Richard Allen Craven was born on May 24 of 1966, in Newburgh, Maine. Craven had a wide presence in NASCAR from the early 1990’s to the early 2000’s, and a winner in four different national touring series; these series includes the Busch North Series, the NASCAR Craftsman (Camping World) Truck Series, the NASCAR Busch (Nationwide) Series, and the NASCAR Winston (Sprint) Cup Series. Craven is now a broadcaster for NASCAR on the ESPN and ABC networks, as well as working on ESPN 2’s NASCAR Now show since 2008 as a co-host on the pre and post race shows.
After seeing Ricky’s dad, the older Craven, racing during Ricky’s childhood, Ricky began to have an interest in going fast in the powerful machines of a racecar. Craven began to really fuel his interest in racing at the age of 15, in 1981, when he started his first race at Unity Speedway. At this small 1/3rd mile rural track in Unity, Maine, he won two races, along with the Rookie of the Year Honors for the 1981 season while driving in the street stock division.
In 1983, the still young Craven won 12 events at the Unity Speedway, and captured the track championship while driving a Peter Prescott 6-cylinder Buick, alongside his father who was his original inspiration for driving a racecar.
In 1984 after winning multiple races at the Unity Speedway, the young Craven started driving at the 1/3rd mile Wiscasset Raceway in the late model division. This year he won the Rookie of the Year award along with the track championship in a dominant fashion at Wiscasset.
After driving the first four years of his young racing career at Unity Speedway, Craven raced at Wiscasset Raceway in 1985 with success.
In 1986, Craven made his NASCAR debut, in the NASCAR Busch (Nationwide) Series at Oxford Plains Speedway in his own #12, finishing 25th after suffering engine failure.
Craven, in 1987 joined the American Canadian Tour as a rookie driver when he started driving the #09 Buick for owner E.J. Prescott, replacing a driver who had won just three weeks previous, Kevin Lepage. Craven barely missed the Rookie of the Year honors in this series, by just 66 points to Paul Richardson. That same year, even after missing races at the first of the year, Craven still managed to finish 8th in the 1987 ACT (American-Canadian Tour) points standings.
In 1988, Craven finished a solid 4th place in the points, in just his sophomore year in the ACT series. This is impressive due to the presence of legendary drivers, Bobby Allison, Buddy Baker, and Dale Earnhardt, in past years in the series. But this success along with mediocre success in 1989, Craven was let go out of the E.J. Prescott car due to a lack of funds to keep the team going.
After two successful top 15 finishes in 1989 at Oxford Speedway in the NASCAR Busch North Series, after having to leave the ACT; 1990 was the year in which Craven completed his first full Busch North Series schedule. This resulted in him winning two races, along with the Rookie of the Year award.
In 1991, just one year after receiving the Rookie of the Year Award, Craven was crowned the champion in the Busch North Series, after winning ten times, including two “combination races,” or races that were combined with the Busch Grand National Series (the now Nationwide Series), in the #25 SpeeDee Oil Change Chevrolet which he partially owned. Also, Craven made his Winston (Sprint) Cup debut in the #20 SpeeDee Oldsmobile owned by Dick Moroso at Rockingham, where he finished where he started that day, in 34th position.
After having major success in the lower Busch North Series, Craven moved his way up to the Busch (Nationwide) Grand National Series full time in 1992, which in that year he drove Bill Papke’s #99 DuPont Chevrolet to the Rookie of the Year honors.
In 1993 Craven had a great year as a sophomore driver in the Busch (Nationwide) Series, while still driving the same car as the previous year, finishing over 90% of the laps ran, and having an average start and finish of 12.8. This performance in only his second year in the NASCAR Busch (Nationwide) Series full time, led to a finish of second in the points to only Steve Grissom.
After the 1993 season Craven left the Papke team and became an owner-driver, in his #2 DuPont Chevrolet. So in 1994 after adding the pressure to himself of owning his own team, he still ended up winning 2 races and accomplishing 16 top tens. Through all of this success, Craven just ended up finishing second in the points in the Busch (Nationwide) Series, for the second year in a row, but this time to David Green.
After having two consecutive years of runner-up finishes in the Busch (Nationwide) Series points, Ricky decided in 1995 that it was time to make the jump to the number one series in NASCAR, the Winston (Sprint) Cup Series. Joining with Larry Hedrick Motorsports, and a long-time NASCAR sponsor Kodak, Craven qualified for every race that season, and also racked up four top-tens in the process. Because of his efforts that year, Craven will forever be known as the 1995 Winston (Sprint) Cup Series Rookie of the Year. Because of his impressive driving, Larry Hedrick signed over partial ownership to Ricky after the 1995 season.
Craven began his sophomore season in the NASCAR Winston (Sprint) Cup Series, in 1996, with three consecutive top-tens, and his first top series pole in the first three races of the season. After these great finishes, Craven was fourth in points, up until the Winston Select 500 at Talladega. At this race Ricky was involved in one of the most violent crashes so far in the 1996 season in which he rolled his car and brutally destroyed that area’s catch fence and almost flew out of the track completely. Due to this wreck he fell to 20th in points, and his momentum was broken and after this race he only had one more top-five and pole for the remainder of the season. This was Craven’s final year with Larry Hedrick’s team.
In 1997 Craven signed to race for Rick Hendrick in the historical #25 Budweiser Chevrolet. He made the most of this opportunity when he raced to two top-five finishes in the first two races of the season, which included a Hendrick 1-2-3 in the 1997 Daytona 500, when he finished third and his teammates Jeff Gordon, and Terry Labonte finished 1st and 2nd respectively. After his beginning season high, he was practicing at Texas for the inaugural Interstate Batteries 500 when his car crashed hard into the outside wall which gave him a concussion that prevented him from racing in the next two events. But Craven came back with a vengeance, winning the Winston Open and rallying for a final points finish of 19th, which was his best at the time.
Once Craven’s 1998 season started he started feeling the effects of the previous year’s concussion, and after complaining and being checked out it was discovered that he had post concussion syndrome. This caused him to miss thirteen races after only completing the first four, and when he got back and was able to race, he won the pole at New Hampshire, but he only got to race three more races for Hendrick Motorsports after New Hampshire, before he was let go from his duties, being replaced by Wally Dallenbach Jr. Craven did not manage to acquire another ride until there were just three races left in the season when he filled in for Ernie Irvan at MB2 Motorsports in the #36 Skittles Pontiac.
1999 was Craven’s first year driving for NASCAR’s newest team at the time, Scott Barbour’s SBill Motorsports, as he drove the #58 Hollywood Video Ford Taurus. While driving for this newly funded team, he didn’t finish any better than 19th, and after failing to qualify for the Coca-Cola 600 at the Lowes (Charlotte) Motor Speedway, he was replaced by Loy Allen Jr. A few weeks later at Daytona Craven replaced rookie Dan Pardus in the #50 Midwest Transit Racing Chevrolet, and drove that car for the rest of the season to only one top 20 finish.
Craven returned to the Midwest Transit Racing team for 2000 but failed to qualify for four of the first nine races, which forced the team to go to a part-time schedule. Even with this limited schedule of only sixteen races started, Craven still managed to gain four top twenties in the #50 Chevrolet, but due to the lack of starts, he only finished 44th in the points.
After Craven’s dismal past two years, it was announced that he would drive the #32 Tide Ford for PPI Motorsports in 2001, replacing Scott Pruett. This move was a beneficial one for Craven as he won his fourth Winston (Sprint) Cup pole at Michigan that summer, and his first Winston (Sprint) Cup race at Martinsville, holding off past champion Dale Jarrett.
In 2002 Craven won two poles in NASCAR top series, while also finishing in the top-ten nine times, and finishing a career best of 15th in points.
2003 was the year that PPI Motorsports switched their car make to Pontiac, and started building their engines in-house. That same year was the year of Craven’s last win, when at the Dodge Dealers 400 at Darlington Raceway, Craven beat out future champion Kurt Busch by .002 seconds, which was the closest finish in NASCAR history since timing and scoring loops were introduced. This has since been tied once by Jimmie Johnson at Talladega in 2011. This race win by Craven was also the last win in NASCAR by a Pontiac. After Craven’s win, in 2003, he only had six more top tens and dropped twenty-three positions in points to 27th.
After going 24 races without a top-ten finish in 2004, Craven was replaced by Bobby Hamilton Jr, and only ran one more race with PPI, and that was at his home track at New Hampshire, in which he finished 17th. The final race of Craven’s NASCAR Winston (Sprint) Cup career was at the AMP Energy 500 of 2004 at Talladega, when he drove Joe Gibbs’ development #11 Old Spice Chevy to a 30th place finish.
After Craven retired from the Winston (Sprint) Cup Series, he decided to drive in the NASCAR Craftsman (Camping World) Truck Series for 2005. This year in that series he drove the #99 Superchips Ford for Jack Roush’s Roush Racing, to a win at Martinsville, nine top ten finishes, and a 14th place points finish . Even through the success, Craven and Roush didn’t work together again.
In 2006, Craven made his final start in a NASCAR sanctioned race when he started the Goody’s 250 in the NASCAR Busch (Nationwide) Series at Martinsville in 40th position at the age of 40, and finished the day in 39th after the breaks on the #14 FitzBradshaw Family Dollar Dodge failed.
After 2006, Craven searched for a ride, but failed and decided to officially retire after he accomplished 497 NASCAR Series races in his career of almost 20 years in NASCAR. Since then he has worked for ESPN, and Yahoo! Sports as a NASCAR analyst. On a personal note, Craven married his wife Cathleen in 1996 after meeting her through her uncle, and Craven’s team owner at the time, Peter Prescott.
Wikipedia: Ricky Craven
Ricky Craven Statistics
Ricky Craven Site Biography
ACT 1988 Quick Facts
ACT 1987 Quick Facts
ACT 2005 News
Closest Sprint Cup Finishes
Ricky Craven Google News
I would like to send out a personal Thank You to the following people for the information they provided:
Dale Chadbourne
George Fernald
Ralph Mason
Stan Meserve
Jeff Taylor
Tony True
Thursday, February 2, 2012
Friday, April 16, 2010
Andy Lally
Andrew Lally was born February 11th of 1975, in Northport, New York. He grew up on Long Island driving everything he could. When asked about what he was like before he got into racing he said, “I’ve been into racing all my life. From a very young age I had an interest in racing anything with wheels that I could get my hands on. Even some things without wheels.”
Before he even had time to think, Andy was hooked into racing as he says here, “I’ve just always had the bug [for racing], before I knew what a race car was I was flying down hills on my big wheel pushing it back up the hill to do all over. I remember the day I saw my first go kart, I was 4 years old and it changed my life. My neighbor flew down the hill that I normally rode my big wheel down but instead of having to get off and push it back up the hill he just turned the wheel and drove back up!! At four years old this light bulb went off in my head as I had just witnessed the coolest toy in the world! That was it, I was sold.”
Andy first got into sports cars in 1993 running Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) regional events with his first sponsor Tyrolean Motors and car owner Walter Simondinger.
Lally began his career in karting, in which he won two World Karting Associations (WKA) National Gold Cup Championships, in 1994.
In 1997 Lally won the US F2000 Rookie of the Year in his first full year in a professional series.
Lally finished 2nd in Grand Am Championship Points in 1999 with two wins, and two poles. In one of those wins he became the first driver in the world to win a professional race in the BMW Z3. Andy became one of three drivers picked by an Indy car panel of judges to represent the best up and coming drivers in the USA to compete in a European "winter series", that honor was very memorable to Andy as he says “It is such a hugely sort after prize that being picked for it really is a career changer. The experience itself was also excellent and it lead to opening doors for me today and meeting many people that I still stay in touch with.”
In 2000 Andy raced 8 races in the Barber Dodge Pro Series, with success of 4 podium finishes. He also raced a partial schedule in the SPEED World Challenge in both the GT and Touring divisions. His Grand Am team won the Cup Team Championship, while he finished 2nd in points because of missing a race early, but while he supported his teammate to the Championship that car won the championship. That same year he won three races, and three poles.
Andy won the 24 Hours of Daytona in the SRP2 class for the first time in 2001; as he went on to win the Rolex Grand Am SRP2 Championship that same year.
Lally not only is interested in car racing, but also luge. As he finished second in the 2003 International Gravity Sports Association street luge championship.
2004 was the year of Andy’s 2nd Rolex Grand Am SGS Championship.
In 2005 Andy finished 2nd in the Rolex GT Championships’ points by only 1 point. He won a total of 2 Grand Am Cup races, and became the first driver to win in the new Chevrolet Cobalt.
The year before Andy made his NASCAR debut, in 2006, he won his 3rd, and final to date, Rolex Grand Am GT Championship driving the Pontiac GTO.R. With that win he became the first driver to ever win three championships.
