If it had wheels, Tom Raley was driving it.

And if it had a motor, a young Raley was surely racing it.

“I was 14 years old and I had my (late) brother’s old race car in the driveway,” Raley recalls. “And we used to live a few miles from the track, and I used to take the John Deere tractor and flat-tow it to the track. Until my mother found out, that is.

“If I could race it, I was doing it. … I even raced boats some, and had fun doing all of it.”

One of the more versatile drivers in drag racing history, Raley’s racing life spanned a fruitful career in NASCAR’s former Grand National series (now the Sprint Cup) against legends like Richard Petty, a stint in the former Autolite 250 Sportsman series (now Nationwide) and NASCAR’s Top Fuel dragster division.

And because of his success over so many different racing platforms, Raley earned a spot among the honorees last week at the ninth annual Holley NHRA Hot Rod Reunion at Beech Bend Park.

“It’s great to see everyone that you haven’t seen in years,” Raley said last week. “It gets to your heart. That’s how I would say it best.

“It’s very exciting to see a lot of friends and even some old enemies that are now your friends. All the old wounds have healed and it’s a lot of fun.”

Raley’s professional success began in 1963, when he claimed the Maryland State Modified Championship – an oval-track event. From there, Raley began to dip more into stock car racing, driving on NASCAR’s biggest stage.

And while he was successful at all his stops, his drag racing tenure perhaps saw Raley at his best.

Raley won the 1965 and 1966 NASCAR Top Fuel championships before eventually catching on with top fuel owners Jim and Allison Lee in 1968.

That partnership lasted six seasons, and brought home plenty of hardware – including Division 1 Top Fuel titles in 1969 and 1970.

“My job was to drive as well as the equipment was – meaning I had to be the best,” Raley said. “I always gave it my best shot to do that.

“The Lees liked to win – like most people – and I’m a race car driver, so I’m the same way.”

After a crash ended his drag racing days in 1973 and threatened to end his racing life altogether, Raley found himself back on the oval tracks of stock car racing for some time before eventually retiring for good.

A person who could drive anything to the maximum of its capability, Raley took great pride in knowing that there weren’t going to be very many days where his race car was beaten by another driver.

“You hear the guys on television say now, ‘Well, I didn’t win because I had a fifth-place car,’ ” Raley said. “If I was driving something that I thought was a fifth-place car, I did my best to make it a first-place car. As a driver, you always did what you could to pick up that slack.

“I enjoyed every minute of it all. When you drive a car that’s winning, it’s more fun, and I won – so I loved it all.”

Raley’s career on the track may be long over, but that doesn’t mean he still doesn’t have some influence on the future of the sport that gave him so much.

Perhaps one day, another version of do-it-all Tom Raley could be gracing a race track in some capacity.

“Life’s good,” he said. “My children are here this week. … My grandkids are here and even my great-grandkids.

“And one of the great-grandkids, wouldn’t you know it, he races those quarter midget cars. And he’s winning all the races. Hopefully he’ll even be a lot better than me.”