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| Owner(s) | Fil Martocci,Gil Martin, Jerry Davis,Anthony Weight |
|---|---|
| Base | North Carolina |
| Series | Winston Cup,Busch Series |
| Race drivers | David Green,Jeff Burton |
| Sponsors | Square D |
| Manufacturer | Ford,Oldsmobile |
| Opened | 1989 |
| Closed | 2003 |
| Career | |
| Drivers' Championships | 0 |
| Race victories | 0 |
FILMAR Racing is a formerNASCARWinston Cup andBusch Series team. It was owned byFil Martocci andcrew chiefGil Martin. The team was sold in1999 to the Pinnacle Motorsports Group and then to Davis & Weight Motorsports.
FILMAR began racing in1989 when they fielded the No. 8Oldsmobile driven byBobby Hamilton in the Busch series, winning in September at Richmond. Originally unsponsored, they picked up sponsorship fromTIC Financial Industries in June 1990, starting atOrange County Speedway. Hamilton had seven top-fives and finished eleventh in points, but departed for the Winston Cup series and was replaced byDavid Green. Despite missing a pair of races early in the season, Green won the pole for the season-openingGoody's 300 and won atLanier Raceway. He finished thirteenth in points and finished runner-up toJeff Gordon forRookie of the Year honors. At the end of the season, Green was replaced byJeff Burton. Burton had four top-fives, including a win atNew Hampshire International Speedway, and finished ninth in points.
In1993,Baby Ruth became the team's sponsor as they switched toFord, and despite winning atMyrtle Beach Speedway, Burton and the team dropped to fourteenth in points. The team also made its Cup debut that year with Burton at New Hampshire, starting 6th but finishing 37th after their No. 0 Ford wrecked in a lap 3 incident.
After Burton left to run forStavola Brothers Racing's Cup program,Kenny Wallace was hired as the team's new driver for1994. Wallace won a pole atNazareth Speedway and won atBristol,Martinsville, andRichmond late in the year and finished fourth in points. They also ran a Cup race atMichigan, finishing nineteenth in the No. 81 car.
In 1995, FILMAR and Wallace split time between the Cup and Busch Series. In Cup, the team ran 11 races, finishing in the top-30 three times. In Busch, the team ran fifteen races with sponsorship fromRed Dog and won at Richmond and finished 27th in points. In addition to winning again at Richmond in 1996, the team moved up to the Cup series full-time with sponsorship fromSquare D. Wallace had a seventh-place finish atNorth Carolina Speedway and finished 28th in points. The following season, FILMAR ran its last Busch race at Richmond as the No. 12Graybar Ford, starting 27th and finishing 26th. That year, Wallace won his first two career poles in Cup at Martinsville and Bristol. Despite two top-tens, Wallace and the team dropped to 33rd in the standings.
In1998, Wallace posted seven top-tens but failed to qualify twice, finishing 31st in points.
Towards the end of 1998, Wallace announced he and Square D would be departing FILMAR and joinAndy Petree Racing. After rumors spread thatTodd Bodine orWilly T. Ribbs would be the team's new driver for 1999,[1] Marcotti sold the team to an organization called thePinnacle Motorsports Group. The team planned to run that year'sDaytona 500 withMorgan Shepherd driving, but failed to qualify. The group was sold again toDavis & Weight Motorsports late in the season. The team made its Busch debut at theFood City 250 withBrandon Sperling driving the No. 55Pontiac Grand Prix with sponsorship from theUniversity of Florida. He started and finished 27th.Michael Ritch ran a pair of races for D&W that year, at Rockingham andMemphis Motorsports Park, his best finish a 35th.
D&W hired Ritch to compete full-time in the Busch Series in2000 competing for Rookie of the Year honors. In addition, they announced they would run the No. 81 in Cup in five races that season to move up full-time in2001. Ritch made 21 starts that season and had five top-twenty finishes in the UoF/KleenexFord Taurus, and finished 33rd in points, but the team did not attempt any Cup races. In2001,Mark Green took over, and had a best finish of sixteenth atDarlington Raceway when the team announced it was closing its Busch program to focus on Cup. After announcing they would attempt theBrickyard 400, the team laid off all of its employees and did not attempt a race again.