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| Owner | Cale Yarborough |
|---|---|
| Base | Concord, North Carolina |
| Series | Winston Cup Series |
| Race drivers | |
| Manufacturer | Oldsmobile(1987–1988) Pontiac(1989–1991) Ford(1992–1999) |
| Opened | 1987 |
| Closed | 2000 |
| Career | |
| Debut | 1987Daytona 500 (Daytona) |
| Latest race | 1999NAPA 500 (Atlanta) |
| Races competed | 371 |
| Drivers' Championships | 0 |
| Race victories | 1 |
| Pole positions | 3 |
Cale Yarborough Motorsports was aNASCARWinston Cup Series team that ran from 1987 to 2000. The team accomplished 13 top fives, 32 top 10s and three poles in total.
In 1986, the Race Hill Farms owner Jack Beebe sold his No. 47 Team toCale Yarborough, who wanted to drive part-time. He bought the team and switched car numbers from 47 to 29.
During the 1988 season, Yarborough split time in the 29 car withDale Jarrett, who had one top-ten finish in nineteen starts. Following Yarborough's retirement, Jarrett was named the full-time driver for1989, as he posted two top-five finishes and finished 24th in points. Hardee's left at the end of the season, and was replaced byPhillips 66/TropArtic and Jarrett was replaced byDick Trickle in the now No. 66 car.[1] Trickle posted two top-fives and won his only career pole atDover International Speedway, finishing 24th in points. Trickle began1991 with Yarborough, but left after four races.Lake Speed took over as his immediate replacement, and had three top-ten qualifying efforts. Despite an eleventh-place run at theBusch 500, Speed left and was replaced for the duration of the season byDorsey Schroeder,Chuck Bown, andRandy LaJoie.
Yarborough hiredChad Little to be his driver in1992.[2] After six races and no finishes better than 22nd, Little was replaced byBobby Hillin Jr. for one race, beforeJimmy Hensley took over for the rest of the season, posting four top-ten finishes and winningRookie of the Year honors.[3][4] In1993, the team switched to the No. 98Ford Thunderbird withBojangles' sponsorship andDerrike Cope driving. Cope had an eighth-place finish atTalladega Superspeedway and finished 26th in points. Cope began1994 withFingerhut sponsorship, but after no top-tens, he was replaced byJeremy Mayfield, whose best finish was a nineteenth atNorth Carolina Speedway,
RCA became the team's new primary sponsor in1995, and Mayfield had an eighth-place run atPocono Raceway, finishing 31st in points despite missing four races. In1996, Mayfield had two top-five finishes and won the pole at theDieHard 500. Towards the end of the season, Mayfield left to drive forMichael Kranefuss, whose previous driverJohn Andretti moved to 98, finishing fifth atMartinsville Speedway. Andretti won the pole at Talladega again in1997, and at the Pepsi 400, he led 113 laps and won Yarborough's only race as a car owner.[5][6]
Despite the win and a 23rd-place points finish, RCA left the sport and Andretti signed withPetty Enterprises. Yarborough signedGreg Sacks to drive his Thorn Apple Valley Ford in1998, but Sacks suffered a neck injury at theTexas 500 and was unable to race for the rest of the year.Rich Bickle took his place, and had three top-five qualifying runs and a fourth-place finish at Martinsville. Bickle resigned to drive forTyler Jet Motorsports and Thorn Apple departed due to financial problems within the organization. Due to the lack of financing, Yarborough originally closed his team up, but soon reopened and hiredRick Mast as its driver and car dealer Wayne Burdett as a co-owner. Despite having no primary sponsor, Yarborough and his team ran the full schedule, picking up short-term deals withSonic Drive-In and Hobas Pipe. Soon after, Burdette left the team and the team signedUniversal Studios/Woody Woodpecker as its primary sponsor. At the end of the season, Mast posted two top-tens and did not have a DNF all season, the second driver since Yarborough to accomplish that feat. Despite rumors of a second team withMike Ciochetti driving, Mast departed forLarry Hedrick Motorsports and Universal left forTeam Gordon. Yarborough attempted to sell the team to various businessmen, none of the deals going through. In January 2000, Yarborough closed the team until a buyer could be found.[7] He sold the team in the summer of2000 to Atlanta area developer Chip MacPherson, who debuted the new team atLowe's Motor Speedway withJeff Fuller, finishing 41st after suffering engine failure.Geoffrey Bodine ran thePennzoil 400 later that year, but wrecked. The team soon disappeared from the Cup circuit.