Specialty Racing, LLC was an auto racing team that competed 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 ...

Nationwide 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 ...

. Based in Statesville,

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and ...

, it was owned by Doug Taylor and Charles Shoffner. In 2011, Specialty Racing planned to field the No. 61 Ford Mustang, but sponsorship was not found, and the team closed.

Team history to 1990s

Team owner Doug Taylor's first race as an owner came in

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which sank in the Baltic Sea; Nelson ...

at Dover when

Patty Moise Patricia Moise-Sawyer () is a former NASCAR driver. She drove in five Winston Cup races from 1987 to 1989, and 133 Busch Series races from 1986 to 1998. She is the wife of former fellow NASCAR driver Elton Sawyer. Racing career Moise began rac ...

drove the No. 40 Dial/

Purex PUREX (plutonium uranium reduction extraction) is a chemical method used to purify fuel for nuclear reactors or nuclear weapons. PUREX is the ''de facto'' standard aqueous nuclear reprocessing method for the recovery of uranium and plutonium ...

Ford to a 19th-place finish. The team would run 5 more races that season achieving a season best 12th place at

Michigan Michigan () is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the List of U.S. states and ...

in just their 3rd race. In

1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The Great Hanshin earthquake str ...

Specialty/Doug Taylor Motorsports would continue to build in the foundation laid the previous year by racing in 22 races with Moise behind the wheel for all of them. The highlights of the season came at the

Red Dog 300 The Alsco Uniforms 300 is an annual 300-mile (482.803 km) NASCAR Xfinity Series race held at the Charlotte Motor Speedway in Concord, North Carolina during Memorial Day weekend as a support race for the Coca-Cola 600. The race's origins tr ...

in Charlotte when the team earned its first top ten stating spot as it qualified 8th and finished the race 18th. Another milestone came at the

Humminbird Fishfinder 500K The Ag-Pro 300 is a NASCAR Xfinity Series race held at Talladega Superspeedway, a 300-mile race. It is held annually before the NASCAR Cup Series race, the GEICO 500. From its inception in 1992 through 1996, the race was held in the summer, as ...

at Talladega when Moise drove the car to its first top ten finish, a 7th place showing. Moise was released as the team's driver at the end of the 1995 season and

Tim Fedewa Timothy Fedewa (born May 9, 1967) is an American professional racing driver. He has formerly competed in the NASCAR Busch Series, NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, American Speed Association and ARTGO. Fedewa is a spotter in the NASCAR Cup Series a ...

was hired to serve as driver for the 1996 campaign. Kleenex signed on to sponsor the Number 40. Fedewa drove the car to 5 top ten starts and 2 top ten finishes, with a season-best 4th-place finish in Indianapolis at the Kroger 200. The finish at IRP would mark the team's first top five finish. In

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; '' Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of ...

a total of seven drivers sat in the seat of the car, including Doug Taylor himself for the March

Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...

race. The best finish for the year was put forth when

Ted Musgrave Theodore Musgrave (born December 18, 1955) is an American former stock car racing driver. Pre-NASCAR Musgrave's father, Elmer, was a famous short-track racer in the Midwest who raced for over 25 years at Soldier Field, O'Hare, Waukegan, and Wi ...

drove to a 12th-place finish at Darlington.

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently s ...

was the last year of Doug Taylor Motorsports. The team raced in 31 out of 32 races with

Kerry Earnhardt Kerry Dale Earnhardt (born December 8, 1969) is a former NASCAR driver and the eldest son of seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Dale Earnhardt. He is the half-brother of former NASCAR Cup Series driver Dale Earnhardt Jr. He was employed by Dal ...

Rick Fuller Richard Fuller (born February 18, 1967) is an American retired professional wrestler. He is best known for his appearances with World Championship Wrestling from 1997 to 2000. Early life Born in Middleborough, Massachusetts, Fuller graduated fr ...

Jack Sprague Jack Sprague (born August 8, 1964) is an American former stock car racing driver who has competed in all of NASCAR's three top divisions, most notably in the Craftsman Truck Series, where he won series championships in 1997, 1999 and 2001. Rac ...

