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AK Racing

AK Racing
Owner(s)Bill Terry, Alan Kulwicki
BaseConcord, North Carolina
SeriesWinston Cup, Busch Series
Race driversAlan Kulwicki
SponsorsZerex, Hooters, Bojangles
ManufacturerFord
Opened1982
Closed1993
Career
Drivers' Championships1
Race victories5
Kulwicki's 1988 car, the car he used for his Polish Victory Lap

AK Racing was a championship-winning NASCAR Winston Cup Series team. It was originally owned by Bill Terry before he sold it to rookie driver Alan Kulwicki, who controlled and raced for the team until his death in 1993. Kulwicki won five races as an owner-driver. Until Tony Stewart won the championship in 2011, he was the last owner-driver to win a Cup Series championship, which he won in 1992.[1]

History

Bill Terry era

The team debuted at the 1982 Cracker Barrel Country Store 420 at Nashville Speedway USA with Bob Jarvis driving it as the No. 32 Clinomint Buick, finishing 28th out of 30 cars. Two races later, the No. 32 ran again at the World 600, with Bosco Lowe qualifying 40th and finishing 16th. Lowe drove the car in the Daytona 500 the following season, finishing 39th after a crash. Tommy Ellis drove their next race, bringing the Big Daddy's Buick to a 15th-place finish at Charlotte. Butch Lindley drove the final race of the 1983 season for the team at Martinsville Speedway, finishing 25th after suffering rear end problems.

Alan Kulwicki era

The team was inactive until 1986, when it fielded a full-time car driven by rookie Alan Kulwicki. The car was now the No. 35 Quincy's Steak House Ford. After 14 starts, Terry sold the team to Kulwicki. After winning Rookie of the Year honors, Kulwicki changed the number of the car to No. 7 and got sponsorship from Zerex. Kulwicki won three pole positions and finished 15th in points. In 1988, Kulwicki won his first career race at Phoenix International Raceway. In celebration, he drove the now-famous Polish Victory Lap. He won once more in 1990, but lost his Zerex sponsorship. After beginning 1991 with no sponsor, he got a one-race deal with Hooters after their regular driver, Mark Stahl, failed to qualify. Hooters then signed up to sponsor the No. 7 full-time and Kulwicki won three races over the next two seasons. The peak of the team's success was 1992, when Kulwicki became the first owner-driver since Richard Petty did so in 1979 to win a Winston Cup championship. Entering the Hooters 500 (coincidentally, Petty's final race) as one of six drivers with a chance, Kulwicki finished second behind race winner Bill Elliott and led the most laps, enabling him to win the Cup by 10 points over Elliott. The car that won the championship carried the "Underbird" branding, which Kulwicki was able to do after obtaining permission from Ford to do so.

Kulwicki died in a plane crash five races into the 1993 season while flying back from a sponsor event. Under his ownership, the team won five races and recorded 75 top ten finishes with the last victory coming at Pocono Raceway the year before.

After Kulwicki's death

Kulwicki left a will which his team was left to his father but he was unwilling to run the team himself, he made the decision with his attorney to appoint Felix Sabates as administer, with Jimmy Hensley and Tommy Kendall driving until midway through 1993, when Bud Moore Engineering driver Geoff Bodine purchased the team's assets and ran it as Geoff Bodine Racing. In 1999, Bodine sold his portion of the team to Jim Mattei and John Porter and moved to drive for owner Joe Bessey, and the team began running Chevrolets. The next year the renamed Mattei Motorsports was bought midseason by Jim Smith, owner of Ultra Motorsports, and brought the No. 7 car into that team's fold. The last member of AK Racing who was still with the No. 7 team, Rich Wolski, was released in July 2000. Smith continued to run the team until 2004, during which time the team switched back to Ford and later fielded Dodges as part of a short-lived alliance with Ray Evernham's team. In 2005, Ultra's Cup Series assets were sold to driver Robby Gordon, who renamed the team Robby Gordon Motorsports and kept Smith as a part owner. Gordon continued to run the team until 2012, when he ran only a partial season and then shut down due to lack of sponsorship and funding. Smith left the team following the 2006 season after he shut down Ultra Motorsports. In 2013 driver / crew chief / owner Tommy Baldwin Jr. started a second team with the 7 number to run with Dave Blaney. Michael Annett, Alex Bowman, and Regan Smith drove the 7 in respective years after until the team became part time in 2017.

As of the end of the 2023 NASCAR season, the #7 car is run by Spire Motorsports. In 2021, the team moved its headquarters to Kulwicki's former race shop in Concord, North Carolina.

