Larry Deese turns humble golf carts into eye-catching vehicles.
By John Johnston, Associate Editor
July 2019
Let’s say you’re in the market for a golf cart. Not just a run-of-the-mill cart, mind you, but a souped-up, tricked-out, color-coordinated, custom job that will impress even the most highfalutin of your friends. In that case, you might want to track down Larry Deese, F474813.
Larry Deese plans to spend more time traveling by motorhome with his wife, Karen, a choreographer.
Larry has transformed Club Car golf carts into vehicles that resemble Hummers, a ’57 Chevy, a Ford Mustang, and more. They are oh-so-cool, but they are not cheap. His most expensive cart creation cost $38,000.
Obviously, not everyone can afford such extravagance. Larry, though, has longstanding relationships with a number of NASCAR drivers who use golf carts to entertain guests, to get to track meet-and-greets, and the like. One of Larry’s customers is NASCAR vice chairman Mike Helton, who bought the aforementioned $38k cart, along with several others.
“Those NASCAR boys know what they want, and if you can’t give it to them, they’ll go to the next guy,” Larry said.
Some years ago, Mr. Helton wanted an eight-seat camouflaged cart so he could take friends skeet shooting. So, Larry — who works with an expert painter and fabricators, as needed — arranged for the body of Mr. Helton’s cart to undergo a camo dipping process, which transferred a pattern from Realtree, a company that specializes in camouflage design. Molded fiberglass made the cart’s steering column resemble the texture of a tree, and the turn-signal lever looked like a tree branch. In fact, everything about the cart was custom-made, from the seats to the gun racks in the floorboard.
The golf cart vocation began relatively late in Larry’s life, but his hands-on education into all things mechanical dates to the mid-1960s when he was a teen living in the Concord and Kannapolis areas of North Carolina. He worked part-time at Automotive Specialists, a shop that built racing engines. The owner, Keith Dorton, taught Larry the essential skills he uses to this day. Dorton also introduced him to Ralph Earnhardt, the father of Dale Sr. (who later had a son, Dale Jr.).
Dale Sr. and Larry, who were about the same age, became racing buddies. “Back then,” Larry said, “you either drag raced or you went to the dirt track.”
Larry put racing on hold during a two-year stint in the Air Force. When he returned home, he decided he should get “a real job.” He landed at what is now Duke Energy, where he logged 20 years as a junior engineer. In his spare time, he built custom homes, which he continued doing after retiring from Duke. He also started a home design center with one of his two daughters.
“I’ve always had that knack to be able to put things together,” he said.
Larry Deese counts a number of well-known NASCAR drivers as clients. He created a custom golf cart that resembles an H1 Hummer for Dale Earnhardt Jr.
The golf cart work came about because Larry saw that his son, Cameron, was an intelligent youngster who lacked mechanical aptitude. So, Larry bought a couple of old carts for their home in North Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Father and son took them apart, rebuilt them, and sold them. “To my surprise,” Larry deadpanned, “kids are smarter than you think they are.” Cameron liked the idea of making some cash, so they bought and rebuilt more carts.
Before long, Larry was building street-legal golf carts that featured upgrades to the paint, seats, suspension, and wheels. He also built a reputation as someone who made sure he met his customers’ needs.
All the while, he had stayed in contact with his racing pals. Then in February 2001, Dale Earnhardt Sr. died in a crash at the Daytona 500. For about a year afterward, Larry steered clear of NASCAR. Eventually, he started attending races again.
That’s when officials with the National Guard — Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s racing sponsor — approached Larry with a proposal. They knew he’d been working with golf carts. They also knew he was meticulous. They requested he create two eight-seat custom carts.
The project went above and beyond anything Larry had done. He rebuilt two Club Car chassis and outfitted each with a body that resembled a Hummer H1. The impressive carts cost $24,000 each, and they spurred more NASCAR folks to come calling.
Since then, Larry has created custom carts for former and current NASCAR drivers such as Darrell Waltrip, Tony Stewart (who wanted a cart to match his motorhome), Justin Allgaier, Rick Hendrick, Matt Crafton (who wanted a cart to match his sand buggy), and Dale Earnhardt Jr.
The high-ticket projects grab people’s attention, but most of Larry’s golf cart rebuilds are priced in the $6,000 to $8,000 range. These days, he’s particularly excited about what can be done with newer technologies in golf carts, such as lithium batteries.
But he’s also excited about motorhoming with his wife, Karen, a choreographer who owns a dance studio. They bought a 38-foot diesel pusher three years ago, and they have plans to purchase a bigger coach.
They look forward to traveling, spending time together, and meeting others. “Some of the best people I’ve met have been in a campground, or at a rally,” Larry said. “Some really good people, down to earth.”
Larry and Karen expect to be on the road a lot, which means Larry will be spending less time — maybe a lot less — in his 10,000-square-foot warehouse/shop. How will that feel?
“I don’t know yet. I’ve taken a month off here and there. There’s some other things I want to do while I’m still healthy and physically capable. We’ve got such a beautiful country. There’s so many places to go and see.”
They will make occasional trips home to North Myrtle Beach so Karen can attend to her dance studio. And so Larry can get back to his shop.
“I’m 67 years old, but I don’t want to stop,” he said. “As long as I’m breathing, I’ll still have some kind of project that I’m working on.”