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| Owner(s) | D. K. Ulrich,Doug Bawel,Mark Wallace,Mark Harrah,Bobby Hillin Jr.,Roger Penske |
|---|---|
| Base | Statesville, North Carolina |
| Series | Winston Cup |
| Race drivers | Tim Richmond,Ernie Irvan,Dave Blaney,Robert Pressley |
| Manufacturer | Ford,Dodge,Chevrolet |
| Opened | 1971 |
| Closed | 2006 |
| Career | |
| Debut | 1971Maryville 200 (Maryville) |
| Latest race | 2005Ford 400 (Homestead) |
| Races competed | 876 |
| Drivers' Championships | 0 |
| Race victories | 0 |
| Pole positions | 2 |
Jasper Motorsports was aNASCARCup Series team. It was owned by a variety of owners includingD.K. Ulrich andDoug Bawel.
The car started in1971 at what turned out to be the onlyWinston Cup race atSmoky Mountain Raceway as the No. 41Ford owned and driven by Ulrich, who finished 29th out of 30 cars for heating problems on the 4th lap. Ulrich ran full-time for a couple of years, but normally he stepped aside and let other drivers race for him. During his tenure as an owner, he employed many younger drivers.Sterling Marlin,Tim Richmond,Morgan Shepherd, andMark Martin all went on to successful careers after piloting Ulrich's car.
In 1987, Ulrich noticed a young short track driver fromCalifornia namedErnie Irvan, who qualified 20th in aDale Earnhardt-sponsored car for a race that Ulrich didn't make. Ulrich put the aggressive young Irvan in his car for three races that year, with Irvan's partnerMarc Reno ascrew chief. When Ulrich was able to getKroger as a full-time sponsor for the team, he fielded the car full-time in 1988 with Irvan competing forNASCAR Winston Cup Series Rookie of the Year in the No. 2Chevrolet/Pontiac, finishing 59 points behindKen Bouchard for Rookie of the Year. In 1989, Irvan posted 4-top ten finishes and ending the season 22nd in points, three better than the previous year. Unfortunately,Kroger decided not to renew its contract, and Irvan had no choice but to leave the team. Ulrich was able to get several different sponsorships together for1990, and the team ran most of the races.
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The car returned full-time for1991 as the No. 55Pontiac sponsored by Jasper Engines, based in Jasper, Indiana. The team's original plan was a Winston Cup rookie campaign for popularUSAC veteran andIndianapolis 500 starterRich Vogler, but he perished while leading a USAC event at theSalem Speedway inIndiana in July 1990. Their next choice wasWisconsin'sTed Musgrave, who narrowly missedRookie of the Year honors toBobby Hamilton. During the1992 and1993 NASCAR seasons, Ulrich formed a partnership with Ray DeWitt to formRaDiUs Motorsports which continued with Musgrave behind the wheel. During the 1992 season, the team ran various makes fromGeneral Motors before switching toFord halfway through the year. In1994 Musgrave left forRoush Racing and Ulrich and DeWitt ended their partnership. DeWitt formed a new team with the RaDiUS name and No. 55 while Ulrich retained the Jasper sponsorship on the newly renumbered No. 77, withDoug Bawel, an executive from Jasper Engines & Transmissions, became a business partner with Ulrich, the team being renamed Jasper Motorsports with veteran journeymanGreg Sacks handling the driving chores as well as a major co-sponsorship fromUSAir.[1] Jasper Engines & Transmissions co-sponsored the team for the1995 season, with the car originally piloted by rookieDavy Jones and laterBobby Hillin Jr. After the season, Bawel bought the entire team from Ulrich and started a partnership with Jasper salesmen Mark Wallace andMark Harrah. Hillin continued to drive the car for1996, and the first part of1997, before being replaced byRobert Pressley andMorgan Shepherd.
Pressley was full-time for1998, during which he had a then-career-best finish of 3rd atTexas.1999 was a tumultuous year for the team, struggling with qualifying and finishing 39th in points. For the2000 season, the team began usingPenske engines and hiredRyan Pemberton as crew chief. Change made a huge difference as Pressley finished 25th in points the next two years, finishing 2nd at the2001Tropicana 400 atChicagoland Speedway.
