Automotive Guide Online

Sub-Categories:

• States

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New Car Dealers Websites:

• Auto Dealer Directory - Directory of automobile dealer contact information, reviews, and websites. Searchable by automobile brand and state.


• AutoNetUSA.com - Offers a new vehicle carfinder referral service and used car classifieds nationwide, buying tips, auto loan calculator.


• Car Dealers USA - A national directory containing location information on auto dealers in the USA.


• Car Index - Directory of automobile dealers in New England, Florida, and Ohio.


• DriveTime Automotive Group, Inc. - Nationwide chain of used car dealerships specializing in selling to people with credit problems. Lists dealerships, offers online credit application, describes vehicle inspection process and limited warranty.


• Germain Motor Company - Sales and service of new and used vehicles in Ohio, Florida, Arkansas, and Arizona. Includes dealership links and product information.


• Napleton Automotive Group - New and pre-owned sales and service with locations in Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, and Missouri. Features profile, dealership locator, inventory search, trade in estimates, and finance information.


• New-Car-Dealerships.com - Directory of U.S. new car dealerships.


• Rush Enterprises, Inc. - Operates regional network of truck centers that offer retail sales of Peterbilt and Volvo trucks and parts. Also provides service and body shop facilities, leasing and rentals. (Nasdaq: RUSH).


• America's Car-Mart - Automotive retailer with over 60 dealerships in multiple states. (Nasdaq: CRMT).


• CarHop - Used car sales and financing in the midwest and Washington State.

Wikipedia

Michael Waltrip Racing Holdings LLC, doing business as Michael Waltrip Racing ("MWR"), is a professional stock car racing team focused on the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. The company is as a 50-50 partnership between Robert "Rob" Kauffman, the 44-year-old founder and managing partner of Fortress Investment Group, and Michael Waltrip, who first established the team in 1996. The team was the first full-time three-car team to field Toyota Camrys when Toyota entered Sprint Cup racing in 2007, and is now one of two three-car teams under the Toyota banner (along with Joe Gibbs Racing), while occasionally fielding a four-car lineup.

Currently, MWR fields the

00 Aaron's Rent Toyota Camry for David Reutimann, the #56 NAPA Auto Parts Toyota Camry for Martin Truex, Jr., and the #51 NAPA Auto Parts Toyota Camry part-time for owner Michael Waltrip in the Sprint Cup Series. In addition, MWR has a technical alliance with JTG Daugherty Racing to field a third full-time Sprint Cup car, the #47 Kroger Toyota Camry for Marcos Ambrose, which competes as a part of the MWR team.

Also, under a technical alliance with Prism Motorsports, MWR supplies up to two additional Toyota Camrys for the Sprint Cup series, the

66 and the #55, along with technical support, although these cars do not compete as part of MWR. Under a separate technical alliance with Germain Racing, MWR supplies the #13 Toyota Camry for Max Papis. Thus, in total, MWR is preparing at least six and maybe up to seven cars for any one Sprint Cup race. In addition, MWR partners with Diamond Ridge Motorsports to sponsor development driver Trevor Bayne in the #99 Toyota Camry in the Nationwide Series.

In addition, MWR fields the

00 NAPA Auto Parts Toyota Camry for Ryan Truex, Martin's younger brother, in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East and development entries in the ARCA RE/MAX Series with Eddie Sharp Racing and USARacing for Ken and Brett Butler. Ryan Truex won the Camping World East Series championship in 2009, MWR's first series championship.

History

Michael Waltrip Racing began racing in the Winston Cup series in 2002, making its debut at the 2002 Aaron's 499. The car was the

98 Aaron's Chevrolet Monte Carlo driven by Kenny Wallace. Wallace qualified 27th and finished 21st. Following that first race, Waltrip sold the #98 and its owner points to Innovative Motorsports.

After that, MWR fielded one Winston or Nextel Cup series car, the

00, on an intermittant basis through 2005. In 2006, MWR, in partnership with Bill Davis Racing, added a second car, Waltrip's #55, but neither car had manufacturer support.