In 2007, Lally made his NASCAR debut in the Busch (Nationwide) Series in the #47 Wood Brothers/ JTG Racing Ford and in his second start he had a strong top ten finish. He also made his Craftsman (Camping World) Truck Series debut with two other starts with TRG Motorsports, driving the #00 Toyota Tundra. Andy also made his ARCA debut, plus two more races; out of the three races he had two top 10’s and a twelfth place finish.
In 2008 Lally had the great honor of racing in the Inaugural ARCA New Jersey 150 at New Jersey Motorsports Park in September. Lally was fastest in every practice session, and he started on the pole. Andy led the most laps, but lost the race on pit strategy when the race was called due to weather with eventual series champion Justin Allgaier winning the race with Lally finishing 4th.
Lally finished 2nd overall and 2nd in the Prototype class at the 2008 12 Hours of Sebring in the Rolex Sports Car Division. Andy also became the first driver in Grand Am history to win two continuous races with two different manufactures, as he did at Iowa Speedway in a Porsche and Three Rivers in a BMW. After his Sports Car run that year, Lally again raced 9 times in the Craftsman (Camping World) Truck Series.
In January of 2009 Andy won the 24 Hours of Daytona in the GT class, which was his sixth season in a row in which he had won at least one race, which is a Rolex Series record. Andy also won the Watkins Glen Koni Challenge Grand Am Rolex Series race. Total that year Lally had 7 top 5’s and 11 top 10’s in the Grand Am Rolex Series Race. Andy also raced in a 4 man, 24 hour Mountain Bike race, and two solo Mountain Bike 6 hour races in a sport that he highly respects.
Andy’s first Sprint Cup Series Start was in 2009, when he started 15th driving the #71 Chevrolet for TRG Motorsports at the Watkins Glen International Raceway. When asked what his best moment in his career was he spoke like a man who is determined to make it in NASCAR, “It is close but the very best [moment of my career] was probably qualifying for my first ever Sprint Cup race last year. I know this might sound silly compared to winning the 24 Hours of Daytona twice and standing on the podium at Le Mans but that day in qualifying at my home track in Watkins Glen with all the pressure of being a go-or-go homer in the Sprint Cup Series we were able to put the car 15th and ahead of so many of my racing heroes that it was just an amazing feeling.” He said “I had out qualified Jeff Gordon and Mark Martin that day as well as many other solid drivers. After dreaming of getting a chance to make that opportunity a reality it was an amazing feeling and rush to cross the start finish line knowing I had just run a good lap and hearing my crew chief and team owner tell me where that we made it into the field and that we were in great shape!” Lally finished a respectable 27th in his first Cup start after being involved in a crash with Sam Hornish Jr., Jeff Gordon and Jeff Burton. As well as running the Cup race, Lally ran a part-time schedule in the #7 Chevrolet for TRG Motorsports in the Camping World Truck Series, and after the NASCAR season was over, he ran full time in the Grand Am Rolex Sports Car Series.
In November of 2009 Andy competed in the World Championship of Luge events in Australia. He competed in 2 races, qualifying in the pole position for both, while winning one and finishing second in the other. It’s in a racers blood to not like finishing second but according to Andy the whole racing event was a “great feeling”.
In the 2010 24 Hours of Daytona Andy finished 3rd in the GT class which gave him the most podium finishes of any driver at the famed 24 hour race since the Grand Am Rolex series started in 2000 with 6. Lally is running the full 2010 Grand Am Rolex Series schedule in the #66 AXA Financial Porsche with teammate Ted Ballou. He will also be competing full time in the Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge for Kia. Kia is making its official debut as a participating manufacture for the first time in professional auto racing in North America with the Forte Koup model.
Andy holds series records for most all time top 3 and top 5 finishes and is tied for second on the all time class win list with 20 victories. Lally still is the only driver on the tour to have won in all the Rolex Series racetracks.
Andy played, “Almost every sport imaginable”, as he says, before he got into full time go-cart racing, but now he has got back to his roots and he loves to play football, baseball, and soccer as a pastime whenever he gets a chance. He also enjoys doing Mixed Martial Arts, Luge, and Rock Climbing with his friends.
For the future Andy hopes to find enough sponsorship dollars to run all the NASCAR and ARCA road course races, while still running Grand Am full-time. Maybe in the near future there is a full-time career in NASCAR for Andy Lally, but as of now he will continue his very successful Grand Am racing career.
http://www.andylally.com/page.cfm/resume-bio
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andy_Lally
http://www.grand-am.com/drivers/driver.cfm?series=r&did=1048
*I want to personally thank Andy Lally for doing an interview with Nascar Driver of the Day.
Before he even had time to think, Andy was hooked into racing as he says here, “I’ve just always had the bug [for racing], before I knew what a race car was I was flying down hills on my big wheel pushing it back up the hill to do all over. I remember the day I saw my first go kart, I was 4 years old and it changed my life. My neighbor flew down the hill that I normally rode my big wheel down but instead of having to get off and push it back up the hill he just turned the wheel and drove back up!! At four years old this light bulb went off in my head as I had just witnessed the coolest toy in the world! That was it, I was sold.”
Andy first got into sports cars in 1993 running Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) regional events with his first sponsor Tyrolean Motors and car owner Walter Simondinger.
Lally began his career in karting, in which he won two World Karting Associations (WKA) National Gold Cup Championships, in 1994.
In 1997 Lally won the US F2000 Rookie of the Year in his first full year in a professional series.
Lally finished 2nd in Grand Am Championship Points in 1999 with two wins, and two poles. In one of those wins he became the first driver in the world to win a professional race in the BMW Z3. Andy became one of three drivers picked by an Indy car panel of judges to represent the best up and coming drivers in the USA to compete in a European "winter series", that honor was very memorable to Andy as he says “It is such a hugely sort after prize that being picked for it really is a career changer. The experience itself was also excellent and it lead to opening doors for me today and meeting many people that I still stay in touch with.”
In 2000 Andy raced 8 races in the Barber Dodge Pro Series, with success of 4 podium finishes. He also raced a partial schedule in the SPEED World Challenge in both the GT and Touring divisions. His Grand Am team won the Cup Team Championship, while he finished 2nd in points because of missing a race early, but while he supported his teammate to the Championship that car won the championship. That same year he won three races, and three poles.
Andy won the 24 Hours of Daytona in the SRP2 class for the first time in 2001; as he went on to win the Rolex Grand Am SRP2 Championship that same year.
Lally not only is interested in car racing, but also luge. As he finished second in the 2003 International Gravity Sports Association street luge championship.
2004 was the year of Andy’s 2nd Rolex Grand Am SGS Championship.
In 2005 Andy finished 2nd in the Rolex GT Championships’ points by only 1 point. He won a total of 2 Grand Am Cup races, and became the first driver to win in the new Chevrolet Cobalt.
The year before Andy made his NASCAR debut, in 2006, he won his 3rd, and final to date, Rolex Grand Am GT Championship driving the Pontiac GTO.R. With that win he became the first driver to ever win three championships.
In 2007, Lally made his NASCAR debut in the Busch (Nationwide) Series in the #47 Wood Brothers/ JTG Racing Ford and in his second start he had a strong top ten finish. He also made his Craftsman (Camping World) Truck Series debut with two other starts with TRG Motorsports, driving the #00 Toyota Tundra. Andy also made his ARCA debut, plus two more races; out of the three races he had two top 10’s and a twelfth place finish.
In 2008 Lally had the great honor of racing in the Inaugural ARCA New Jersey 150 at New Jersey Motorsports Park in September. Lally was fastest in every practice session, and he started on the pole. Andy led the most laps, but lost the race on pit strategy when the race was called due to weather with eventual series champion Justin Allgaier winning the race with Lally finishing 4th.
Lally finished 2nd overall and 2nd in the Prototype class at the 2008 12 Hours of Sebring in the Rolex Sports Car Division. Andy also became the first driver in Grand Am history to win two continuous races with two different manufactures, as he did at Iowa Speedway in a Porsche and Three Rivers in a BMW. After his Sports Car run that year, Lally again raced 9 times in the Craftsman (Camping World) Truck Series.
In January of 2009 Andy won the 24 Hours of Daytona in the GT class, which was his sixth season in a row in which he had won at least one race, which is a Rolex Series record. Andy also won the Watkins Glen Koni Challenge Grand Am Rolex Series race. Total that year Lally had 7 top 5’s and 11 top 10’s in the Grand Am Rolex Series Race. Andy also raced in a 4 man, 24 hour Mountain Bike race, and two solo Mountain Bike 6 hour races in a sport that he highly respects.
Andy’s first Sprint Cup Series Start was in 2009, when he started 15th driving the #71 Chevrolet for TRG Motorsports at the Watkins Glen International Raceway. When asked what his best moment in his career was he spoke like a man who is determined to make it in NASCAR, “It is close but the very best [moment of my career] was probably qualifying for my first ever Sprint Cup race last year. I know this might sound silly compared to winning the 24 Hours of Daytona twice and standing on the podium at Le Mans but that day in qualifying at my home track in Watkins Glen with all the pressure of being a go-or-go homer in the Sprint Cup Series we were able to put the car 15th and ahead of so many of my racing heroes that it was just an amazing feeling.” He said “I had out qualified Jeff Gordon and Mark Martin that day as well as many other solid drivers. After dreaming of getting a chance to make that opportunity a reality it was an amazing feeling and rush to cross the start finish line knowing I had just run a good lap and hearing my crew chief and team owner tell me where that we made it into the field and that we were in great shape!” Lally finished a respectable 27th in his first Cup start after being involved in a crash with Sam Hornish Jr., Jeff Gordon and Jeff Burton. As well as running the Cup race, Lally ran a part-time schedule in the #7 Chevrolet for TRG Motorsports in the Camping World Truck Series, and after the NASCAR season was over, he ran full time in the Grand Am Rolex Sports Car Series.
In November of 2009 Andy competed in the World Championship of Luge events in Australia. He competed in 2 races, qualifying in the pole position for both, while winning one and finishing second in the other. It’s in a racers blood to not like finishing second but according to Andy the whole racing event was a “great feeling”.
In the 2010 24 Hours of Daytona Andy finished 3rd in the GT class which gave him the most podium finishes of any driver at the famed 24 hour race since the Grand Am Rolex series started in 2000 with 6. Lally is running the full 2010 Grand Am Rolex Series schedule in the #66 AXA Financial Porsche with teammate Ted Ballou. He will also be competing full time in the Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge for Kia. Kia is making its official debut as a participating manufacture for the first time in professional auto racing in North America with the Forte Koup model.
Andy holds series records for most all time top 3 and top 5 finishes and is tied for second on the all time class win list with 20 victories. Lally still is the only driver on the tour to have won in all the Rolex Series racetracks.
Andy played, “Almost every sport imaginable”, as he says, before he got into full time go-cart racing, but now he has got back to his roots and he loves to play football, baseball, and soccer as a pastime whenever he gets a chance. He also enjoys doing Mixed Martial Arts, Luge, and Rock Climbing with his friends.
For the future Andy hopes to find enough sponsorship dollars to run all the NASCAR and ARCA road course races, while still running Grand Am full-time. Maybe in the near future there is a full-time career in NASCAR for Andy Lally, but as of now he will continue his very successful Grand Am racing career.
http://www.andylally.com/page.cfm/resume-bio
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andy_Lally
http://www.grand-am.com/drivers/driver.cfm?series=r&did=1048
*I want to personally thank Andy Lally for doing an interview with Nascar Driver of the Day.
Saturday, February 27, 2010
Lake Speed
Lake Chambers Speed was born on January 17th of 1948. Ironically, Lake’s father Leland Speed was the Mayor of Jackson, Mississippi the year he was born.
Lake started his racing career at the age of thirteen racing go-carts, much to the displeasure of his family. Over the years, Speed won the International Karting Federation (IKF) National Championship six times and in 1978 he won the prestigious Karting World Championship over many people, including future Formula One legend Ayrton Senna. Speed is the only American to win the championship to date.
In 1980 Speed considered racing in Formula One, CART, and the International Motor Sports Association (IMSA). But after he talked to Lowe's Motor Speedway promoter, Humpy Wheeler and NASCAR official, Steve Peterson, Speed chose to go NASCAR. According to Speed, "It was the highest mountain to climb." Speed's relative unfamiliarity with the NASCAR scene led him to buy his first car from someone in Chicago. Speed started nineteen races in his rookie year scoring an eighth at the track dubbed as too tough to tame, Darlington Speedway in just his third career start. Speed finished twenty-second in overall points and second to Jody Ridley in the rookie of the year standings.