Car No. 7 results

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 NWCC Pts
1982 Bob Jarvis 32 Buick DAY RCH BRI ATL CAR DAR NWS
DNQ
MAR TAL NSV
28
DOV
Bosco Lowe CLT
16
POC RSD MCH DAY NSV POC TAL MCH BRI DAR RCH DOV NWS CLT MAR CAR ATL RSD
1983 DAY
39
RCH CAR ATL DAR NWS MAR TAL NSV DOV BRI CLT
Tommy Ellis CLT
15
RSD POC MCH DAY NSV POC TAL MCH BRI DAR RCH DOV
Butch Lindley MAR NWS CLT CAR ATL RSD
1985 Alan Kulwicki 32 Ford DAY RCH CAR ATL BRI DAR NWS MAR TAL DOV CLT RSD POC MCH DAY POC TAL MCH BRI DAR RCH
19
DOV
21
MAR NWS
38 CLT
13
CAR
27
ATL
22
RSD
1986 32 DAY
DNQ
RCH
DNQ
CAR
15
35 ATL
14
BRI
15
DAR
11
NWS
18
MAR
4
TAL
DNQ
DOV
23
CLT
27
RSD POC MCH
16
DAY
10
POC
22
TAL
32
GLN MCH
14
BRI
10
DAR
12
RCH
15
DOV
7
MAR
13
NWS
17
CLT
14
CAR
12
ATL
18
RSD
24
1987 7 DAY
15
CAR
25
RCH
6
ATL
33
DAR
14
NWS
4
BRI
5
MAR
28
TAL
34
CLT
27
DOV
15
POC
30
RSD
28
MCH
31
DAY
32
POC
2
TAL
23
GLN
6
MCH
6
BRI
11
DAR
40
RCH
23
DOV
14
MAR
6
NWS
7
CLT
29
CAR
18
RSD
11
ATL
6
1988 DAY
32
RCH
21
CAR
4
ATL
39
DAR
2
BRI
19
NWS
15
MAR
20
TAL
22
CLT
3
DOV
6
RSD
38
POC
27
MCH
21
DAY
40
POC
8
TAL
19
GLN
19
MCH
36
BRI
5
DAR
15
RCH
5
DOV
31
MAR
2
CLT
25
NWS
29
CAR
26
PHO
1
ATL
25
1989 DAY
7
CAR
2
ATL
16
RCH
2
DAR
7
BRI
20
NWS
2
MAR
22
TAL
13
CLT
23*
DOV
25
SON
36
POC
34
MCH
36
DAY
5
POC
39
TAL
30
GLN
39
MCH
10
BRI
2
DAR
32
RCH
15
DOV
32
MAR
26
CLT
28
NWS
11
CAR
9
PHO
11*
ATL
13
1990 DAY
35
RCH
24
CAR
27
ATL
8
DAR
23
BRI
31
NWS
11
MAR
25
TAL
13
CLT
6
DOV
24
SON
11
POC
34
MCH
6
DAY
2
POC
17
TAL
4
GLN
11
MCH
11
BRI
6
DAR
3
RCH
26
DOV
29
MAR
6
NWS
9
CLT
5
CAR
1
PHO
6
ATL
8
10th 3599
1991 DAY
8
RCH
5
CAR
17
ATL
8
DAR
34
BRI
26
NWS
29
MAR
9
TAL
27
CLT
35
DOV
14
SON
17
POC
16
MCH
24
DAY
14
POC
16
TAL
16
GLN
23
MCH
8
BRI
1
DAR
35
RCH
6
DOV
24
MAR
22
NWS
10
CLT
3
CAR
33
PHO
4
ATL
9
1992 DAY
4
CAR
31
RCH
2
ATL
7
DAR
18
BRI
1*
NWS
7*
MAR
16*
TAL
6
CLT
7
DOV
12
SON
14
POC
1*
MCH
3
DAY
30
POC
3
TAL
25
GLN
7
MCH
14
BRI
8
DAR
8
RCH
15
DOV
34
MAR
5
NWS
12
CLT
2
CAR
12
PHO
4
ATL
2*
1993 DAY
26
CAR
4
RCH
3
ATL
36
DAR
6
BRI
Wth
Jimmy Hensley NWS
12
MAR
13
TAL
9
CLT
15
DOV
22
POC
17
MCH
23
DAY
34
NHA
11
POC
39
TAL
28
MCH
15
BRI
6
DAR
23
RCH
21
DOV MAR NWS CLT CAR PHO ATL
Tommy Kendall SON
22
GLN
25

References

  1. ^ "NASCAR's stars align at season's halfway mark to Homestead-Miami Speedway for Ford Championship Weekend". Homestead-Miami Speedway. July 3, 2009. Retrieved 17 December 2009.
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