In 2006, MWR signed an agreement with Toyota to field multiple Toyota Camrys in the Nextel Cup series for 2007. Waltrip was then able to add a third car driven by Dale Jarrett to his team for 2007, along with new sponsors. However, the MWR cars experienced a disastrous 2007 season, with the three teams failing to qualify for 39 races between them while winning only one pole with no top-5 finishes. Waltrip was forced to add Rob Kauffmann as a 50% partner in MWR to get the financing to improve the operation. After the season, major sponsors Burger King and Domino's Pizza pulled out. Also after the season, an ugly controversy emerged with Jack Roush of Roush Fenway Racing, who accused MWR of stealing one of his team's sway bars after a September 2007 race. While Waltrip and some other drivers, such as Jeff Gordon, argued that parts are often inadvertently swapped during post-race inspection, Roush held a lengthy news conference in March 2008 to accuse "the non-descript Toyota team" (MWR) of deliberately stealing the bar and threatened legal action. However, Roush, who had previously accused Toyota teams of being "ankle-biting Chihuahuas" and brought up Pearl Harbor in his effort to keep Toyota out of NASCAR, did not pursue such a lawsuit.

For 2008, MWR once again added Aaron's as a sponsor and ran competitively, but again managed only one pole and just one top-5 finish, and UPS withdrew as a sponsor after Jarrett retired and transferred its sponsorship to MWR's archrivals Roush Fenway. In 2009, MWR was forced to form a technical alliance with JTG Daugherty Racing to have sponsorship for its third car. However, during this season, MWR finally achieved success as a Sprint Cup team, including winning a race and placing two cars in the top six two weeks later. Both of those cars ended up in the top 20 for the year. For 2010, MWR has added Martin Truex Jr. as a full-time Sprint Cup driver. Michael Waltrip has also continued as a part-time driver in 2010, which brings MWR up to the maximum four cars per team when he competes.

Car

00 History

The first race for the MWR

00 was in 2002 at the Tropicana 400, with Jerry Nadeau driving. Nadeau qualified 34th but finished 37th after suffering a steering failure. MWR attempted another race that season, the NAPA 500 with Buckshot Jones driving with sponsorship from Charter Pipeline, but he failed to qualify. Jones ran the EA Sports 500 the following season, where he started sixteenth and led nineteen laps before being relegated to 40th due to a crash. He attempted Atlanta again, but failed to qualify. Mike Skinner closed out the year for MWR at the Ford 400, qualifying 17th, but finishing 39th after a wreck.

In 2004, Kenny Wallace returned to MWR in the

00. Running four races for the team, his best finish was a 22nd at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Wallace ran two races in 2005, finishing 27th at Darlington Raceway. Johnny Benson ran a pair of races that season as well, but did not finish higher than 42nd. David Reutimann, who drove for Waltrip's brother Darrell in the Craftsman Truck Series, made his Cup debut at Lowe's Motor Speedway that season, qualifying 26th and finishing 22nd. In 2006, the #00 ran under two separate entries. The first ran with listed owners Mike and Bonnie Anderson under the name MBA Racing. It campaigned Ford Fusions with Hermie Sadler driving. He made only three starts, with his best finish 40th at the Daytona 500. The other was the MWR car with Waltrip as the listed owner. Bill Elliott drove the Monte Carlo in five races in 2006 with sponsorship from Burger King.

David Reutimann was tapped to drive the

00 Toyota Camry in 2007, with full-time primary sponsorship from Burger King and Dominos Pizza. He competed for the Rookie of the Year title as well as the Nextel Cup championship. However, the team struggled to qualify for races, as did other Toyota teams, making only 26 of 36 races in the season. Reutimann experienced one of the hardest crashes ever recorded at the 2007 Auto Club 500 at California Speedway. Because of the struggles, the team finished 39th in points and had a best finish of 13th. Sponsors Burger King and Dominos then pulled their sponsorship for 2008.

Reutimann opened 2008 in the

00 with backing from Aaron's. After the first five races Reutimann moved to MWR's #44 UPS Toyota and Michael McDowell took over the #00. However, McDowell struggled to keep the car in the Top 35 in owner points, which is necessary for automatic qualification into each race, and was replaced near the end of the season by Mike Skinner in an effort to reclaim a Top 35 spot. In October 2008, MWR transferred its third team to the #47 Toyota of JTG Daugherty Racing, driven by Marcos Ambrose, and discontinued the #00 team for the balance of the season.

