Bang! Racing is a former

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 ...

team. It was majority owned by entrepreneur Alex Meshkin, and minority owned by both crew chief and analyst

Larry McReynolds Lawrence Joseph McReynolds III (born January 10, 1959) is a current NASCAR crew chief and current racing analyst on Fox Sports as well as a columnist on Foxsports.com. In the past, he has served as an advisor to Petty Enterprises, and as a mi ...

and its 'hands off' seed investor George Blacker, LTD- each with a 5% minority equity share. Bang! Racing fielded entries in the

Craftsman Truck Series The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series is a pickup truck racing series owned and operated by the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, and is the only series in NASCAR to race production pickup truck based stock cars. The series is one of th ...

. It only ran one full season, in

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 6 ...

History

Car No. 24/42 history

The team was founded in 2003 by Alex Meshkin, an internet entrepreneur who had achieved notoriety by losing more than $3 million of investors' money in his failed Surfbuzz.com venture. Initially planning to race in the then-

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. ...

by purchasing

Andy Petree Racing Andy Petree Racing (APR) was a NASCAR team that won 12 races. Originally formed in 1985 as Jackson Bros. Motorsports, its ownership changed hands several times over the years, with three different owners from its beginning to its closure in 2004. ...

, the team instead signed a three-year contract with manufacturer

Toyota is a Japanese multinational automotive manufacturer headquartered in Toyota City, Aichi, Japan. It was founded by Kiichiro Toyoda and incorporated on . Toyota is one of the largest automobile manufacturers in the world, producing about 10 ...

to run in the

as one of four new and independent of Toyota race teams to utilize Toyota Tundra's for Toyota's debut into NASCAR. Meshkin also recruited

as a part-owner and vice president and he received $400,000 of seed money from investor George Blacker's investor group which was used to procure a racing shop which was a contingent requirement dictated by Toyota in order to be granted a Toyota race team contract. Accordingly, the team then leased operating race shop space from veteran driver Jimmy Spencer. The team was named after one of Meshkin's companies, Bang Technology Software. The team made its debut at a

Daytona International Speedway Daytona International Speedway is a race track in Daytona Beach, Florida, United States. Since opening in 1959, it has been the home of the Daytona 500, the most prestigious race in NASCAR as well as its season opening event. In addition to NA ...

race in February of 2004. Its two drivers were

Travis Kvapil Travis Wade Kvapil ( ; born March 1, 1976) is an American professional stock car driver. He last competed part-time in the NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series, driving the No. 1 Chevrolet Silverado for Beaver Motorsports. He was the 2003 NASCAR ...

in the No. 24 Line-X Truck and Mike Skinner in the No. 42 Toyota Truck. It marked the first time in series history two former champions raced for the same operation. By lap 15 of the race, both Bang! Racing drivers had already led the race. Kvapil finished second in the race, while Skinner finished 28th due to a crash. Bang! also announced plans to run several late-season Cup Series races, with sponsorship from

eBay eBay Inc. ( ) is an American multinational e-commerce company based in San Jose, California, that facilitates consumer-to-consumer and business-to-consumer sales through its website. eBay was founded by Pierre Omidyar in 1995 and became a ...

. From then on, Bang! lived up to its namesake, with Kvapil racking up two victories, including the first NASCAR win for a Toyota at Michigan, earning one "fast time" qualifier pole, and finished in eighth-place in season points. Skinner, despite not winning a race, had two poles during his tenure with the team. Meshkin meanwhile was credited for his salesmanship abilities, as he recruited sponsors such as Line-X and eBay. Later in the year Meshkin announced he would field the No. 82

Dodge Dodge is an American brand of automobiles and a division of Stellantis, based in Auburn Hills, Michigan. Dodge vehicles have historically included performance cars, and for much of its existence Dodge was Chrysler's mid-priced brand above P ...

in the

Busch Series 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 ...

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...

, with Kvapil at the wheel. He also began negotiations for a potential NEXTEL Cup Series team (the No. 28 Dodge) with driver

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 ...

and

NetZero NetZero is an Internet service provider An Internet service provider (ISP) is an organization that provides services for accessing, using, or participating in the Internet. ISPs can be organized in various forms, such as commercial, commun ...

sponsoring; both were with

Haas CNC Racing Stewart-Haas Racing is an American professional stock car racing team that currently competes in the NASCAR Cup Series, the NASCAR Xfinity Series, and eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series. The team is co-owned by three-time NASCAR Cup Series champio ...

at the time. The Cup Series deal ultimately fell through. However, trouble soon began brewing within the organization. Despite the team's success, McReynolds left the team in July due to funding and financial disagreements with Meshkin, including unpaid bills to suppliers. In August, Toyota ended its factory support of the team due to the departure of McReynolds, with the No. 42 team shutting down and driver Mike Skinner moving to

Bill Davis Racing Bill Davis Racing was a racing team that participated in all three of NASCAR's top divisions until 2009. The team had run Toyota-branded stock cars and trucks in the Camping World Truck Series ( Toyota Tundra) since 2004 and Sprint Cup Series (T ...

. Toyota later maintained its agreement until the end of the season which saw Bang! Racing end that season as the first race team to both lead a lap and win a race for Toyota Racing in a major NASCAR series. But after the season, several key executives at Bang resigned, and in January

, Bang let all of its help go and closed down its shop. Blacker wrote off his Bang! Racing seed investment money as a complete loss however he later forme
Ram Bull Racing

References

{{reflist

External links

YouTube Video of Bang Racing's First Win

Bang! Racing Photos

SI Illustrated.com Article

Bang's Official Website

Auto racing teams established in 2003 Sports clubs disestablished in 2005 Defunct NASCAR teams American auto racing teams