American Equipment Racing was a racing team that competed in the

SCCA The Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) is a non-profit American automobile club and sanctioning body supporting road racing, rallying, and autocross in the United States. Formed in 1944, it runs many programs for both amateur and professional r ...

Trans-Am The Trans-Am Series is a sports car racing series held in North America. Founded in 1966, it is sanctioned by the Sports Car Club of America (SCCA). Primarily based in the United States, the series competes on a variety of track types includin ...

series in the 1980s and 1990s, and in the

NASCAR The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC (NASCAR) is an American auto racing sanctioning and operating company that is best known for stock car racing. The privately owned company was founded by Bill France Sr. in 1948, and hi ...

Busch Grand National The NASCAR Xfinity Series (NXS) is a stock car racing series organized by NASCAR. It is promoted as NASCAR's second-tier circuit to the organization's top level Cup Series. NXS events are frequently held as a support race on the day prior to a ...

and

Winston Cup Series The NASCAR Cup Series is the top racing series of the NASCAR, National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR). The series began in 1949 as the Strictly Stock Division, and from 1950 to 1970 it was known as the Grand National Division. ...

during the mid-1990s. Owned by American Equipment Company owner

Buz McCall Buz may refer to: * Buz, Albania, a village in Memaliaj municipality, Gjirokastër County, Albania * Buz, Iran, a village in Khuzestan Province, Iran *the nickname of William A. Brock (born 1941), American mathematical economist and professor * ...

, AER competed in

IMSA The International Motor Sports Association (IMSA) is a North American sports car racing sanctioning body based in Daytona Beach, Florida under the jurisdiction of the ACCUS arm of the FIA. It was started by John Bishop, a former executive direc ...

sports-car racing and the

series in the 1980s and early 1990s; the team won four consecutive Trans-Am championships with drivers

Scott Sharp Scott Sharp (born February 14, 1968) is an American professional racing driver in the United SportsCar Championship. He is the son of six-time SCCA champion Bob Sharp. Sharp is best known for his years as a competitor in the Indy Racing League. E ...

, Jack Baldwin, and

Scott Pruett Scott Donald Pruett (born March 24, 1960) is a former American race car driver who has competed in NASCAR, CART, IMSA, Trans-Am and Grand-Am. He and his wife Judy have three children and are children's book authors. Pruett started racing go ...

from 1991 to 1994. The team moved to NASCAR starting in 1994, competing in the Busch Grand National Series with Trans-Am Champion Jack Baldwin driving in two races, running the No. 95. Signing rookie driver John Tanner and sponsor

Caterpillar Inc. Caterpillar Inc. (stock symbol CAT) is an American ''Fortune'' 500 corporation and the world's largest construction-equipment manufacturer. In 2018, Caterpillar was ranked number 65 on the ''Fortune'' 500 list and number 238 on the Global ''Fo ...

for 1995, the team ran half of the 1995 season; Tanner was released after a handful of races and replaced for the majority of the team's races with

Ward Burton John Edward Burton III (born October 25, 1961) is an American former professional stock car racing driver. He has five career wins in the NASCAR Winston Cup Series, including the 2002 Daytona 500 and the 2001 Southern 500. He is the older brothe ...

. For 1996 AER signed 1994 Busch Series champion

David Green David (; , "beloved one") (traditional spelling), , ''Dāwūd''; grc-koi, Δαυΐδ, Dauíd; la, Davidus, David; gez , ዳዊት, ''Dawit''; xcl, Դաւիթ, ''Dawitʿ''; cu, Давíдъ, ''Davidŭ''; possibly meaning "beloved one". w ...

to run for full-time in 1996. Finishing 2nd in series points, Green and AER moved up to the Winston Cup Series in 1997, where after a difficult season Green finished 37th in points. After twelve races in 1998, Green was released by the team, and a variety of drivers, including

Hut Stricklin Waymond Lane "Hut" Stricklin Jr. (born June 24, 1961) is an American former professional stock car racing driver. Racing career Stricklin grew up in Calera, Alabama. He married Pam Allison, the daughter of NASCAR legend Donnie Allison after they ...

and

Steve Grissom Steven Paul Grissom (born June 26, 1963) is an American former stock car racing driver. Grissom was the 1993 Busch Series champion and has eleven Busch wins in 185 starts. He turned down a scholarship to play quarterback at the University of Alaba ...

, drove for the team to finish out the year; the team closed following the 1998 season when they lost the Caterpillar sponsorship.

References

External links

* 1998 disestablishments in North Carolina American auto racing teams Defunct NASCAR teams {{NorthCarolina-sport-team-stub