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David Blair Motorsports

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Blair Motorsports
Owner(s)David Blair
BaseStatesville, North Carolina
SeriesWinston Cup
Race driversKenny Irwin Jr. Elton Sawyer Todd Bodine Rick Wilson
SponsorsIndianapolis Colts, Tonka
ManufacturerFord
Opened1996
Closed1998
Career
Drivers' Championships0
Race victories0

David Blair Motorsports (DBM) is a former NASCAR Winston Cup team. It was formed in 1995 by attorney David Blair. It only ran a few years in the circuit, and never could hang onto a regular sponsor.

1996

[edit]

David Blair Motorsports began racing in 1996, the No. 27 team having been acquired in its entirety from Junior Johnson & Associates. It was able to keep the number, 27, and the driver, Elton Sawyer.[1] Sawyer and the team got off to a disappointing start, failing to qualify for two races and only mustering up a best finish of 19th at the spring Atlanta race. After the Coca-Cola 600, Sawyer was released due to a lack of funding for the operation, and the team suspended operations to reorganize.[2] After a failed attempt at the Brickyard 400 with Jason Keller driving, DBM reappeared at the Mountain Dew Southern 500 with Todd Bodine driving. Bodine qualified sixteenth and finished 15th. Bodine ran two more races with the team that season, never qualifying outside the top 20.

1997

[edit]

After starting 1997 off with no driver or sponsor, the team finally hooked up a deal with Rick Wilson to run selected events that season. The team returned at the Miller 400 at Michigan, where Wilson started 31st and finished 21st. He had the same finish later in the year at the Brickyard 400 in a car sponsored by the Indianapolis Colts.[3] In September that year, Blair was hired by Robert Yates Racing to field a car for their new driver, Kenny Irwin Jr., to prepare him for his rookie year in 1998.[4] In his first start with the team at Richmond International Raceway, Irwin qualified on the outside pole. He followed that up with taking the lead at lap 86 and holding it for the next 12 laps before finishing in eighth place. In his next start, at Martinsville Speedway, he qualified third but had to make an early exit due to a fuel pump problem. He ran two more races that year before moving to RYR full-time for 1998.

1998

[edit]

DBM began 1998 in a familiar place: no sponsor. Despite signing Tommy Kendall to drive early on, the team was unable to locate a sponsor for the year, and Kendall left the team. This did not stop the team from looking towards the future, as they built a full shop of Ford Tauruses to prepare for a full-time run. A successful test at Darlington Speedway with Mike Wallace yielded optimism for 1999, but by November, it was obvious the situation hadn't gotten any better. As a result, Blair laid off all of his employees and sold the shop and equipment to Travis Carter Motorsports. Under the TCM banner, the old David Blair team ran for five years with mediocre results, before disappearing in 2003.

Car No. 27 results

[edit]
Year Driver No. Make 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 NWCC Pts
1996 Elton Sawyer 27 Ford DAY
25
CAR
DNQ
RCH
30
ATL
19
DAR
30
BRI
37
NWS
32
MAR
DNQ
TAL
37
SON CLT
21
DOV POC MCH DAY NHA POC TAL MCH
DNQ
BRI 38th 892
Jason Keller IND
DNQ
GLN
Todd Bodine DAR
15
RCH
34
DOV MAR NWS CLT
21
CAR PHO
Ron Barfield Jr. ATL
DNQ
1997 Rick Wilson DAY CAR RCH ATL DAR TEX
DNQ
BRI MAR SON TAL CLT DOV POC MCH
21
CAL DAY NHA POC IND
21
GLN MCH BRI DAR CLT
19
TAL 46th 731
Kenny Irwin Jr. RCH
8
NHA DOV MAR
37
CAR
DNQ
PHO
20
ATL
25

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "Foyt fails to qualify for today's Dura-Lube 500K". Macon Telegraph. Macon, GA. October 29, 1995. p. 9D. Retrieved September 15, 2013.
  2. ^ Fry, Darrell (June 2, 1996). "Blair team loses race with time". St. Petersburg Times. St. Petersburg, FL. p. 9C. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved September 15, 2013.
  3. ^ "Two sides in Indy battle 'talk about the weather'". Gadsden Times. Gadsden, AL. August 3, 1997. p. D5. Retrieved September 15, 2013.
  4. ^ Zeller, Bob (August 30, 1997). "NASCAR Report". The Virginian-Pilot. Hampton Roads, VA. p. C5. Retrieved September 15, 2013.