Specialty Racing
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| Owner(s) Name(s) | Doug Taylor and Charles Shoffner |
| Racing Series | Nationwide Series |
| Number of Championships | 0 |
| Car Number(s) | #61 |
| Driver(s) | Kevin Lepage |
| Primary Sponsor(s) | Cone Solvents |
| Shop Location | Statesville, North Carolina |
| Homepage | Specialty Racing |
Specialty Racing LLC is a racing team that competes in the NASCAR Nationwide Series. Based in Statesville, North Carolina, it is owned by Doug Taylor and Charles Shoffner. Currently, it fields the #61 Chevrolet driven by two-time series race winner Kevin Lepage.
The team was re-established from the Doug Taylor Motorsports/Specialty Motorsports NASCAR team.
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[edit] Team History-1990's
Team owner Doug Taylor's first race as an owner came in 1994 at Dover when Patty Moise drove the #40 Dial/Purex Ford to a 19th place finish. The team would run 5 more races that season achieving a season best 12th place at Michigan in just their 3rd race. In 1995 Specialty/Doug Taylor Motorsports would continue to build in the foundation laid the previous year by racing in 22 races with Moise behind the wheel for all of them. The highlights of the season came at the Red Dog 300 in Charlotte when the team earned its first top ten stating spot as it qualified 8th and finished the race 18th. Another milestone came at the Humminbird Fishfinder 500K at Talladega when Moise drove the car to its first top ten finish, a 7th place showing.
Moise was released as the team's driver at the end of the 1995 season and Tim Fedewa was hired to serve as driver for the 1996 campaign. Kleenex signed on to sponsor the Number 40. Fedewa drove the car to 5 top ten starts and 2 top ten finishes, with a season-best 4th place finish in Indianapolis at the Kroger 200. The finish at IRP would mark the team's first top five finish. In 1997 a total of seven drivers sat in the seat of the car, including Doug Taylor himself for the March Las Vegas race. The best finish for the year was put forth when Ted Musgrave drove to a 12th place finish at Darlington.
1998 was the last year of Doug Taylor Motorsports. The team raced in 31 out of 32 races with Kerry Earnhardt, Rick Fuller, Jack Sprague, Taylor and Lepage sharing driving duties. Lepage drove the car in 24 of the races. Full-time sponsorship was provided by Channellock and manufacturers were switched from Ford to Chevrolet. The team earned its first pole award with Lepage driving at the MBNA Platinum 200 at Dover. Also, it posted 10 top ten finishes, 6 top five finishes and the highlight of the season at the Food City 250 in Bristol when Kevin Lepage led 13 laps and came away with Doug Taylor Motorsports' first victory. At the end of the season, the team was bought out by Galaxy Motorsports.
[edit] Current Team History
Specialty Racing returned to the NASCAR Busch Series on October 27, 2007 at the Sam's Town 250, Memphis Motorsports Park. The driver of the car, Matt Carter, drove to a 39th place finish. The team then signed Lepage, and made plans to run the entire 2008 Nationwide Series Schedule. After failing to qualify for the opening race of the season, the Camping World 300 at Daytona International Speedway the team has qualified for every race since. The team has posted two top twenty finishes to date with a 17th place finish in the Sam's Town 300 and an 18th place finish in the Sharpie Mini 300. Specialty presently stands in the top 30 in owner's points in the Nationwide Series which guarantees them a starting spot in each race no matter how they qualify. They lease shop space from Travis Carter and are also trying to buy cars from the former Carl A. Haas Motorsports team, which ran the series last year out of Carter’s shops.[1]
Although enjoying relative success for such a small team, it was announced prior to the May 31st race at Dover that due to lack of sponsorship the team may shut down operation. It appears that at the last minute before the following race at Nashville the team was saved. It was reported on various websites and confirmed by Lepage himself that Front Row Motorsports would be taking over the team with help from Specialty Racing. The team converted the cars to Chevrolet for the race and acquired a primary sponsor in Cone Solvents, a chemical distributor from Nashville, Tennessee.
[edit] 2008 Season Results
| Race | Started | Finished |
|---|---|---|
| Camping World 300 | DNQ | DNQ |
| Starter Brothers 300 | 37th | 23rd |
| Sam's Town 300 | 33rd | 17th |
| Nicorette 300 | 33rd | 27th |
| Sharpie Mini 300 | 33rd | 18th |
| Pepsi 300 | 27th | 29th |
| O'Reilly 300 | 27th | 31st |
| Bashas' Supermarkets 200 | 29th | 28th |
| Corona México 200 | 42nd | 24th |
| Aaron's 312 | 38th | 35th |
| Lipton Tea 250 | 27th | 29th |
| Diamond Hill Plywood 200 | 36th | 26th |
| CARQUEST Auto Parts 300 | 34th | 26th |
| Heluva Good 200 | 27th | 35th |
| Federated Auto Parts 300 | 36th | 29th |
| Meijer 300 | ||
| Milwaukee 250 | ||
| Camping World 200 | ||
| Daytona 250 | ||
| Chicagoland 300 | ||
| Dodge Dealers 250 | ||
| Kroger 200 | ||
| NAPA Auto Parts 200 | ||
| Zippo 200 | ||
| CarFax 250 | ||
| Food City 250 | ||
| Camping World 200 | ||
| Emerson Radio 250 | ||
| RoadLoans.com 200 | ||
| Kansas Lottery 300 | ||
| Dollar General 300 | ||
| Memphis 250 | ||
| O'Reilly Challenge | ||
| Arizona Travel 200 | ||
| Ford 300 |
[edit] External Links
- Official Team Website
- NASCAR SceneDaily Article about Specialty Racing
- Doug Taylor Owner Statistics
- Charles Schnoffer Owner Statistics
[edit] References
| Chevrolet in NASCAR | ||
| Sprint Cup Teams | Dale Earnhardt, Inc. | Front Row Motorsports | Furniture Row Racing | Haas CNC Racing | Hendrick Motorsports | Richard Childress Racing | |
| Nationwide Series Teams | CJM Racing | Day Enterprise Racing | Elite 2 Racing | Front Row Motorsports | Jay Robinson Racing | JD Motorsports | JR Motorsports | Kevin Harvick Incorporated | Mac Hill Motorsports | ML Motorsports | Mac Hill Racing | MSRP Motorsports | Phoenix Racing | Richard Childress Racing | Rusty Wallace, Inc. | SKI Motorsports | |
| Craftsman Truck Series Teams | Kevin Harvick Incorporated | Key Motorsports | Morgan-Dollar Motorsports | MRD Motorsports | SS-Green Light Racing | TRG Motorsports | ThorSport Racing | Xpress Motorsports | |