In 2009, the

00 was once again driven by Reutimann with Aaron's sponsorship for the entire 2009 season. This became Reutimann and MWR's breakthrough season, as Reutimann won a rain-shortened Coca-Cola 600 on May 25, 2009, giving Michael Waltrip Racing its first victory in a Sprint Cup race, which was considered vindication for a team that had struggled for years.& Waltrip gave Toyota its second pole in Cup competition at Talladega on October 7 and grabbed another top-10 finish at Lowe's the following week, bringing his team barely inside the top 43 in points by the end of the season.

Waltrip continued to run the

55 during 2008 and 2009. The car qualified in the Top 35 in owner points for 2008, and Waltrip recorded his best finish as a Sprint Cup owner with a second place in the 2008 Lenox Industrial Tools 301 in June. In 2009, Waltrip started the season with a seventh place finish in the 2009 Daytona 500. However, because Waltrip consistently qualified and finished behind both of his teammates (Reutimann and Ambrose) during the first half of 2009, he began to discuss retirement as a driver, stating that, as his team's owner, he would make himself retire as a driver if he was no longer competitive.& The #56 team will use the #55's owner's points for 2010.

Car

51 History

With Michael Waltrip's move away from full-time driving, the team began fielding a fourth car for him in selected races in 2010. Instead of continuing to use the

55, Waltrip decided to go with the #51, which is the inverse of the #15, which is the car that Waltrip drove for DEI to two victories at Daytona. Waltrip first drove the #51 for the 2010 Daytona Speedweeks, and he became the final qualifier in the 2010 Daytona 500 despite wrecking in the qualifying race.& Jarrett, who qualified for only two of the first nine races on speed, used his last champions provisional at Talladega in April 2007. After Jarrett's depletion of provisionals, crew chief Matt Borland was released from Michael Waltrip Racing, with Jason Burdett replacing Borland., but the car was unable to crack the top 35 in owners points during the 2007 season.

Jarrett drove the

44 for the first five races of the 2008 season as the well as the Budweiser Shootout and NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race before retiring from racing. David Reutimann took over after that and drove the car for the remainder of the year. Under Reutimann, the car easily finished in the Top 35 for owner points, and Reutimann won his first pole (and MWR's second) in the last race of the season, at Homestead. However, prior to the end of the 2008 season, UPS withdrew its sponsorship for the 2009 season, becoming the third major sponsor to abandon MWR during its two years of struggling under the Toyota banner. As a result, the number 44 was returned to Petty Enterprises at the end of the 2008 season.

MWR reached a technical alliance with JTG Daugherty Racing prior to the end of the 2008 season. Under that agreement, Australian Marcos Ambrose drove the third MWR Camry, renumbered to

47 and sponsored by Little Debbie/Kingsford Charcoal/Clorox, as part of the MWR team in 2009. Rob Kauffman of MWR is the listed owner of this team, which permitted the team to use the 2008 owner points from the #44 to qualify for 2009 races at the start of the year. Although JTG Daugherty Racing maintains operations separate from MWR for its other functions, it has imbedded its Sprint Cup team personnel into MWR.& Prism entered the #66 car in each race, normally driven by Dave Blaney but also driven by Terry Labonte at the Daytona 500 and Michael McDowell at the Aaron's 499, with one-race sponsorship also provided by Aaron's for the 2009 Coca-Cola 600. MWR provided Prism with cars, engines and technical support. Prism became notorious as a start and park operation, only running a full race when the team had full sponsorship for the race, but the team has qualified for almost every race of the 2009 Sprint Cup season using the MWR equipment, sometimes beating out fully-sponsored teams.

For 2010, Prism added a second car provided by MWR, the

55, driven by former MWR Sprint Cup driver Michael McDowell. As of the start of the season, Prism had no sponsorship for either car. Prism co-owner Phil Parsons credited MWR with "allow us to purchase the cars and equipment we needed to grow our program." Although Blaney failed to qualify for the Daytona 500, McDowell succeeded in qualifying for the starting field, using Michael Waltrip's old #55 car.& In the first event of the 2010 season, Papis qualified for the Daytona 500, During the 2010 season, the #13 car has qualified for four of the first five races.