Pressley, although picking up a few top-tens during his tenure with Jasper, struggled with consistency, even with his successful pairing with Pemberton. Therefore, Pressley and Jasper parted ways after the season, and formersprint car championDave Blaney was tabbed to replace him.[2] But Blaney, while competitive in some races also struggled with consistency and was gone at the end of2003.[3]
Boris Said drove a No. 67 car on road courses and as a teammate to Blaney in 2002, finishing a best of 8th at Watkins Glen. The car is featured in the widely popular video gameNASCAR Racing 2003 Season.
At the end of the year, Wallace sold his share of the team, andRoger Penske, who was already providing engines and support to the Jasper team, took his place.[4] The team got a new sponsor inKodak, as well as a new driver in rookieBrendan Gaughan and a new manufacturer inDodge (the team had run Dodge instead of the usual Ford for the2003 EA Sports 500, causing Ford to pull their factory support).[5] Despite grabbing 4 top-10 finishes, Gaughan was replaced to the shock of fans by another rookie,Travis Kvapil. In his first year in the Cup circuit, he finished 32nd in points with two top-10 finishes. When the season came to a close, it was announced the No. 77 car would not run the 2006 season, as Penske would go back to fielding two cars inhis own team.[6]
Not long after the announcement, the team announced for 2006 an ownership partnership with Michael Waltrip and change to car No. 55 forMichael Waltrip to create Waltrip-Jasper Racing with Bill Davis Racing supplying the team's cars and at the track personnel.[7] After 2006, Waltrip bought the 55 team outright andMichael Waltrip Racing became a full-time Cup team, thus ending Jasper Racing's team presence in NASCAR.
Notable drivers (Winston Cup Champions, Rookies of the Year, and Cup race winners) are highlighted inbold.
D. K. Ulrich (1971–1975, 1978–1987, 1990)Roy Mayne (1971)Dick May (1971, 1980–1982)Frank Warren (1973)Harry Schilling (1974)Ed Negre (1974)Tony Bettenhausen Jr. (1974)Randy Bethea (1975)Al Elmore (1979, 1983)Bill Whittington (1980)Joe Booher (1980–1982, 1986)Ricky Rudd (1980)Dick Skillen (1980)Mike Alexander (1980)J. D. McDuffie (1980)Tommy Gale (1980, 1981, 1983)Lennie Pond (1980)Sterling Marlin (1980, 1981)Tim Richmond (1980–1981)Harry Dinwiddie (1980)Stan Barrett (1980, 1982)Chuck Bown (1981)Rick Baldwin (1981)Kevin Housby (1981)Al Loquasto (1981, 1982)Terry Herman (1981, 1982)Rick Knoop (1981, 1986, 1987)Cecil Gordon (1981)Elliott Forbes-Robinson (1981)Slick Johnson (1981–1982)Bob McElee (1981)Ronnie Thomas (1981)Don Hume (1981)Tommy Houston (1982)Jimmy Hensley (1982)Ferrel Harris (1982)Randy Becker (1982)Bob Jarvis (1982)Jim Sauter (1983, 1984, 1990)Mark Martin (1983)Connie Saylor (1983, 1984, 1987)Morgan Shepherd (1984, 1997)Jimmy Ingalls (1984)Clark Dwyer (1984)Doug Heveron (1984)Eddie Bierschwale (1985, 1990)
Trevor Boys (1986–1987)Richard Petty (one race in 1986)Bobby Baker (1987)Ron Esau (1987)Ernie Irvan (1987–1989)Rick Mast (1990)Jim Bown (1990)Troy Beebe (1990)Charlie Glotzbach (1990)Rick Ware (1990)Jerry O'Neil (1990)Ted Musgrave (1990–1993, 1998)Greg Sacks (1994)P. J. Jones (1994)Davy Jones (1995)Bobby Hillin Jr. (1995–1997)Robert Pressley (1997–2001)Hut Stricklin (1998)Boris Said (2001–2002; road races only)Dave Blaney (2002–2003)Brendan Gaughan (2004)Travis Kvapil (2005)| Color | Result |
|---|---|
| Gold | Winner |
| Silver | Finished 2nd–5th |
| Bronze | Finished 6th–10th |
| Green | Finished 11th–20th |
| Blue | Finished 21st or worse |
| Purple | Did not finish (DNF) |
| Black | Disqualified (DSQ) |
| Red | Did not qualify (DNQ) |
| Tan | Withdrew From Race (Wth) |
| White | Qualified for another driver (QL) |
| Qualified but replaced due to injury or incident (INQ) | |
| Relieved another driver (RL) | |
| Blank | Did not participate (DNP) |
| Excluded (EX) | |
| Did not arrive (DNA) |