In 1981, Speed again ran his own team, starting twenty-seven of the thirty-one races on the schedule. Lake was unable to qualify for the 1981 Daytona 500, but did manage to win the unfamiliar 30-lap consolation race, leading the race from start to finish. The final points tally came up with Speed finishing eighteenth in points. One special footnote for Speed during the 1981 season was that he enabled future NASCAR pace car driver Elmo Langley to start his 536th and final NASCAR race at Dover in the Mason-Dixon 500 in one of his cars. Langley started and finished 29th out of the 31 car field, completing only six laps before a driveshaft failure.
1982 was Speed's first complete year in the Winston (Sprint) Cup series. This time, Speed was driving for the first time for another car owner, Roger Hamby. Speed didn’t have a top-ten finish for the first eleven races of the year but ended up with a twentieth place finish in the points.
For 1983 Lake drove a part time schedule for Hoss Ellington. At Talladega Speed was about to win before he got passed by Richard Petty and Benny Parsons. After the race Lake Speed was born again and gave his life to Christ on August 28th. The week after Talladega, Speed scored another top ten with a sixth in the World 600 at Charlotte. Speed ended this monumental year with a finish of 27th in the points.
Lake only started 19 of the 30 races in 1984; he upgraded one position to 26th in the points. From 1983 to 1984 Lake made 5 starts in the Busch (Nationwide) Series with a best finish of 2nd at Daytona.
In 1985 Lake Speed had his best statistical year in NASCAR while he ran a full schedule for RahMoc Racing; Speed started off the season with an amazing second place finish to Bill Elliott in the Daytona 500. Overall, Speed finished in the 10th place in the NASCAR Winston (Sprint) Cup series points.
Speed started off the 1986 season with a tenth in the Daytona 500 and a tenth at Rockingham; after four races into the season RahMoc Racing let Lake go without explanation. Lake started one more race that year when he filled in for Rick Wilson for Morgan-McClure Motorsports at Charlotte; he finished 14th. Shortly after that race, Speed began working again at starting his own race team.
1987 was a building year in many ways for Lake and his newly formed purple and white #83 Oldsmobile team. Speed earned sponsorship from Wynn's Car Care Products, K-mart, and Delco Battery with veteran crew chief Darrell Bryant helping him build the team. Speed was able to put up some impressive race runs in just thirteen starts. Speed finished ninth in the first Talladega race and backed that up with a third place finish in the World 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
For the 1988 Daytona 500 Lake had very high backing from the Hoosier tire company, he ran good in the race but mid-way he dropped out due to engine failure. The next race at Richmond, Speed ran up front leading 67 laps but he ended up finishing sixth. The race after Richmond was just a little farther down south at the Rockingham Speedway in North Carolina; Speed led 51 laps and finished second to Neil Bonnett. Lake earlier in the season tested Hoosier Tires at Darlington and when they went there he was the only one on Hoosiers due to everyone else thinking they would blister. That was a wonderful day for Speed who led 178 of 367 laps to go on and win his first and last race of his career. Speed ended the 1988 season with a 17th place finish in the points.
Lake came into the 1989 season with sponsorship from Bull’s Eye Barbecue Sauce. Speed drove for car-owners such as Cale Yarborough, Bud Moore, and Harry Melling, with very good finishes until the July. While Sacks' car overturned, Speed was injured more severely, and missed 5 races. Lake returned to action in the Miller High Life 400 at Richmond to finish 14th. At the final race of the 1989 season at Atlanta, Lake was able to conclude a very disappointing year with a 10th place run.
At the dawn of the new decade in 1990 Speed only started six races in which he only finished two due to being in the wrong place at the wrong time and mechanical failures.
In 1991 Speed replaced Dick Trickle in Cale Yarborough's car but struggled with mechanical failures throughout the year. In twenty starts, Speed's best finish was an eleventh at Bristol in August.
In 1992, Speed got back to his own team; sadly he only started nine races with Purex as his sponsor. The team suffered several mechanical failures and Speed only managed to have a best finish of eighteenth in the final two races of the season at Phoenix and Atlanta.
Lake drove his own car for awhile but in the middle of the season Robert Yates asked him if he could fill in for the deceased Davey Allison. Speed ran for Robert Yates Racing until he was in a wreck at Bristol and was replaced by Ernie Irvan a week later. Two races later at Dover, Speed found another ride; he replaced Geoff Bodine in Bud Moore's Ford. Speed's best finish for Moore at the end of the 1993 season was an eleventh at Charlotte.
Speed remained with Moore for the 1994 season, Speed and the team ran good through the summer stretch, often starting near the rear of the field but moving to the front. Even through multiple top tens in the races, Speed didn’t finish in the top ten in points. He finished eleventh behind Bill Elliott. Speed was inducted into the Karting hall of fame in 1994.
Speed moved over to Harry Melling's team for the 1995 season and breathed new life into the organization. The normally red and white Melling car now was emblazoned with Spam sponsorship and blue and yellow colors. Lake had one of his more infamous incidents of his career after the Miller Genuine Draft 400; after Speed had been blocking him on the track Michael Waltrip blocked Speed's car in the pits. Waltrip pulled down Speed's window net and began throwing punches at Speed, who was wearing his helmet. The incident was broadcast in front of a live television audience on the CBS network and resulted in a $10,000 fine for Waltrip. Lake finished twenty-third in the Winston (Sprint) Cup Series points that year.
In Lake’s last full season in 1996, Speed earned his first career NASCAR pole, but unfortunately it was in a non-points event, The Winston Open. Speed had his last top ten finish of his career at the Southern 500 at Darlington International Raceway, even after a cut tire notched him all the way back two laps down, Lake’s car prevailed him to a 10th place finish.
When the University of Nebraska left from the sponsorship position in 1997, Speed and Melling ran a limited season. Out of the 25 races he attempted Lake qualified for them all. During the mid-point of the season, the 9 car was filmed for the TV movie Steel Chariots. Lake’s team had one of the most embarrassing debacles of their career when at Richmond Lake looked to have one of the stronger cars, he lead three laps during green flag stops when he finally made his, during the stop, the crew bolted the left side tires on the right side and the right side tires on the left, forcing Lake to make multiple pit stops and dropping him out of a chance of having a good finish. The Melling team was able to get sponsorship for the last four races of the season from Advantage Camo, the best finish being 17th at Rockingham's AC Delco 400. Lake finished 35th in the points standings that mediocre year.
1998 would be Lake Speed's final Winston (Sprint) Cup season with sponsorship from Cartoon Network. Speed has been credited with helping Dale Earnhardt win his very first Daytona 500 by tangling with John Andretti on the last lap which secured his win. Speed was injured part of the way into the season at Sears Point (Infineon) Raceway during practice and was out for one race with David Gilliland’s father Butch taking over for him. The week after at New Hampshire, Speed was caught up in a wreck, due to later tests which revealed a cracked sternum and four broken ribs, Lake Speed announced his effective retirement. Jerry Nadeau took over the ride from then on. Lake made 16 starts during the 1998 season.
Speed said about not getting another ride in NASCAR’s top series, "This is a God thing, as far as I'm concerned," Speed said. "He knew the only way He was gonna stop me from racing was probably to put that concrete barrier in front of me and break me up, so that I had to stop. My kids were at the age then that they really needed Dad at home. To be able to not have your mind focused on the next race all the time and be able to give them some attention and time was monumental. The timing was perfect. I fought it, fussed about it and was ill about it for quite a few years, but finally came to realize how blessed I was and, really, that things had turned out for the best."
Speed has drove karts since his NASCAR retirement; he has had four wins in Historic Stock Car Racing Association events on Daytona's 3.56-mile road course in 2002 and 2003 driving one of his old 83 Purex-sponsored Fords.
In 2006, the International Kart Federation established the Lake Speed Achievement of Excellence karting award in honor of the 1978 World Karting Champion. The inaugural recipient was Matt Johnson of Las Vegas, Nevada. The recipient of the award could be a driver, team, kart shop or any combination thereof, and the winner is determined primarily on sportsmanship, achievement and professional appearance during the race event.
Today, the 59 year old Speed resides in Kannapolis, North Carolina with his wife Ricé while he still races in the World karting Association National Road Racing Series in the Spec125 Tag 1 and 2 classes and serves as the Chairman or the Board for the Motor Racing Outreach, a Christian ministry for NASCAR on Sundays. Speed has four grandchildren by Lake Jr., his son from his first marriage. Lake and Ricé also have two daughters and a son; Sara Ann, who has recently been married to Seth Arey and is residing in Concord, North Carolina, Maurie, a junior theatre major at Azusa Pacific University in California, and Chris, a senior in high school which plans to go on to Azusa with his sister.
http://www.rowdy.com/content/profile/blog/26372/where-are-they-now-lake-speed
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Speed
http://www.nascar.com/2007/news/features/05/10/where.is.lake.speed/story_single.html
Lake started his racing career at the age of thirteen racing go-carts, much to the displeasure of his family. Over the years, Speed won the International Karting Federation (IKF) National Championship six times and in 1978 he won the prestigious Karting World Championship over many people, including future Formula One legend Ayrton Senna. Speed is the only American to win the championship to date.
In 1980 Speed considered racing in Formula One, CART, and the International Motor Sports Association (IMSA). But after he talked to Lowe's Motor Speedway promoter, Humpy Wheeler and NASCAR official, Steve Peterson, Speed chose to go NASCAR. According to Speed, "It was the highest mountain to climb." Speed's relative unfamiliarity with the NASCAR scene led him to buy his first car from someone in Chicago. Speed started nineteen races in his rookie year scoring an eighth at the track dubbed as too tough to tame, Darlington Speedway in just his third career start. Speed finished twenty-second in overall points and second to Jody Ridley in the rookie of the year standings.
In 1981, Speed again ran his own team, starting twenty-seven of the thirty-one races on the schedule. Lake was unable to qualify for the 1981 Daytona 500, but did manage to win the unfamiliar 30-lap consolation race, leading the race from start to finish. The final points tally came up with Speed finishing eighteenth in points. One special footnote for Speed during the 1981 season was that he enabled future NASCAR pace car driver Elmo Langley to start his 536th and final NASCAR race at Dover in the Mason-Dixon 500 in one of his cars. Langley started and finished 29th out of the 31 car field, completing only six laps before a driveshaft failure.
1982 was Speed's first complete year in the Winston (Sprint) Cup series. This time, Speed was driving for the first time for another car owner, Roger Hamby. Speed didn’t have a top-ten finish for the first eleven races of the year but ended up with a twentieth place finish in the points.
For 1983 Lake drove a part time schedule for Hoss Ellington. At Talladega Speed was about to win before he got passed by Richard Petty and Benny Parsons. After the race Lake Speed was born again and gave his life to Christ on August 28th. The week after Talladega, Speed scored another top ten with a sixth in the World 600 at Charlotte. Speed ended this monumental year with a finish of 27th in the points.
Lake only started 19 of the 30 races in 1984; he upgraded one position to 26th in the points. From 1983 to 1984 Lake made 5 starts in the Busch (Nationwide) Series with a best finish of 2nd at Daytona.
In 1985 Lake Speed had his best statistical year in NASCAR while he ran a full schedule for RahMoc Racing; Speed started off the season with an amazing second place finish to Bill Elliott in the Daytona 500. Overall, Speed finished in the 10th place in the NASCAR Winston (Sprint) Cup series points.
Speed started off the 1986 season with a tenth in the Daytona 500 and a tenth at Rockingham; after four races into the season RahMoc Racing let Lake go without explanation. Lake started one more race that year when he filled in for Rick Wilson for Morgan-McClure Motorsports at Charlotte; he finished 14th. Shortly after that race, Speed began working again at starting his own race team.
1987 was a building year in many ways for Lake and his newly formed purple and white #83 Oldsmobile team. Speed earned sponsorship from Wynn's Car Care Products, K-mart, and Delco Battery with veteran crew chief Darrell Bryant helping him build the team. Speed was able to put up some impressive race runs in just thirteen starts. Speed finished ninth in the first Talladega race and backed that up with a third place finish in the World 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
For the 1988 Daytona 500 Lake had very high backing from the Hoosier tire company, he ran good in the race but mid-way he dropped out due to engine failure. The next race at Richmond, Speed ran up front leading 67 laps but he ended up finishing sixth. The race after Richmond was just a little farther down south at the Rockingham Speedway in North Carolina; Speed led 51 laps and finished second to Neil Bonnett. Lake earlier in the season tested Hoosier Tires at Darlington and when they went there he was the only one on Hoosiers due to everyone else thinking they would blister. That was a wonderful day for Speed who led 178 of 367 laps to go on and win his first and last race of his career. Speed ended the 1988 season with a 17th place finish in the points.