, Taylor and Lepage sharing driving duties. Lepage drove the car in 24 of the races. Full-time sponsorship was provided by

Channellock Channellock is an American company that produces hand tools. It is best known for its pliers—the company manufactures more than 140 types of pliers—particularly its eponymous style of tongue-and-groove, slip-joint pliers. Its pliers have dis ...

and manufacturers were switched from Ford to Chevrolet. The team earned its first pole award with Lepage driving at the

MBNA Platinum 200 The A-GAME 200 is a NASCAR Xfinity Series stock car race that takes place during the spring at Dover Motor Speedway. History The race was broadcast in the United States on ESPN until 2015, when the race moved to Fox. In 2016, the race was mo ...

at Dover. Also, it posted 10 top ten finishes, 6 top five finishes and the highlight of the season at the

Food City 250 The Food City 300 is a NASCAR Xfinity Series stock car race that takes place under the lights at Bristol Motor Speedway in Bristol, Tennessee. It is held the night before the NASCAR Cup Series race the Bass Pro Shops NRA Night Race The Bass Pr ...

Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...

when Kevin Lepage led 13 laps and came away with Doug Taylor Motorsports' first victory. At the end of the season, the team was bought out by Galaxy Motorsports.

Current team history

Specialty Racing returned to the

NASCAR 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 ...

on October 27, 2007 at the

Sam's Town 250 The Kroger On Track for the Cure 250 presented by the Southern Dodge Dealers was a NASCAR Nationwide Series stock car racing, stock car race that took place at Memphis International Raceway in Memphis, Tennessee, from 1999 to 2009. The 2007 NASC ...

Memphis Motorsports Park Memphis International Raceway (formerly known as Memphis Motorsports Park) was an auto racing park located near the Loosahatchie River in Shelby County, Tennessee, United States, just approximately ten miles south of Millington, and a few miles ...

. The driver of the car, Matt Carter, drove to a 39th-place finish. The team then signed Lepage, and made plans to run the entire 2008 Nationwide Series Schedule. After failing to qualify for the opening race of the season, the Camping World 300 at

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 NASC ...

the team qualified for every race for the rest of the season. Specialty posted two top twenty finishes with a 17th-place finish in the

Sam's Town 300 Stock car racing events in the NASCAR Xfinity Series has been held at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway in Las Vegas, Nevada since the track's inauguration in 1997. Currently, the track holds two races, both sponsored by Alsco, with the 300-mile (480 ...

and an 18th-place finish in the

Sharpie Mini 300 The Cheddar's 300 was a NASCAR Xfinity Series stock car race at Bristol Motor Speedway, the first of two Bristol races on the schedule. The first Busch Series race at Bristol was 150 laps, and was won by Phil Parsons in 1982. The race was not he ...

. Matt Carter returned to the team in 2009 and gave the team two top 20s at Bristol and Daytona, enough to lock the team into the top 30 in owners points for 2010. That year, Carter was released and was replaced by

Josh Wise Joshua Wise (born February 7, 1983) is an American former professional stock car racing driver and currently an athletic trainer for Chip Ganassi Racing. He began racing in open wheel cars. Wise won the 1999 USAC 3/4 Midget Division, 2005 USAC ...

. Wise would run with the team until May, when a handful of drivers, including Carter,

J. J. Yeley Christopher Beltram Hernandez "J. J." Yeley (born October 5, 1976) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He last competed part-time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, driving the Nos. 13 and 66 cars for MBM Motorsports and part-time in ...

, Chase Miller, and Pierre Bourque took over the reins of the No. 61. The team cut back to a limited schedule due to a lack of funds.

References

{{reflist

External links

Official Team WebsiteDoug Taylor Owner StatisticsCharles Schnoffer Owner Statistics
1994 establishments in North Carolina Auto racing teams in the United States Companies based in North Carolina Defunct NASCAR teams 2010 disestablishments in North Carolina