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| Owner(s) | Bill Terry,Alan Kulwicki |
|---|---|
| Base | Concord, North Carolina |
| Series | Winston Cup,Busch Series |
| Race drivers | Alan Kulwicki |
| Manufacturer | Ford |
| Opened | 1982 |
| Closed | 1993 |
| Career | |
| Drivers' Championships | 1 |
| Race victories | 5 |
AK Racing was a championship-winningNASCARWinston Cup Series team. It was originally owned by Bill Terry before he sold it to rookie driver Alan Kulwicki, who controlled and raced for the team until his death in 1993. Kulwicki won five races as anowner-driver. UntilTony Stewart won the championship in 2011, he was the last owner-driver to win a Cup Series championship, which he won in 1992.[1]
The team debuted at the1982Cracker Barrel Country Store 420 atNashville Speedway USA withBob Jarvis driving it as the No. 32ClinomintBuick, finishing 28th out of 30 cars. Two races later, the No. 32 ran again at theWorld 600, withBosco Lowe qualifying 40th and finishing 16th. Lowe drove the car in theDaytona 500 the following season, finishing 39th after a crash.Tommy Ellis drove their next race, bringing theBig Daddy's Buick to a 15th-place finish at Charlotte.Butch Lindley drove the final race of the 1983 season for the team atMartinsville Speedway, finishing 25th after suffering rear end problems.
The team was inactive until1986, when it fielded a full-time car driven by rookieAlan Kulwicki. The car was now the No. 35Quincy's Steak HouseFord. After 14 starts, Terry sold the team to Kulwicki. After winningRookie of the Year honors, Kulwicki changed the number of the car to No. 7 and got sponsorship fromZerex. Kulwicki won threepole positions and finished 15th in points. In1988, Kulwicki won his first career race atPhoenix International Raceway. In celebration, he drove the now-famousPolish Victory Lap. He won once more in1990, but lost hisZerex sponsorship. After beginning1991 with no sponsor, he got a one-race deal withHooters after their regular driver,Mark Stahl, failed to qualify. Hooters then signed up to sponsor the No. 7 full-time and Kulwicki won three races over the next two seasons. The peak of the team's success was 1992, when Kulwicki became the first owner-driver sinceRichard Petty did so in 1979 to win aWinston Cup championship. Entering theHooters 500 (coincidentally, Petty's final race) as one of six drivers with a chance, Kulwicki finished second behind race winnerBill Elliott and led the most laps, enabling him to winthe Cup by 10 points over Elliott. The car that won the championship carried the "Underbird" branding, which Kulwicki was able to do after obtaining permission from Ford to do so.
Kulwicki died in a plane crash five races into the1993 season while flying back from a sponsor event. Under his ownership, the team won five races and recorded 75 top ten finishes with the last victory coming atPocono Raceway the year before.
Kulwicki left a will which his team was left to his father but he was unwilling to run the team himself, he made the decision with his attorney to appointFelix Sabates as administer, withJimmy Hensley andTommy Kendall driving until midway through 1993, whenBud Moore Engineering driverGeoff Bodine purchased the team's assets and ran it asGeoff Bodine Racing. In 1999, Bodine sold his portion of the team to Jim Mattei and John Porter and moved to drive for ownerJoe Bessey, and the team began running Chevrolets. The next year the renamed Mattei Motorsports was bought midseason by Jim Smith, owner ofUltra Motorsports, and brought the No. 7 car into that team's fold. The last member of AK Racing who was still with the No. 7 team, Rich Wolski, was released in July 2000. Smith continued to run the team until 2004, during which time the team switched back to Ford and later fielded Dodges as part of a short-lived alliance withRay Evernham's team. In 2005, Ultra's Cup Series assets were sold to driverRobby Gordon, who renamed the teamRobby Gordon Motorsports and kept Smith as a part owner. Gordon continued to run the team until 2012, when he ran only a partial season and then shut down due to lack of sponsorship and funding. Smith left the team following the 2006 season after he shut down Ultra Motorsports. In 2013 driver / crew chief / ownerTommy Baldwin Jr. started a second team with the 7 number to run withDave Blaney.Michael Annett,Alex Bowman, andRegan Smith drove the 7 in respective years after until the team became part time in 2017.
As of the end of the 2023 NASCAR season, the #7 car is run bySpire Motorsports. In 2021, the team moved its headquarters to Kulwicki's former race shop in Concord, North Carolina.