Lake came into the 1989 season with sponsorship from Bull’s Eye Barbecue Sauce. Speed drove for car-owners such as Cale Yarborough, Bud Moore, and Harry Melling, with very good finishes until the July. While Sacks' car overturned, Speed was injured more severely, and missed 5 races. Lake returned to action in the Miller High Life 400 at Richmond to finish 14th. At the final race of the 1989 season at Atlanta, Lake was able to conclude a very disappointing year with a 10th place run.
At the dawn of the new decade in 1990 Speed only started six races in which he only finished two due to being in the wrong place at the wrong time and mechanical failures.
In 1991 Speed replaced Dick Trickle in Cale Yarborough's car but struggled with mechanical failures throughout the year. In twenty starts, Speed's best finish was an eleventh at Bristol in August.
In 1992, Speed got back to his own team; sadly he only started nine races with Purex as his sponsor. The team suffered several mechanical failures and Speed only managed to have a best finish of eighteenth in the final two races of the season at Phoenix and Atlanta.
Lake drove his own car for awhile but in the middle of the season Robert Yates asked him if he could fill in for the deceased Davey Allison. Speed ran for Robert Yates Racing until he was in a wreck at Bristol and was replaced by Ernie Irvan a week later. Two races later at Dover, Speed found another ride; he replaced Geoff Bodine in Bud Moore's Ford. Speed's best finish for Moore at the end of the 1993 season was an eleventh at Charlotte.
Speed remained with Moore for the 1994 season, Speed and the team ran good through the summer stretch, often starting near the rear of the field but moving to the front. Even through multiple top tens in the races, Speed didn’t finish in the top ten in points. He finished eleventh behind Bill Elliott. Speed was inducted into the Karting hall of fame in 1994.
Speed moved over to Harry Melling's team for the 1995 season and breathed new life into the organization. The normally red and white Melling car now was emblazoned with Spam sponsorship and blue and yellow colors. Lake had one of his more infamous incidents of his career after the Miller Genuine Draft 400; after Speed had been blocking him on the track Michael Waltrip blocked Speed's car in the pits. Waltrip pulled down Speed's window net and began throwing punches at Speed, who was wearing his helmet. The incident was broadcast in front of a live television audience on the CBS network and resulted in a $10,000 fine for Waltrip. Lake finished twenty-third in the Winston (Sprint) Cup Series points that year.
In Lake’s last full season in 1996, Speed earned his first career NASCAR pole, but unfortunately it was in a non-points event, The Winston Open. Speed had his last top ten finish of his career at the Southern 500 at Darlington International Raceway, even after a cut tire notched him all the way back two laps down, Lake’s car prevailed him to a 10th place finish.
When the University of Nebraska left from the sponsorship position in 1997, Speed and Melling ran a limited season. Out of the 25 races he attempted Lake qualified for them all. During the mid-point of the season, the 9 car was filmed for the TV movie Steel Chariots. Lake’s team had one of the most embarrassing debacles of their career when at Richmond Lake looked to have one of the stronger cars, he lead three laps during green flag stops when he finally made his, during the stop, the crew bolted the left side tires on the right side and the right side tires on the left, forcing Lake to make multiple pit stops and dropping him out of a chance of having a good finish. The Melling team was able to get sponsorship for the last four races of the season from Advantage Camo, the best finish being 17th at Rockingham's AC Delco 400. Lake finished 35th in the points standings that mediocre year.
1998 would be Lake Speed's final Winston (Sprint) Cup season with sponsorship from Cartoon Network. Speed has been credited with helping Dale Earnhardt win his very first Daytona 500 by tangling with John Andretti on the last lap which secured his win. Speed was injured part of the way into the season at Sears Point (Infineon) Raceway during practice and was out for one race with David Gilliland’s father Butch taking over for him. The week after at New Hampshire, Speed was caught up in a wreck, due to later tests which revealed a cracked sternum and four broken ribs, Lake Speed announced his effective retirement. Jerry Nadeau took over the ride from then on. Lake made 16 starts during the 1998 season.
Speed said about not getting another ride in NASCAR’s top series, "This is a God thing, as far as I'm concerned," Speed said. "He knew the only way He was gonna stop me from racing was probably to put that concrete barrier in front of me and break me up, so that I had to stop. My kids were at the age then that they really needed Dad at home. To be able to not have your mind focused on the next race all the time and be able to give them some attention and time was monumental. The timing was perfect. I fought it, fussed about it and was ill about it for quite a few years, but finally came to realize how blessed I was and, really, that things had turned out for the best."
Speed has drove karts since his NASCAR retirement; he has had four wins in Historic Stock Car Racing Association events on Daytona's 3.56-mile road course in 2002 and 2003 driving one of his old 83 Purex-sponsored Fords.
In 2006, the International Kart Federation established the Lake Speed Achievement of Excellence karting award in honor of the 1978 World Karting Champion. The inaugural recipient was Matt Johnson of Las Vegas, Nevada. The recipient of the award could be a driver, team, kart shop or any combination thereof, and the winner is determined primarily on sportsmanship, achievement and professional appearance during the race event.
Today, the 59 year old Speed resides in Kannapolis, North Carolina with his wife Ricé while he still races in the World karting Association National Road Racing Series in the Spec125 Tag 1 and 2 classes and serves as the Chairman or the Board for the Motor Racing Outreach, a Christian ministry for NASCAR on Sundays. Speed has four grandchildren by Lake Jr., his son from his first marriage. Lake and Ricé also have two daughters and a son; Sara Ann, who has recently been married to Seth Arey and is residing in Concord, North Carolina, Maurie, a junior theatre major at Azusa Pacific University in California, and Chris, a senior in high school which plans to go on to Azusa with his sister.
http://www.rowdy.com/content/profile/blog/26372/where-are-they-now-lake-speed
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Speed
http://www.nascar.com/2007/news/features/05/10/where.is.lake.speed/story_single.html
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
Steve Park
Stephen Park was born on August 23rd of 1967 in East Northport, New York to Dotti and Bob Park; Bob was a National Modified Championship contender in the mid 1900’s.
After tinkering with cars since he was 12, Open-Wheeled Modified owner Curt Chase noticed the multi-talented Park hanging out in the pits and asked if he wouldn't mind driving his car; of course he didn’t. Park drove the Curt Chase owned car for the whole 1992 season.
Park moved to TG Racing in 1993; that move paid off, he won four times in 1993 and 10 times in 1994 for that team.
In 1995, Park moved to Sheba Racing and posted seven victories.
In 1996 Steve was hired by Dale Earnhardt. At first, when Dale was calling Park, he would refuse to return his phone calls, thinking that his friends were pulling a prank on him. After asking his mom and finally being convinced that the actual Dale Earnhardt was calling him, Steve made one start in the #31 Busch (Nationwide) Series car in Charlotte in October that resulted in a 29th place finish. In the Modified Series, Steve posted five wins, and in the Busch North Series he competed in 11 races with two wins as a result. At Watkins Glen that year Joe Nemechek asked Steve to qualify his Craftsman (Camping World) Series Truck, all he had to do was get it in the field. Steve did that and much more by winning the pole for the race that more likely helped his career along tremendously.
In 1997 Steve was given a full-time ride in Earnhardt’s #3 AC-Delco Chevrolet in the Busch (Nationwide) Series; he boasted 3 wins and the rookie of the year title.
Steve came to the NASCAR Winston (Sprint) Cup Series full-time in 1998 as the driver for the newly formed #1 Pennzoil Chevrolet team of Dale Earnhardt Inc. When he moved to Concord so did his parents; his father Bob Park started working at Dale Earnhardt Inc. as a gear specialist and his mother Dotti Park moved Steve's Fan Club headquarters to Mooresville, N.C. When the season started Steve was competing for the Rookie of the Year honors with Kenny Irwin Jr. but only five races into the season Steve was in a major crash at Atlanta Motor Speedway. That race put him out of contention for the majority of the races that year.
Steve raced his first full NASCAR Winston (Sprint) Cup Series season in 2000. During the season Steve won at his home track of Watkins Glen International Raceway when he won the 2000 Global Crossing at The Glen.
In 2001, Park scored an emotional win for Dale Earnhardt Inc. by winning the Dura Lube 400 at North Carolina Speedway just one week after his boss and good friend Dale Earnhardt was killed in a bizarre crash the week before at Daytona International Raceway in the Daytona 500. The same season, while driving in the Busch (Nationwide) Series, Park was involved in a horrific crash at Darlington Raceway while driving the #31 Whelen Engineering Chevrolet owned by Ted Marsh. Under the caution Steve removed his steering wheel to adjust it, causing him to turn hard left. By complete chance, lap down car Larry Foyt was speeding up to join the lap down line at the same time Park turned. Park was T-boned on the driver’s side by Foyt’s car. The rigorousness of the crash caused a massive head injury plus several broken ribs. Foyt said that the car was traveling "well over 100 miles per hour [at the time of the crash]”. Park was left with slurred speech as a result of the accident and some have theorized that he never fully recovered from his injuries.
Park returned to race six times in the 2002 Winston (Sprint) Cup season and had many accidents; at Pocono Raceway Park moved over to dodge the merging Rusty Wallace when he hit teammate Dale Earnhardt Jr. and spun into the infield guardrail; he barrel rolled multiple times which caused NASCAR to issue a very lengthy Red flag to repair the broken, highway-like barrier.
During the 2003 NASCAR Winston (Sprint) Cup Series, Dale Earnhardt, Inc. let Park go midway into the season, and he was traded to Richard Childress Racing for Jeff Green, who took over the #1 Chevrolet car from Park with Park taking over the #30 AOL Chevrolet for Childress. A few days later, he won the pole for the Winston All Star Open, but at the start of the race he jumped the start and had to start from the rear. He never made it to the next round to the actual million dollar race. His best finish at RCR was a 5th place finish at Michigan that June. After the season was over, Park announced he would not return to the #30 AOL Chevy and would join the Craftsman (Camping World) Truck Series the following season. He joined Las Vegas-owned team Orleans Racing to pilot the #62 Dodge, vacated by Brendan Gaughan.
Steve never won a race in 2004, he finished 9th in the Craftsman (Camping World) Truck Series driver points, and was voted the Most Popular Driver.
In 2005 Park won the Craftsman (Camping World) Truck Series American Racing Wheels 200, the second race of the season at California Speedway, and became the tenth driver to win a race in all three of NASCAR's top racing series. Park and the #62 team was struggling and in October, right before the truck race in Martinsville, Steve Park and Orleans Racing parted ways due to Dodge pulling support and money to many truck teams.
Park drove Ted Marsh’s #31 Whelen Engineering Chevrolet in six NASCAR Busch (Nationwide) Series events in 2006.
In 2008 Park signed with NDS Motorsports to drive the #35 Waste Management Recycle America Chevrolet Monte Carlo in all 13 of the NASCAR Camping World East Series events. He finished 9th in the standings with a best finish of 2nd at the New Hampshire Motor Speedway. In late 2008, Steve Park married his longtime girlfriend, Jessica Skarpalezos at Sea Island, Georgia.
In 2009 Park returned to race in the #35 Waste Management Recycle America Chevy Monte Carlo in the NASCAR Camping World East Series. On August 1, 2009 Steve won the Edge Hotel 150 at Adirondack International Speedway. It was Steve's first NASCAR Camping World East Series win since July 1, 1996 at Nazareth Speedway. Total Steve finished 5th in the point standings. On August 12, 2009, Park announced on his website (Steve-Park.com) that he and his wife Jessica, were expecting their first child.
In 2010 Park yet again returned to race in the #35 Waste Management Recycle America Chevrolet Monte Carlo in the NASCAR Camping World East Series. On January 2, 2010, Park announced on his website that his son Jayden Robert Park was born.
When not at the track, Park enjoys riding motorcycles, boating, golfing, and spending time with Jayden, his son.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Park_(NASCAR)
http://www.theautochannel.com/news/date/19980907/news016797.html
http://www.nascar.com/drivers/dps/spark00/cup/bio.html
http://insiderracingnews.com/Writers/AM/011708.html
After tinkering with cars since he was 12, Open-Wheeled Modified owner Curt Chase noticed the multi-talented Park hanging out in the pits and asked if he wouldn't mind driving his car; of course he didn’t. Park drove the Curt Chase owned car for the whole 1992 season.
Park moved to TG Racing in 1993; that move paid off, he won four times in 1993 and 10 times in 1994 for that team.
In 1995, Park moved to Sheba Racing and posted seven victories.
