Death: July 31, 2012
In the 1960s and 1970s, James Nathan “Biddle” Ridley was best known as a stock car driver. In later years people knew him as the crew chief for his brother Jody Ridley.
In both aspects of his racing career, Biddle Ridley excelled.
The Chatsworth native started driving in 1966, running his brother’s two-year-old Ford at dirt tracks including Cleveland Speedway, Boyd’s Speedway, Sugar Creek Raceway and Canton Speedway.
Soon, he went in with fellow racer Charles Hughes, and the two purchased a new race car, intending to share the driving duties.
But both drivers wanted to race more often so Ridley bought out Hughes and began racing full-time, venturing out to tracks including Dixie Speedway, Rome Speedway, West Atlanta Raceway, Tri-County Speedway, Atomic Raceway and Newnan Speedway.
He was a regular winner in both A and B class cars. Soon he teamed up with car owner and engine builder Ernie Elliott and began to dominate the B Class races. At one point officials at Rome Speedway put a bounty on him after six consecutive feature wins.
But after approximately 100 feature wins as a driver, Ridley put his driving behind and began working as his brother’s crew chief, as the Ridleys found that fielding two cars stretched the team’s resources and budget too thin.
The Ridley brothers and their No. 98 Fords were a force in asphalt Late Model racing, and won many a dirt race as well. Before they were done, they amassed approximately 500 race victories and six NASCAR All-Pro championships. Biddle Ridley won a seventh as a crew chief for Steve Grissom in 1985. Biddle also assisted his brother during his career in the NASCAR series now known as Monster Energy Cup.
Among the drivers influenced by Ridley was Bill Elliott, who was a crew member when Ridley was racing the No. 9 Fords on the short tracks of the Southeast and went on to find success for himself in the No. 9 Fords.
“Biddle took me in when I first started going to the races,” Elliott said. “I traveled a lot with him and had a great time.” Elliott said those who didn’t know Biddle Ridley often underestimated his talent.
“He was kind of underrated as a driver,” he said. “But when he drove for Ernie he did a great job and they won a ton of races.”
Biddle Ridley died on July 31, 2012.
