Specialty Racing

NASCAR_Owner_Infobox
Company Name = Specialty Racing LLC


Owner(s) Name = Doug Taylor and Charles Shoffner
Racing Series = Nationwide Series
Championships = 0
Car Number(s) = #61
Primary Sponsor(s) = None
Driver(s) = Brandon Whitt
Shop Location = Statesville, North Carolina
Homepage = [http://www.specialtyracing.net 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 Ford driven by Brandon Whitt.

The team was re-established from the Doug Taylor Motorsports/Specialty Motorsports NASCAR team.

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.

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.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. Long John Silver's restaurant sponsored the car for the next four races. For the road course races at Montreal and Watkins Glen the #61 was driven by Stan Barrett who brought sponsorship from his son's team along, while Whitt piloted a 2nd car fielded by the team.

Possible Legal Troubles

Following the Winn-Dixie 250 at Daytona it was announced that Brandon Whitt would be driving the #61 for the remainder of the 2008 season. According to Lepage and Front Row Motorsports this was a complete surprise and shock. Both parties only found out about this occurance through the internet. Lepage stated that his calls as well as those from management at Front Row went unanswered as far as an explination. Lepage also has said that a deal was reached that Specialty would use Front Row's Chevrolets and Front Row would also take over the owner's points. Lawyers for Lepage and Front Row are currently exploring the possibility of legal action against the owners of Specialty Racing.

2008 Season Results

External Links

* [http://www.specialtyracing.net Official Team Website]

* [http://www.scenedaily.com/news/articles/nationwideseries/Lepage_making_big_strides_with_little_teams.html NASCAR SceneDaily Article about Specialty Racing]
* [http://www.racing-reference.info/owner?id=taylodo02 Doug Taylor Owner Statistics]
* [http://www.racing-reference.info/owner?id=shoffch01 Charles Schnoffer Owner Statistics]

References