In 1996 Steve was hired by Dale Earnhardt. At first, when Dale was calling Park, he would refuse to return his phone calls, thinking that his friends were pulling a prank on him. After asking his mom and finally being convinced that the actual Dale Earnhardt was calling him, Steve made one start in the #31 Busch (Nationwide) Series car in Charlotte in October that resulted in a 29th place finish. In the Modified Series, Steve posted five wins, and in the Busch North Series he competed in 11 races with two wins as a result. At Watkins Glen that year Joe Nemechek asked Steve to qualify his Craftsman (Camping World) Series Truck, all he had to do was get it in the field. Steve did that and much more by winning the pole for the race that more likely helped his career along tremendously.
In 1997 Steve was given a full-time ride in Earnhardt’s #3 AC-Delco Chevrolet in the Busch (Nationwide) Series; he boasted 3 wins and the rookie of the year title.
Steve came to the NASCAR Winston (Sprint) Cup Series full-time in 1998 as the driver for the newly formed #1 Pennzoil Chevrolet team of Dale Earnhardt Inc. When he moved to Concord so did his parents; his father Bob Park started working at Dale Earnhardt Inc. as a gear specialist and his mother Dotti Park moved Steve's Fan Club headquarters to Mooresville, N.C. When the season started Steve was competing for the Rookie of the Year honors with Kenny Irwin Jr. but only five races into the season Steve was in a major crash at Atlanta Motor Speedway. That race put him out of contention for the majority of the races that year.
Steve raced his first full NASCAR Winston (Sprint) Cup Series season in 2000. During the season Steve won at his home track of Watkins Glen International Raceway when he won the 2000 Global Crossing at The Glen.
In 2001, Park scored an emotional win for Dale Earnhardt Inc. by winning the Dura Lube 400 at North Carolina Speedway just one week after his boss and good friend Dale Earnhardt was killed in a bizarre crash the week before at Daytona International Raceway in the Daytona 500. The same season, while driving in the Busch (Nationwide) Series, Park was involved in a horrific crash at Darlington Raceway while driving the #31 Whelen Engineering Chevrolet owned by Ted Marsh. Under the caution Steve removed his steering wheel to adjust it, causing him to turn hard left. By complete chance, lap down car Larry Foyt was speeding up to join the lap down line at the same time Park turned. Park was T-boned on the driver’s side by Foyt’s car. The rigorousness of the crash caused a massive head injury plus several broken ribs. Foyt said that the car was traveling "well over 100 miles per hour [at the time of the crash]”. Park was left with slurred speech as a result of the accident and some have theorized that he never fully recovered from his injuries.
Park returned to race six times in the 2002 Winston (Sprint) Cup season and had many accidents; at Pocono Raceway Park moved over to dodge the merging Rusty Wallace when he hit teammate Dale Earnhardt Jr. and spun into the infield guardrail; he barrel rolled multiple times which caused NASCAR to issue a very lengthy Red flag to repair the broken, highway-like barrier.
During the 2003 NASCAR Winston (Sprint) Cup Series, Dale Earnhardt, Inc. let Park go midway into the season, and he was traded to Richard Childress Racing for Jeff Green, who took over the #1 Chevrolet car from Park with Park taking over the #30 AOL Chevrolet for Childress. A few days later, he won the pole for the Winston All Star Open, but at the start of the race he jumped the start and had to start from the rear. He never made it to the next round to the actual million dollar race. His best finish at RCR was a 5th place finish at Michigan that June. After the season was over, Park announced he would not return to the #30 AOL Chevy and would join the Craftsman (Camping World) Truck Series the following season. He joined Las Vegas-owned team Orleans Racing to pilot the #62 Dodge, vacated by Brendan Gaughan.
Steve never won a race in 2004, he finished 9th in the Craftsman (Camping World) Truck Series driver points, and was voted the Most Popular Driver.
In 2005 Park won the Craftsman (Camping World) Truck Series American Racing Wheels 200, the second race of the season at California Speedway, and became the tenth driver to win a race in all three of NASCAR's top racing series. Park and the #62 team was struggling and in October, right before the truck race in Martinsville, Steve Park and Orleans Racing parted ways due to Dodge pulling support and money to many truck teams.
Park drove Ted Marsh’s #31 Whelen Engineering Chevrolet in six NASCAR Busch (Nationwide) Series events in 2006.
In 2008 Park signed with NDS Motorsports to drive the #35 Waste Management Recycle America Chevrolet Monte Carlo in all 13 of the NASCAR Camping World East Series events. He finished 9th in the standings with a best finish of 2nd at the New Hampshire Motor Speedway. In late 2008, Steve Park married his longtime girlfriend, Jessica Skarpalezos at Sea Island, Georgia.
In 2009 Park returned to race in the #35 Waste Management Recycle America Chevy Monte Carlo in the NASCAR Camping World East Series. On August 1, 2009 Steve won the Edge Hotel 150 at Adirondack International Speedway. It was Steve's first NASCAR Camping World East Series win since July 1, 1996 at Nazareth Speedway. Total Steve finished 5th in the point standings. On August 12, 2009, Park announced on his website (Steve-Park.com) that he and his wife Jessica, were expecting their first child.
In 2010 Park yet again returned to race in the #35 Waste Management Recycle America Chevrolet Monte Carlo in the NASCAR Camping World East Series. On January 2, 2010, Park announced on his website that his son Jayden Robert Park was born.
When not at the track, Park enjoys riding motorcycles, boating, golfing, and spending time with Jayden, his son.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Park_(NASCAR)
http://www.theautochannel.com/news/date/19980907/news016797.html
http://www.nascar.com/drivers/dps/spark00/cup/bio.html
http://insiderracingnews.com/Writers/AM/011708.html
Saturday, February 6, 2010
Sam McQuagg
Sam McQuagg was born on November 11th of 1937 in Columbus, Georgia.
Sam McQuagg was just a construction worker but then he decided to do something more exhilarating in his life so he bought half interest of a 1934 Ford in 1956 and started racing at local dirt tracks. Local fans say Sam was almost unbeatable at the Valdosta 75 Speedway.
In 1962, McQuagg entered his first NASCAR Grand National Division (Sprint Cup) event driving his own #62 Ford at Valdosta 75 Speedway. McQuagg qualified 9th for the race, but a blown motor dropped him to a 12th place starting position. That was his only race that year.
1964 was a year that McQuagg only raced five races in the Grand National (Sprint Cup Series) Division. He drove in J.L Thomas’s #71 and #72 Ford’s. In the five races he ran four of them were recorded as a DNF (Did not finish) and the other race was a 12th place. At Valdosta that year Sam won 37 of the 39 races he ran.
In 1965 McQuagg had 5 top tens in the 14 races he entered with about 5 teams which earned him the Rookie of the Year honor on the Grand National (Sprint Cup) level. Sam was involved in one of the most violent and memorable wrecks in NASCAR history. During the 1965 Southern 500 at Darlington Cale Yarborough tangled with then race leader McQuagg in the first turn. Yarborough spun, and then vaulted over the guard rail; he rolled 6 times down the 40-foot embankment landing in the parking lot. When the car landed, Cale got out, climbed the bank back to the track, and waved his arms to let the 50,000 fans at the race know he was fine.
In 1966 Dodge noticed Sam’s accomplishments in his small Ford team, so they hired him to their factory #98 Ray Nichels team. At Daytona that July he came out of the box with a spoiler on his Dodge Charger; it was the first spoiler that had ever been used on the NASCAR circuit. Sam won the Firecracker 400 that year in a car sponsored by a newlywed Georgia couple with a total of $13,500 in winnings for his only win of his career; Sam McQuagg Jr. recalls that after that race his father and mother went a bought themselves a new 1966 Dodge Charger. The flag that waved over McQuagg’s head as he crossed the finish line is now hanging on his grandson’s wall. That race was also the first time a motor home was brought into the Daytona infield. He made 15 more starts that year with 4 top fives and 7 top tens with a finish of 15th in points.
In 1967 Sam drove for Bud Moore, Don Robertson, Cotton Owen, and many more car owners. He had a chance to drive for the Wood Brothers, but they told him he would have to run Firestone tires. He was dedicated to Goodyear due to them giving him his first set of tires, so he declined and Cale Yarborough got that ride. At Darlington that year Sam was involved in a violent wreck on lap 81; McQuagg went over the guardrail and flipped many times before landing back on his wheels. Sam got aggravated at the frequency of his wrecks so he scaled his schedule back to just local tracks. In all of 1967 Sam ran 14 races, and had 3 top-5 finishes.
In 1970, he became the company pilot for the W. C. Bradly Co. in Columbus, Georgia and unofficially retired from racing.
McQuagg decided to come back after his leave of absence for three starts in 1974. He drove for Hoss Ellington in the #28 Pylon Wiper Blades Chevy, he had a 7th place finish at Darlington and an 8th at Talladega. His last start was at the 1974 World 600.
Out of 8 years in NASCAR’s top series, McQuagg garnered 62 starts, 1 win, 9 top-5s, and 21 top-10s.
In 1997 McQuagg retired as a commercial pilot after 27 years of flying.
McQuagg was inducted into the Georgia Racing Hall of Fame in 2008.
He died of cancer on January 3, 2009 at the age of 73 at St. Francis Hospital. He and his wife Joy had recently celebrated their 54th wedding anniversary.
http://fullthrottle.cranialcavity.net/rip-sam-mcquagg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_McQuagg
http://www.speedwaymedia.com/Articles/06/051206Madding.asp
http://race500.com/SamMcQuagg.htm
Sam McQuagg was just a construction worker but then he decided to do something more exhilarating in his life so he bought half interest of a 1934 Ford in 1956 and started racing at local dirt tracks. Local fans say Sam was almost unbeatable at the Valdosta 75 Speedway.
In 1962, McQuagg entered his first NASCAR Grand National Division (Sprint Cup) event driving his own #62 Ford at Valdosta 75 Speedway. McQuagg qualified 9th for the race, but a blown motor dropped him to a 12th place starting position. That was his only race that year.
1964 was a year that McQuagg only raced five races in the Grand National (Sprint Cup Series) Division. He drove in J.L Thomas’s #71 and #72 Ford’s. In the five races he ran four of them were recorded as a DNF (Did not finish) and the other race was a 12th place. At Valdosta that year Sam won 37 of the 39 races he ran.
In 1965 McQuagg had 5 top tens in the 14 races he entered with about 5 teams which earned him the Rookie of the Year honor on the Grand National (Sprint Cup) level. Sam was involved in one of the most violent and memorable wrecks in NASCAR history. During the 1965 Southern 500 at Darlington Cale Yarborough tangled with then race leader McQuagg in the first turn. Yarborough spun, and then vaulted over the guard rail; he rolled 6 times down the 40-foot embankment landing in the parking lot. When the car landed, Cale got out, climbed the bank back to the track, and waved his arms to let the 50,000 fans at the race know he was fine.
In 1966 Dodge noticed Sam’s accomplishments in his small Ford team, so they hired him to their factory #98 Ray Nichels team. At Daytona that July he came out of the box with a spoiler on his Dodge Charger; it was the first spoiler that had ever been used on the NASCAR circuit. Sam won the Firecracker 400 that year in a car sponsored by a newlywed Georgia couple with a total of $13,500 in winnings for his only win of his career; Sam McQuagg Jr. recalls that after that race his father and mother went a bought themselves a new 1966 Dodge Charger. The flag that waved over McQuagg’s head as he crossed the finish line is now hanging on his grandson’s wall. That race was also the first time a motor home was brought into the Daytona infield. He made 15 more starts that year with 4 top fives and 7 top tens with a finish of 15th in points.
In 1967 Sam drove for Bud Moore, Don Robertson, Cotton Owen, and many more car owners. He had a chance to drive for the Wood Brothers, but they told him he would have to run Firestone tires. He was dedicated to Goodyear due to them giving him his first set of tires, so he declined and Cale Yarborough got that ride. At Darlington that year Sam was involved in a violent wreck on lap 81; McQuagg went over the guardrail and flipped many times before landing back on his wheels. Sam got aggravated at the frequency of his wrecks so he scaled his schedule back to just local tracks. In all of 1967 Sam ran 14 races, and had 3 top-5 finishes.
In 1970, he became the company pilot for the W. C. Bradly Co. in Columbus, Georgia and unofficially retired from racing.
McQuagg decided to come back after his leave of absence for three starts in 1974. He drove for Hoss Ellington in the #28 Pylon Wiper Blades Chevy, he had a 7th place finish at Darlington and an 8th at Talladega. His last start was at the 1974 World 600.
Out of 8 years in NASCAR’s top series, McQuagg garnered 62 starts, 1 win, 9 top-5s, and 21 top-10s.
In 1997 McQuagg retired as a commercial pilot after 27 years of flying.
McQuagg was inducted into the Georgia Racing Hall of Fame in 2008.
