The Racer's Group

NASCAR_Owner_Infobox
Company Name = The Racer's Group


Owner(s) Name = Kevin Buckler
Racing Series = Craftsman Truck Series
Championships = 0
Car Number(s) = #7
#71
Driver(s) = T. J. Bell (#7)
Andy Lally (#71)
Primary Sponsor(s) = Heathcliff's Cat Litter (#7)
TBA (#71)
Shop Location = Mooresville, North Carolina
Homepage = [http://www.trgmotorsports.com/ TRG Motorsports]

The Racer's Group is a NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series and Rolex Sports Car Series racing team located in Petaluma, California owned by Kevin Buckler and his wife Debra. More commonly known as TRG, the team has competed professionally in road racing since 1995.

Early History

In 1992, Buckler started racing in regional Porsche Club races, working his way through the ranks before entering his first professional race at the 1995 IMSA Grand Prix of California, which he ended up winning. From then until 2001, The Racer's Group ran part-time schedules with various drivers. Just before the 2002 season started, the Porsche factory offered to support the team at the Rolex 24 at Daytona by lending the services of factory drivers Timo Bernhard and Jörg Bergmeister.

Major Victories

After seven previous attempts at Daytona, The Racer’s Group, with drivers Buckler, Bernhard, Bergmeister, and Michael Schrom, won the GT class at the 2002 Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona. With the success of the team at Daytona, the Porsche factory again provided TRG with factory support and drivers for the 2002 24 Hours of Le Mans. In one of the closest GT races in history, Buckler, Bernhard, and Lucas Luhr edged the Freisinger Motorsport team by little more than one minute to capture a win at the team’s maiden run at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. As the American Le Mans Series and Grand American seasons continued, The Racer’s Group strung together a long series of high finishes, including wins at the Grand Prix of Mosport, Grand Prix of Mid-Ohio, and the Grand-Am 400 at California Speedway. TRG finished on the podium 14 times in 2002, including 8 in a row in the ALMS.

After the season, Buckler and co-driver Schrom had a 1-2 finish in the Porsche World Cup. The award, given annually to the top independent Porsche drivers in the world, was given to Buckler at the Porsche factory in Weissach, Germany in December 2002. Buckler and Schrom were the first and only teammates to finish 1-2 in the Porsche Cup. They followed the award up with a win at the 24 Hours of Daytona since 1977, becoming the first GT-class team to win overall.

Pontiac GTO.R GM Factory Team

2003 and the few years beyond saw TRG continue to compete in ALMS and Grand American. In 2005, TRG was selected by GM as a factory team. Pontiac Motorsports and TRG teamed up to race the new generation of Pontiac GTO vehicles, specifically twin GTO.R's. GM brought in Paul Edwards and Jan Magnussen to drive the #64, while TRG hired Marc Bunting and Andy Lally to drive of the #65. In 2006, Kelly Collins replaced Magnussen, the same year Pontiac won the manufacturer's championship, TRG took 1st and 3rd in the team championship, and drivers Bunting and Lally took won the driver's championship.

Summary of TRG 2006 Accomplishments – GT:
*Marc Bunting and Andy Lally won the GT drivers championship
*Bunting won the Bob Akin Sportsman Award
*TRG won the GT team championship, second straight year
*Pontiac and TRG won the GT manufacturers battle
*23 podiums in a row extending back to mid season last year
*Lally and Bunting logged five wins, Virginia, Lime Rock, Daytona, Barber, and Miller, with 13 total podium finishes on the season, including qualifying race finishes
*Collins and Edwards have won four races, Mexico City, Homestead, Phoenix and have stood on the podium 10 times, including qualifying race finishes
*A TRG GTO.R has been on the podium in all 12 races this past season, four additional podiums including qualifying races
*Lally leads the Grand Am Rolex Series with three Championships, the most by any driver in series history.
*Lally and Bunting broke the record for most podium finishes with 14 of a possible 16 this year. The old record was their own, set in 2004 of 11 podium finishes.
*Lally has 48 Grand Am podium finishes, the most by any driver in series history.
*60% win record in ’06, 9 wins in 15 races, 9 including one qualifying race win
*77% podium finishes in ’06, 23 of a possible 30, between 2 cars
*Three races TRG GTO.Rs have finished first and second
*Six of the races TRG GTO.Rs have both been on the podium
*23 straight podium appearances, a Grand Am record, including DP from ‘05
*Kelly Collins has led 100 laps in the GT series, first amongst competitors and teammate Andy Lally sits second with 81 laps led.
*The TRG GTO.R Daytona 24 Hour effort was the subject of a six part documentary by noted film maker Sean Heckman and is currently playing on INHD.

2007-Present

The GTO program has been discontinued by GM as of the 2006 season end, and TRG returned Porsche vehicles in 2007, as well as running in the DP class. They began 2008 with second, third, and fourth place finishes at the 24 Hours of Daytona.

Entry into NASCAR

Co-driver R.J. Valentine announced Andy Lally's plans to race in the NASCAR Busch Series, possibly with support from TRG during the broadcast of the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series GT Race at Iowa Speedway on July 14, 2007. Lally raced the #47 Clorox Ford Fusion in the NASCAR Busch Series road races at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve on August 4 and Watkins Glen on August 11 as part of a partnership between TRG and Wood Brothers/JTG Racing. He finished 29th and 10th respectively. In October 2007, TRG purchased the assets of Darrell Waltrip Motorsports' Craftsman Truck Series team, with Lally serving as the team's driver and United States Army Reserve sponsoring the #00 Toyota Tundra.

In 2008, TRG switched to Chevrolet Silverados and formed a second team. They began the 2008 season fielding entries in the #7 for Lally and the #71 for fellow rookie Donny Lia. The NASCAR team will be known as TRG Motorsports and will be based in Mooresville, North Carolina. Donny Lia won in his 8th career start in Mansfield driving the #71 TRG truck. Midway through the season, sponsorship issues forced Lally to cut a part-time schedule. He was replaced by Nevada driver T.J. Bell for the rest of the season. Lally would return to the #71 late in the year when the team released Lia.

TRG will also run in the ARCA RE/MAX Series, considered a developmental league for young drivers. The team tested with Tim George Jr. at Nashville Superspeedway in preparation for the Toyota ARCA 150.

External links

* [http://www.theracersgroup.com/ The Racer's Group]
* [http://www.trgmotorsports.com NASCAR team's website]