Diamond-Waltrip Racing

After the 2009 season, MWR sold the assets of its Nationwide team to Gary Bechtel and his Diamond Ridge Motorsports. Running the under the moniker of Diamond-Waltrip Racing, Bechtel's team will run the

99 Toyota for MWR driver Trevor Bayne, and will receive technical support, equipment, owner's points, and employees from Waltrip.

Waltrip-Jasper Racing

On January 20, 2006, Michael Waltrip and president of Jasper Motorsports, Doug Bawel, announced the forming of Waltrip-Jasper Racing. Waltrip-Jasper Racing fielded the No. 55 NAPA Auto Parts Car in the 2006 Nextel Cup Series, driven by Waltrip. Bawel, as the listed owner of the No. 77 that he fielded with Roger Penske in 2005, had a guaranteed starting spot in the first five races of 2006 by virtue of finishing 34th in the 2005 owner points. This enabled Waltrip to make the first five races in 2006 without qualifying on time.

The Waltrip-Jasper partnership ceased at the end of the 2006 season.

Waltrip-PPI Racing

The partnership of Michael Waltrip Racing and PPI Motorsports was officially announced on February 10, 2007. The partnership was limited to the

00 car, driven by David Reutimann. Cal Wells was listed as the owner and the 2006 owner points for the #32 was be transferred to the #00 for the 2007 season. The partnership included the purchase of all equipment and personnel at PPI Motorsports, as the former #32 pit crew became the #00 pit crew.

The Waltrip-PPI partnership ceased at the end of the 2007 season, with Cal Wells moving to a management position at Waltrip Racing.

Michael Waltrip Racing Executive Team

Cal Wells -
Wells is the E.V.P. and COO. Cal Wells has a rich racing history and his motorsports experience spans over 30 years. Wells has achieved quite a bit in his career and his business savvy has allowed him to become
an owner himself in a variety of racing series. In his current role Wells is in charge of overseeing day-to-day operations for three NSCS teams and one NNS team at Michael Waltrip Racing.

Ty Norris
Norris is the E.V.P. of Business Development and is also the General Manager. Ty Norris career in NASCAR spans the course of 15 years and includes some of the sports most recognizable names - Dale Earnhardt, Inc., Speedway Motorsports, Inc. and RJ Reynolds. Over the past few years, Norris has applied his industry knowledge to help grow Michael Waltrip Racing and negotiate key partnerships with sponsors, such as, NAPA Auto Parts, Aarons and TUMS.

Larry Johns
Larry Johns is the E.V.P. and CFO. As Chief Financial Officer Larry Johns is primarily responsible for managing the 250-employee companys cash flow as well as communicating the teams strategic direction for execution from the shop floor to the racetrack. Johns previously served as CFO of PPI Motorsports, LLC and prior to that owned his own business for almost a decade.

Steve Hallam
Hallam is the E.V.P. and Director of Competition. Hallam moved from England to North Carolina when he joined Michael Waltrip Racing before the 2009 season, giving up his job as head of race operations for McLaren after 27 years as an engineer and manager in Formula One. His resume includes 445 Grand Prix and six world championships.

Bobby Kennedy
Kennedy is the E.V.P. of Race Operations. Kennedys NASCAR career began in 1987 and includes affiliations with organizations such as SABCO and Petty Enterprises. He joined Michael Waltrip Racing in January of 2001 and has been instrumental to the success of the organization.

Nick Hughes
Nick Hughes is the E.V.P. and Technical Director. Nick joined Michael Waltrip Racing in March of 2008 after spending five years at Evernham Motorsports where he served as Director of Vehicle Dynamics and Simulation. Prior to that he worked as Chief Design Engineer for Penske Racing Shocks in Pennsylvania.

Raceworld USA

Raceworld USA, located in Cornelius, North Carolina, is the race shop and center of operations for Michael Waltrip Racing. The main shop facility consists of while the fabrication shop consists of the remaining 35,000 square feet.

Raceworld USA is also intended to be a tourist attraction. The shop features elevated walkways and flat screen televisions, providing fans with an interactive inside look on how a race team functions. Also, Raceworld USA allows patrons to hold events at the race shop.

The exhibit content in the facility was designed by Portland, Oregon-based Downstream.



1996 establishments
American auto racing teams
Companies based in North Carolina
NASCAR teams