He died of cancer on January 3, 2009 at the age of 73 at St. Francis Hospital. He and his wife Joy had recently celebrated their 54th wedding anniversary.
http://fullthrottle.cranialcavity.net/rip-sam-mcquagg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_McQuagg
http://www.speedwaymedia.com/Articles/06/051206Madding.asp
http://race500.com/SamMcQuagg.htm
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
Jimmy Spencer
James Spencer Sr. was born on Wednesday, February 15th of 1957 in Nanticoke, Pennsylvania to his father that was also a racer, Ed Spencer Sr.; his father had the nickname “Fast Eddie” for his wins around the modified series.
During his days racing Modifieds, Jimmy was nicknamed "Mr. Excitement" for his aggressive racing style.
Jimmy Spencer followed his father in racing. Spencer started in Late Models in Pennsylvania and in 1976 he won his very first race in the Late Model division at the Port Royal Speedway.
In 1984, Spencer raced 60 races in the National Modified Series and finished second in the points to competitor Richie Evans. When NASCAR changed the National Modified Championship into the smaller-schedule Winston (Whelen) Modified Tour in 1985, Spencer continued to run, and won the title in 1986 and 1987.
Jimmy made his first NASCAR Busch (Nationwide) Series start in 1985 at the North Carolina (Rockingham) Motor Speedway in the #67 Frank Cicci Racing Pontiac; he finished 19th.
Jimmy’s first son James Spencer Jr. was born in 1986. Jimmy said when he was born that if he wanted to race he was going to help him.
In 1987 Spencer ran twice in the Frank Cicci Racing Pontiac in the Busch (Nationwide) Series with a best finish of 36th.
Jimmy ran his first full season in 1988, finishing seventh in the Busch (Nationwide) point standings in the #34.
In 1989, Spencer won his first career Busch (Nationwide) race at the Hickory Motor Speedway; he then won two more races over the course of the season, finishing fifteenth in the final standings.
In 1989, he made the move to the Winston (Sprint) Cup Series, driving the #88 Crisco Pontiac for Buddy Baker's team in 17 of the 29 races. With three top-tens he finished 34th in points.
He then ran a full-time season in 1990 in the Winston (Sprint) Cup series. He finished in the top-ten twice in the #57 Heinz Rod Osterlund Racing Pontiac; he finished 24th in the points.
In 1991, Spencer moved to the #98 Banquet Frozen Foods Chevrolet for Travis Carter Motorsports; he had 12 DNF (Did not finish) s, and six top tens which resulted in a 25th place finish in the Winston (Sprint) Cup points.
Jimmy began 1992 with Travis Carter Motorsports, but he later moved down to the Busch (Nationwide) Series to drive the #20 Daily's 1st Ade Oldsmobile for Dick Moroso after Carter's team withdraw from NASCAR early in the season. He won twice that year in the Busch (Nationwide) Series, once at the Myrtle Beach Speedway and the other at Orange County Speedway. In the last four races of the Winston (Sprint) Cup series Jimmy finished in the top five three times with Bobby Allison Motorsports.
In 1993 he signed to drive Bobby Allison's #12 Meineke Ford Thunderbird full-time in the Winston (Sprint) Cup series. Jimmy finished in the top-five five times, resulting in a career-best fifteenth-place in the final points standings.
In 1994, Jimmy switched to drive the #27 McDonald's Ford for Junior Johnson, that #27 was one of the most desired rides at the time because of the reputation Junior Johnson had; in the time he was with Junior that year Spencer won his only two career Cup races, at the series biggest tracks, Daytona and Talladega; he also won his first career pole at the series shortest track, North Wilkesboro Speedway. He finished 29th in the standings.
Spencer left Junior Johnson’s team after 1994 to reunite with Travis Carter, who was now fielding the #23, Smokin' Joe's Ford; he finished in the top-ten four times in 1995.
In 1998, Winston Cigarettes became his team's new primary sponsor; about half-way through the season when he went to the Brickyard 400 Spencer wrecked and suffered injuries that prevented him from racing in the next two events which dropped him to 14th in points. Midway during the season Spencer created his own NASCAR team, Spencer Motor Ventures. He fielded the #12 Zippo Chevrolet in the Busch (Nationwide) Series in which he and several other drivers shared.
In 1999 Spencer expanded his Busch (Nationwide) Series to 2 cars. He fielded the #12 Zippo Chevrolet and the #5 Schneider National Chevrolet. The #5 car went to Dick Trickle for this year. In the Winston (Sprint) Cup series Jimmy finished 20th in the points.
In 2000, Winston Cigarettes left the Travis Carter team, and K-mart became the team's new sponsor, causing Spencer to switch to the #26 to accommodate the new sponsor, who was already backing the #66 car driven by Spencer's teammate, Darrell Waltrip. Spencer’s Busch (Nationwide) team moved up to the Winston (Sprint) Cup with Boris Said running the #23 Federated Auto Parts Ford. Due to sponsor issues the team shut down at the end of the year.
Spencer had two top-fives and in 2001 won the pole at Indianapolis Motor Speedway and Charlotte Motor Speedway, he had three top fives, and eight top tens but sadly had 7 DNF’s but he did advance to sixteenth in points. He left Travis Carter’s has Carter team at the end of the season. 2001 was a memorable season for Jimmy as he went over $2 million in season winnings for the first time in his 13-year Winston (Sprint) Cup career, ending up with $2,669,638.
In 2002 Spencer joined Chip Ganassi Racing’s #41 Target Dodge Intrepid. He began the season by failing to qualify for the Daytona 500, then had a streak of four top-five qualifying efforts, including at Bristol Motor Speedway, where he started fourth and was leading the race when he was bumped by Kurt Busch, who then won, starting a long rivalry between the two. After another DNQ (Did not qualify) at Watkins Glen International Raceway, Spencer was released from the ride at the end of the season, causing him to file a lawsuit against the Ganassi organization, saying his dismissal was a violation of his contract. He also won his last Busch (Nationwide) Series race at Bristol driving for James Finch that season in the #1 Chevy.
Spencer started driving the Ultra Motorsports #7 Sirius Satellite Radio Dodge in 2003. He had four top-tens during the season, but at the running of the GFS Marketplace 400, Spencer had a confrontation with Kurt Busch. Busch intentionally stopped in front of Spencer's garage and revved his engine as a threat to block Spencer, Jimmy confronted Busch and punched him in the face. Spencer and Busch were both fined and placed on probation for the rest of the year, and Spencer was suspended for one race. Spencer ended the season 29th in points. In the Craftsman (Camping World) Truck Series Jimmy ran three races in Ultra motorsports #2 Team ASE Racing Dodge, he won the pole in his very first race and won his very first race in only his second start at the New Hampshire International Speedway; that win made him one of only a few drivers to win a race in all three of NASCAR’s top series. Part of the way through the 2003 season Jimmy bought into the Frank Cicci Racing organization but later that partnership vanished when he bought into Bang! Racing in the Craftsman (Camping World) Truck Series.
He began 2004 with Ultra Motorsport’s NEXTEL (Sprint) Cup team at the Daytona 500, but when the team closed down due to a lack of sponsorship, he replaced Kevin Lepage at Morgan-McClure Motorsports, which had also been running unsponsored. Spencer's best finish that season had been 13th, when on October 25, he was arrested after trying to interfere with the police, who had a warrant to arrest his son, James Spencer Jr., for "injury to personal property”. The incident cost Spencer his job at Morgan-McClure, and he sat out the rest of 2004.
Spencer returned to the #2 Ultra Motorsports Truck team in 2005. While he failed to win a race, he had nine top-ten finishes and finished twelfth in points. He also ran part-time in Cup, running nine races in the #50 Arnold Motorsports Dodge, and one race apiece for Peak Fitness Racing and R&J Racing.
When Arnold was unable to locate a sponsor and Ultra closed its Truck team doors following a fallout with the Ford Motor Company, Spencer began working full-time on SPEED in 2006. He had run both Cup races at Pocono Raceway for Furniture Row Racing in 2006, finishing 32nd and 36th, respectively.
He is currently a co-host with John Roberts and Kenny Wallace on the Speed Channel's prerace and post race NASCAR shows NASCAR RaceDay and NASCAR Victory Lane. Throughout Spencer’s career he helped Brent Sherman and Stuart Kirby go through the ranks of NASCAR.
One thing Spencer does for fun in to go out to his custom-made dirt track in his backyard and race with his friends, he also golf’s, and ironically enjoys working with flowers in his garden.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jimmy_Spencer
http://www.tums.com/Racing_SpencerBio.aspx
http://www.racingone.com/driver.aspx?driverID=95&subID=1
http://home.comcast.net/~loudfast/writeweb/spencer.htm
During his days racing Modifieds, Jimmy was nicknamed "Mr. Excitement" for his aggressive racing style.
Jimmy Spencer followed his father in racing. Spencer started in Late Models in Pennsylvania and in 1976 he won his very first race in the Late Model division at the Port Royal Speedway.
In 1984, Spencer raced 60 races in the National Modified Series and finished second in the points to competitor Richie Evans. When NASCAR changed the National Modified Championship into the smaller-schedule Winston (Whelen) Modified Tour in 1985, Spencer continued to run, and won the title in 1986 and 1987.
Jimmy made his first NASCAR Busch (Nationwide) Series start in 1985 at the North Carolina (Rockingham) Motor Speedway in the #67 Frank Cicci Racing Pontiac; he finished 19th.
Jimmy’s first son James Spencer Jr. was born in 1986. Jimmy said when he was born that if he wanted to race he was going to help him.
In 1987 Spencer ran twice in the Frank Cicci Racing Pontiac in the Busch (Nationwide) Series with a best finish of 36th.
Jimmy ran his first full season in 1988, finishing seventh in the Busch (Nationwide) point standings in the #34.
In 1989, Spencer won his first career Busch (Nationwide) race at the Hickory Motor Speedway; he then won two more races over the course of the season, finishing fifteenth in the final standings.
In 1989, he made the move to the Winston (Sprint) Cup Series, driving the #88 Crisco Pontiac for Buddy Baker's team in 17 of the 29 races. With three top-tens he finished 34th in points.
He then ran a full-time season in 1990 in the Winston (Sprint) Cup series. He finished in the top-ten twice in the #57 Heinz Rod Osterlund Racing Pontiac; he finished 24th in the points.
In 1991, Spencer moved to the #98 Banquet Frozen Foods Chevrolet for Travis Carter Motorsports; he had 12 DNF (Did not finish) s, and six top tens which resulted in a 25th place finish in the Winston (Sprint) Cup points.
Jimmy began 1992 with Travis Carter Motorsports, but he later moved down to the Busch (Nationwide) Series to drive the #20 Daily's 1st Ade Oldsmobile for Dick Moroso after Carter's team withdraw from NASCAR early in the season. He won twice that year in the Busch (Nationwide) Series, once at the Myrtle Beach Speedway and the other at Orange County Speedway. In the last four races of the Winston (Sprint) Cup series Jimmy finished in the top five three times with Bobby Allison Motorsports.
In 1993 he signed to drive Bobby Allison's #12 Meineke Ford Thunderbird full-time in the Winston (Sprint) Cup series. Jimmy finished in the top-five five times, resulting in a career-best fifteenth-place in the final points standings.
In 1994, Jimmy switched to drive the #27 McDonald's Ford for Junior Johnson, that #27 was one of the most desired rides at the time because of the reputation Junior Johnson had; in the time he was with Junior that year Spencer won his only two career Cup races, at the series biggest tracks, Daytona and Talladega; he also won his first career pole at the series shortest track, North Wilkesboro Speedway. He finished 29th in the standings.
Spencer left Junior Johnson’s team after 1994 to reunite with Travis Carter, who was now fielding the #23, Smokin' Joe's Ford; he finished in the top-ten four times in 1995.
In 1998, Winston Cigarettes became his team's new primary sponsor; about half-way through the season when he went to the Brickyard 400 Spencer wrecked and suffered injuries that prevented him from racing in the next two events which dropped him to 14th in points. Midway during the season Spencer created his own NASCAR team, Spencer Motor Ventures. He fielded the #12 Zippo Chevrolet in the Busch (Nationwide) Series in which he and several other drivers shared.
In 1999 Spencer expanded his Busch (Nationwide) Series to 2 cars. He fielded the #12 Zippo Chevrolet and the #5 Schneider National Chevrolet. The #5 car went to Dick Trickle for this year. In the Winston (Sprint) Cup series Jimmy finished 20th in the points.
