyt and Donnie Allison.
Allison also won the World 600 at Charlotte and two other races. One of his most cherished wins was at Rockingham in 1968.
“My biggest memory was in Victory Lane that day (at Rockingham),” says Allison.
“Banjo, standing there with tears running down his cheeks, says to me, ‘I knew that I could win another race.’ As a car owner, he just never had the opportunity to have a regular driver who could concentrate on winning races. As a person, Banjo was as good as I ever knew. As a racer, he was the most knowledgeable I’ve ever known.” Continue reading →