In 2000, Winston Cigarettes left the Travis Carter team, and K-mart became the team's new sponsor, causing Spencer to switch to the #26 to accommodate the new sponsor, who was already backing the #66 car driven by Spencer's teammate, Darrell Waltrip. Spencer’s Busch (Nationwide) team moved up to the Winston (Sprint) Cup with Boris Said running the #23 Federated Auto Parts Ford. Due to sponsor issues the team shut down at the end of the year.
Spencer had two top-fives and in 2001 won the pole at Indianapolis Motor Speedway and Charlotte Motor Speedway, he had three top fives, and eight top tens but sadly had 7 DNF’s but he did advance to sixteenth in points. He left Travis Carter’s has Carter team at the end of the season. 2001 was a memorable season for Jimmy as he went over $2 million in season winnings for the first time in his 13-year Winston (Sprint) Cup career, ending up with $2,669,638.
In 2002 Spencer joined Chip Ganassi Racing’s #41 Target Dodge Intrepid. He began the season by failing to qualify for the Daytona 500, then had a streak of four top-five qualifying efforts, including at Bristol Motor Speedway, where he started fourth and was leading the race when he was bumped by Kurt Busch, who then won, starting a long rivalry between the two. After another DNQ (Did not qualify) at Watkins Glen International Raceway, Spencer was released from the ride at the end of the season, causing him to file a lawsuit against the Ganassi organization, saying his dismissal was a violation of his contract. He also won his last Busch (Nationwide) Series race at Bristol driving for James Finch that season in the #1 Chevy.
Spencer started driving the Ultra Motorsports #7 Sirius Satellite Radio Dodge in 2003. He had four top-tens during the season, but at the running of the GFS Marketplace 400, Spencer had a confrontation with Kurt Busch. Busch intentionally stopped in front of Spencer's garage and revved his engine as a threat to block Spencer, Jimmy confronted Busch and punched him in the face. Spencer and Busch were both fined and placed on probation for the rest of the year, and Spencer was suspended for one race. Spencer ended the season 29th in points. In the Craftsman (Camping World) Truck Series Jimmy ran three races in Ultra motorsports #2 Team ASE Racing Dodge, he won the pole in his very first race and won his very first race in only his second start at the New Hampshire International Speedway; that win made him one of only a few drivers to win a race in all three of NASCAR’s top series. Part of the way through the 2003 season Jimmy bought into the Frank Cicci Racing organization but later that partnership vanished when he bought into Bang! Racing in the Craftsman (Camping World) Truck Series.
He began 2004 with Ultra Motorsport’s NEXTEL (Sprint) Cup team at the Daytona 500, but when the team closed down due to a lack of sponsorship, he replaced Kevin Lepage at Morgan-McClure Motorsports, which had also been running unsponsored. Spencer's best finish that season had been 13th, when on October 25, he was arrested after trying to interfere with the police, who had a warrant to arrest his son, James Spencer Jr., for "injury to personal property”. The incident cost Spencer his job at Morgan-McClure, and he sat out the rest of 2004.
Spencer returned to the #2 Ultra Motorsports Truck team in 2005. While he failed to win a race, he had nine top-ten finishes and finished twelfth in points. He also ran part-time in Cup, running nine races in the #50 Arnold Motorsports Dodge, and one race apiece for Peak Fitness Racing and R&J Racing.
When Arnold was unable to locate a sponsor and Ultra closed its Truck team doors following a fallout with the Ford Motor Company, Spencer began working full-time on SPEED in 2006. He had run both Cup races at Pocono Raceway for Furniture Row Racing in 2006, finishing 32nd and 36th, respectively.
He is currently a co-host with John Roberts and Kenny Wallace on the Speed Channel's prerace and post race NASCAR shows NASCAR RaceDay and NASCAR Victory Lane. Throughout Spencer’s career he helped Brent Sherman and Stuart Kirby go through the ranks of NASCAR.
One thing Spencer does for fun in to go out to his custom-made dirt track in his backyard and race with his friends, he also golf’s, and ironically enjoys working with flowers in his garden.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jimmy_Spencer
http://www.tums.com/Racing_SpencerBio.aspx
http://www.racingone.com/driver.aspx?driverID=95&subID=1
http://home.comcast.net/~loudfast/writeweb/spencer.htm
Monday, February 1, 2010
Michael Waltrip
Michael Curtis Waltrip was born on April 30th of 1963 in Owensboro, Kentucky to Margaret and Leroy Waltrip. He is the younger brother of three-time NASCAR Winston (Sprint) Cup champion Darrell Waltrip. His other siblings include Connie, Carolyn, and Bobby.
Michael's first go-kart race was in Olney, Illinois, through the Southern Indiana Racing Association (SIRA) at the tender age of 13. The track was a road course, which Michael enjoyed. He was running the same type of go-kart as the famed Green boys, but he experienced mechanical troubles with his ride. His friend, 13 year old Jeff Green, came to the rescue. Jeff disassembled the carburetor and repaired the go-kart right on the track. Michael went on to win that day, thanks to his buddy but future rival.
Waltrip's stock-car career got off the ground in 1981, when he captured the Mini-Modified division track championship at Kentucky Motor Speedway the same year his brother Darrell won his first Winston (Sprint) Cup championship.
In 1982 Waltrip competed in his first race in the Goody's Dash Series.
In 1983 he won the championship in the Goody’s Dash Series and won the Most Popular Driver award; he won the Most Popular Driver Award again in that series in 1984.
In 1984 Michael wanted to make it big so he moved to North Carolina to move in with his good friend Kyle Petty who was still living with his champion father Richard. Darrell never really wanted to teach Michael anything because he wanted him to learn the ropes the same way he did but when he moved in with the Petty’s Richard trained him in a whole new way.
Waltrip made his Winston (Sprint) Cup debut in the 1985 Coca-Cola 600 at the Charlotte Motor Speedway driving for Dick Bahre in the #23 Mell-Gear Pontiac; he qualified 24th and finished 28th after dropping out 500 miles into the race his brother Darrell won.
Michael had his first full season in the Winston (Sprint) Cup series in 1986, driving the #23 Hawaiian Punch car for Bahari Racing. Waltrip finished 19th overall in points and second in the rookie of the year battle to Alan Kulwicki.
In 1987, he posted his first career top-ten finish when he ended up tenth in the spring race at Martinsville Speedway in his #30 All-Pro Chevy Monte Carlo.
In 1988, Michael began running in the Busch (Nationwide) Series, making five starts for his Brother Darrell's fledgling team; this was the first time his brother let him drive for his team and that paid off because Michael took the checkered flag for the first time at Dover in only his fourth Busch (Nationwide) start.
In 1989, he had his first top-five finish in the Winston (Sprint) Cup series in the #30 Country Time Lemonade/Kool Aid Pontiac. Again he won at Dover in the Busch (Nationwide) Series; overall he had four poles and eight top tens in only 14 races in the second-tier NASCAR series while driving for himself.
Michael was a new father when Caitlin Marie Waltrip was born on January 12, 1990 just 2 months before the race at Bristol that could have took her father’s life. Waltrip, after making contact with Steve Grissom, hit the wall head on and his Busch (Nationwide) car all but disintegrated. Waltrip only suffered bruises in the incident that left only the roll cage with Michael in the driver’s seat. The accident was referenced in a 2008 NAPA Auto Parts commercial. Waltrip was signing die-cast replica cars when a fan showed up with pieces of the 1990 car crashed for Waltrip to sign.
In 1991, he gained new sponsorship from Pennzoil and won his first two career pole positions; he finished 15th in the Winston (Sprint) Cup series points.
In 1992 Michael won in the Gatorade 200 at Darlington in the Busch (Nationwide) Series.
1993 was a very assorted year for Michael’s emotions. In April his good friend and Rookie of the Year competitor Alan Kulwicki died in a plane crash. Two days later when he won the Busch (Nationwide) Series Budweiser 250 at Bristol Motor Speedway he did a polish victory lap in honor of Alan. In victory lane he proposed to Elizabeth "Buffy" Franks to whom he married November 27, 1993. He finished 17th in the Winston (Sprint) Cup series points that year.
In April of 1994 Michael was a team owner in the Busch (Nationwide) Series for the first time with childhood friend Jeff Green driving it to a third place finish.
In 1995 at Michigan International Speedway, Waltrip lashed out at fellow driver, Lake Speed. Waltrip struck Speed twice on national television, while Speed was still strapped in his car. Waltrip was fined $10,000 for his actions. At the end of that season Michael was released from Bahari Racing and Johnny Benson was put in that car.
After moving to the #21 Wood Brothers CITGO Ford Thunderbird for 1996, Michael won The Winston. He started his own team in the Busch (Nationwide) Series in the #21 Band-Aid Ford with Roush engines running select races. "The reason I have a Busch team is because of Darrell," Michael said. "I always liked how he had a car of his own to fiddle with. He was off driving for Junior Johnson, but he had his own shop and had his own guys. It was something that I always looked at and thought one day that's what I want to do. So in '96 I started my Busch team and we've been successful, won some poles, and won some races." In his first year with his new Busch (Nationwide) Series team, Michael gained three top 5's, four top 10's, and qualified on the pole after just ten races. In Winston (Sprint) Cup, he finished 14th in points with eleven top 10's and a top 5.
On September 27, 1997 Michael's second child Margaret “Macy” Carol was born. In his very first race in the Winston West Series at Pikes Peak, Michael led 186 laps and won the race.
After missing his first race since 1986 and the Wood Brothers first since 1971 at the 1998 Dura Lube/Kmart 500 at the Phoenix International Raceway, Waltrip departed the Woods at the end of 1998 to drive the #7 Philips Chevrolet for Mattei Motorsports.
In 2000, Nations Rent replaced Philips as the sponsor of his #7 and Waltrip moved up to twenty seventh in points but finished in the top-five once, causing him and the team to part ways at the end of the season. On January 10th, his father Leroy passed away at the age 76 after a three-year struggle with cancer. He had died without having seen Michael win a Winston Cup race. On April 18, 2000, Waltrip ran the Boston Marathon. He finished 14,315th out of 17,813, and was the first person ever who raced this Marathon and the Daytona 500. In December, he ran in the inaugural Hop's Marathon by the Bay in Tampa, Florida. He finished 1209th, out of 3200 entrants.
Waltrip was hired by Dale Earnhardt Inc. to drive their newly formed #15 NAPA Chevrolet. In his first race with the team, the 2001 Daytona 500, Michael was in the lead with his teammate and boss’s son Dale Earnhardt Jr. behind him when there was a wreck in turn four. The race continued and Michael won it snapping a 463 race losing streak. The race was bitter-sweet because the wreck that was in turn four was his boss and friend Dale Earnhardt who lost his life due to a head injury. After that race Michael didn’t have a top ten until the next race at Daytona, the Pepsi 400. He finished 24th that year in the standings.
In 2002 he picked up his second career win at Daytona again, except this time it was the July Pepsi 400. He finished fourteenth in the standings which was ten places above the previous year.
In 2003 Michael won the rain-shortened opening race at Daytona yet again but this time he got to enjoy it; that was his third win at Daytona, all three with his brother Darrell in the broadcasting booth for Fox. He won one more race that year and finished 15th in points.
In 2005 he had one pole, and seven top tens but at the end of the year he announced he and his sponsor NAPA would leave DEI to drive the #55 Dodge Charger for Bill Davis Racing. Through a silly-season mess Michael ended up using the defunct #77 Jasper Motorsports team points for the first five races under the Waltrip-Jasper Racing banner to guarantee a starting spot. Michael failed to qualify for the Coca-Cola 600 so he bought the qualifying spot from Derrike Cope so he would keep his streak of 262 races alive. He ended up missing three races that season ending his streak.
Waltrip formed his own team, Michael Waltrip Racing, for the 2007 season. He hired Dale Jarrett and David Reutimann to drive along side of him in Toyotas. After a controversy at Daytona Michael had to resort to an interim Crew Chief; it was Scott Eggleston, who was Waltrip's former crew chief in 2001. After a 30th place finish in the Daytona 500, Waltrip became the first driver in series history to go into the second race of the season with a negative number of points due to being docked 100 at Daytona; -27. Waltrip failed to qualify for the next eleven races following the Daytona 500, so he maintained his negative point total for almost 4 months. He qualified for the thirteenth race of the season at Dover and finished 28th, moving his point total above zero to 52 points. Jarrett used a provisional to qualify for five of the first six races, and Reutimann had to use two. On Saturday April 7, 2007 Waltrip fell asleep behind the wheel of his Toyota Land Cruiser which overturned and struck a utility pole. Michael crawled out from the car suffering only minor cuts. There was no NEXTEL (Sprint) Cup race held that weekend but he was charged with reckless driving and failing to report an accident. In October, Michael won the pole for the UAW-Ford 500 at Talladega Superspeedway, the first restrictor plate race to be run with the Car of Tomorrow. He finished 25th after a wreck, but bounced back the next week at Lowes Motor Speedway with his second top-10 finish of the season. Him and his team had one of the worst seasons for a team in NASCAR history but would eventually bounce back.
In 2008, Michael Waltrip Racing underwent a change following the disappointing 2007 campaign. Waltrip welcomed business owner Robert Kaufmann, owner/founder of the Fortress Investment Group and was made an equal partner and got more aid with real estate developer Johnny Harris buying into the team during the 2007 off-season. Former PPC Racing owner Cal Wells III also bought into the team. The name also underwent a change as it now operates as Michael Waltrip Racing Holdings LLC. On February 10, 2008, Michael qualified second for the 50th running of the Daytona 500. Waltrip started the race with "gold wheels" on his car in tribute to the golden anniversary of the Daytona 500; after the race the wheels were signed and sold to benefit NASCAR charities. After leading the first two laps, he was not a factor in the race and finished 26th. Waltrip made his 1,000th NASCAR touring series start at Atlanta in October. He is second only to 7-time champion Richard Petty in most career starts spanning all of the top divisions in NASCAR.
In early 2009, Waltrip announced that he, Scott Speed, and David Reutimann would be splitting the #99 Nationwide Series Aaron’s dream machine Toyota throughout the year. On May 25, 2009 Michael Waltrip scored his first win as an owner in the rain-shortened Coca-Cola 600, with David Reutimann winning his very first race. On July 7, 2009 Waltrip announced he would be driving part-time in the 2010 season starting with the Daytona 500. Waltrip also announced Martin Truex Jr. will be joining Michael Waltrip Racing as the driver of the #56 NAPA Toyota full time in 2010. One thing Michael did for fun in 2009 was he appeared on an episode of My Name is Earl entitled "Inside Probe”.
For the 2010 Daytona 500 Michael is racing the #51 in tribute to previous car owner and friend Dale Earnhardt; Dale won the daytona 500 in the #15 so Michael is running it in reverse.
He currently lives in Sherrills Ford, North Carolina with his wife Buffy in a 200 year old farmhouse.
http://www.oakley.com/sports/nascar/athletes/333
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Waltrip
http://www.mikeypower.com/mbio.html
Michael's first go-kart race was in Olney, Illinois, through the Southern Indiana Racing Association (SIRA) at the tender age of 13. The track was a road course, which Michael enjoyed. He was running the same type of go-kart as the famed Green boys, but he experienced mechanical troubles with his ride. His friend, 13 year old Jeff Green, came to the rescue. Jeff disassembled the carburetor and repaired the go-kart right on the track. Michael went on to win that day, thanks to his buddy but future rival.
Waltrip's stock-car career got off the ground in 1981, when he captured the Mini-Modified division track championship at Kentucky Motor Speedway the same year his brother Darrell won his first Winston (Sprint) Cup championship.
In 1982 Waltrip competed in his first race in the Goody's Dash Series.
In 1983 he won the championship in the Goody’s Dash Series and won the Most Popular Driver award; he won the Most Popular Driver Award again in that series in 1984.
In 1984 Michael wanted to make it big so he moved to North Carolina to move in with his good friend Kyle Petty who was still living with his champion father Richard. Darrell never really wanted to teach Michael anything because he wanted him to learn the ropes the same way he did but when he moved in with the Petty’s Richard trained him in a whole new way.
Waltrip made his Winston (Sprint) Cup debut in the 1985 Coca-Cola 600 at the Charlotte Motor Speedway driving for Dick Bahre in the #23 Mell-Gear Pontiac; he qualified 24th and finished 28th after dropping out 500 miles into the race his brother Darrell won.
Michael had his first full season in the Winston (Sprint) Cup series in 1986, driving the #23 Hawaiian Punch car for Bahari Racing. Waltrip finished 19th overall in points and second in the rookie of the year battle to Alan Kulwicki.
In 1987, he posted his first career top-ten finish when he ended up tenth in the spring race at Martinsville Speedway in his #30 All-Pro Chevy Monte Carlo.
In 1988, Michael began running in the Busch (Nationwide) Series, making five starts for his Brother Darrell's fledgling team; this was the first time his brother let him drive for his team and that paid off because Michael took the checkered flag for the first time at Dover in only his fourth Busch (Nationwide) start.
In 1989, he had his first top-five finish in the Winston (Sprint) Cup series in the #30 Country Time Lemonade/Kool Aid Pontiac. Again he won at Dover in the Busch (Nationwide) Series; overall he had four poles and eight top tens in only 14 races in the second-tier NASCAR series while driving for himself.
Michael was a new father when Caitlin Marie Waltrip was born on January 12, 1990 just 2 months before the race at Bristol that could have took her father’s life. Waltrip, after making contact with Steve Grissom, hit the wall head on and his Busch (Nationwide) car all but disintegrated. Waltrip only suffered bruises in the incident that left only the roll cage with Michael in the driver’s seat. The accident was referenced in a 2008 NAPA Auto Parts commercial. Waltrip was signing die-cast replica cars when a fan showed up with pieces of the 1990 car crashed for Waltrip to sign.
In 1991, he gained new sponsorship from Pennzoil and won his first two career pole positions; he finished 15th in the Winston (Sprint) Cup series points.
In 1992 Michael won in the Gatorade 200 at Darlington in the Busch (Nationwide) Series.
1993 was a very assorted year for Michael’s emotions. In April his good friend and Rookie of the Year competitor Alan Kulwicki died in a plane crash. Two days later when he won the Busch (Nationwide) Series Budweiser 250 at Bristol Motor Speedway he did a polish victory lap in honor of Alan. In victory lane he proposed to Elizabeth "Buffy" Franks to whom he married November 27, 1993. He finished 17th in the Winston (Sprint) Cup series points that year.
In April of 1994 Michael was a team owner in the Busch (Nationwide) Series for the first time with childhood friend Jeff Green driving it to a third place finish.
In 1995 at Michigan International Speedway, Waltrip lashed out at fellow driver, Lake Speed. Waltrip struck Speed twice on national television, while Speed was still strapped in his car. Waltrip was fined $10,000 for his actions. At the end of that season Michael was released from Bahari Racing and Johnny Benson was put in that car.
After moving to the #21 Wood Brothers CITGO Ford Thunderbird for 1996, Michael won The Winston. He started his own team in the Busch (Nationwide) Series in the #21 Band-Aid Ford with Roush engines running select races. "The reason I have a Busch team is because of Darrell," Michael said. "I always liked how he had a car of his own to fiddle with. He was off driving for Junior Johnson, but he had his own shop and had his own guys. It was something that I always looked at and thought one day that's what I want to do. So in '96 I started my Busch team and we've been successful, won some poles, and won some races." In his first year with his new Busch (Nationwide) Series team, Michael gained three top 5's, four top 10's, and qualified on the pole after just ten races. In Winston (Sprint) Cup, he finished 14th in points with eleven top 10's and a top 5.
On September 27, 1997 Michael's second child Margaret “Macy” Carol was born. In his very first race in the Winston West Series at Pikes Peak, Michael led 186 laps and won the race.
After missing his first race since 1986 and the Wood Brothers first since 1971 at the 1998 Dura Lube/Kmart 500 at the Phoenix International Raceway, Waltrip departed the Woods at the end of 1998 to drive the #7 Philips Chevrolet for Mattei Motorsports.
In 2000, Nations Rent replaced Philips as the sponsor of his #7 and Waltrip moved up to twenty seventh in points but finished in the top-five once, causing him and the team to part ways at the end of the season. On January 10th, his father Leroy passed away at the age 76 after a three-year struggle with cancer. He had died without having seen Michael win a Winston Cup race. On April 18, 2000, Waltrip ran the Boston Marathon. He finished 14,315th out of 17,813, and was the first person ever who raced this Marathon and the Daytona 500. In December, he ran in the inaugural Hop's Marathon by the Bay in Tampa, Florida. He finished 1209th, out of 3200 entrants.
Waltrip was hired by Dale Earnhardt Inc. to drive their newly formed #15 NAPA Chevrolet. In his first race with the team, the 2001 Daytona 500, Michael was in the lead with his teammate and boss’s son Dale Earnhardt Jr. behind him when there was a wreck in turn four. The race continued and Michael won it snapping a 463 race losing streak. The race was bitter-sweet because the wreck that was in turn four was his boss and friend Dale Earnhardt who lost his life due to a head injury. After that race Michael didn’t have a top ten until the next race at Daytona, the Pepsi 400. He finished 24th that year in the standings.
In 2002 he picked up his second career win at Daytona again, except this time it was the July Pepsi 400. He finished fourteenth in the standings which was ten places above the previous year.
In 2003 Michael won the rain-shortened opening race at Daytona yet again but this time he got to enjoy it; that was his third win at Daytona, all three with his brother Darrell in the broadcasting booth for Fox. He won one more race that year and finished 15th in points.
In 2005 he had one pole, and seven top tens but at the end of the year he announced he and his sponsor NAPA would leave DEI to drive the #55 Dodge Charger for Bill Davis Racing. Through a silly-season mess Michael ended up using the defunct #77 Jasper Motorsports team points for the first five races under the Waltrip-Jasper Racing banner to guarantee a starting spot. Michael failed to qualify for the Coca-Cola 600 so he bought the qualifying spot from Derrike Cope so he would keep his streak of 262 races alive. He ended up missing three races that season ending his streak.
Waltrip formed his own team, Michael Waltrip Racing, for the 2007 season. He hired Dale Jarrett and David Reutimann to drive along side of him in Toyotas. After a controversy at Daytona Michael had to resort to an interim Crew Chief; it was Scott Eggleston, who was Waltrip's former crew chief in 2001. After a 30th place finish in the Daytona 500, Waltrip became the first driver in series history to go into the second race of the season with a negative number of points due to being docked 100 at Daytona; -27. Waltrip failed to qualify for the next eleven races following the Daytona 500, so he maintained his negative point total for almost 4 months. He qualified for the thirteenth race of the season at Dover and finished 28th, moving his point total above zero to 52 points. Jarrett used a provisional to qualify for five of the first six races, and Reutimann had to use two. On Saturday April 7, 2007 Waltrip fell asleep behind the wheel of his Toyota Land Cruiser which overturned and struck a utility pole. Michael crawled out from the car suffering only minor cuts. There was no NEXTEL (Sprint) Cup race held that weekend but he was charged with reckless driving and failing to report an accident. In October, Michael won the pole for the UAW-Ford 500 at Talladega Superspeedway, the first restrictor plate race to be run with the Car of Tomorrow. He finished 25th after a wreck, but bounced back the next week at Lowes Motor Speedway with his second top-10 finish of the season. Him and his team had one of the worst seasons for a team in NASCAR history but would eventually bounce back.
In 2008, Michael Waltrip Racing underwent a change following the disappointing 2007 campaign. Waltrip welcomed business owner Robert Kaufmann, owner/founder of the Fortress Investment Group and was made an equal partner and got more aid with real estate developer Johnny Harris buying into the team during the 2007 off-season. Former PPC Racing owner Cal Wells III also bought into the team. The name also underwent a change as it now operates as Michael Waltrip Racing Holdings LLC. On February 10, 2008, Michael qualified second for the 50th running of the Daytona 500. Waltrip started the race with "gold wheels" on his car in tribute to the golden anniversary of the Daytona 500; after the race the wheels were signed and sold to benefit NASCAR charities. After leading the first two laps, he was not a factor in the race and finished 26th. Waltrip made his 1,000th NASCAR touring series start at Atlanta in October. He is second only to 7-time champion Richard Petty in most career starts spanning all of the top divisions in NASCAR.
In early 2009, Waltrip announced that he, Scott Speed, and David Reutimann would be splitting the #99 Nationwide Series Aaron’s dream machine Toyota throughout the year. On May 25, 2009 Michael Waltrip scored his first win as an owner in the rain-shortened Coca-Cola 600, with David Reutimann winning his very first race. On July 7, 2009 Waltrip announced he would be driving part-time in the 2010 season starting with the Daytona 500. Waltrip also announced Martin Truex Jr. will be joining Michael Waltrip Racing as the driver of the #56 NAPA Toyota full time in 2010. One thing Michael did for fun in 2009 was he appeared on an episode of My Name is Earl entitled "Inside Probe”.
For the 2010 Daytona 500 Michael is racing the #51 in tribute to previous car owner and friend Dale Earnhardt; Dale won the daytona 500 in the #15 so Michael is running it in reverse.
He currently lives in Sherrills Ford, North Carolina with his wife Buffy in a 200 year old farmhouse.
http://www.oakley.com/sports/nascar/athletes/333
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Waltrip
http://www.mikeypower.com/mbio.html
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