Randall Joesph LaJoie (born August 28, 1961) 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 ...
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 ...
race car driver (now the
Xfinity 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 ...
), where he won the championship in
1996 and
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 t ...
. He is the father of racers
Casey and
Corey LaJoie
Corey Daniel LaJoie (born September 25, 1991) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 7 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for Spire Motorsports. LaJoie is the son of two-time NASCAR ...
.
Early racing career
LaJoie started racing go-karts when he was 11.5 years old. In 1980 he began racing in full-bodied racecars. He was the 1981 track champion in the sportsman division at the
Danbury Fair Racearena. When Danbury closed that off-season, he moved to the
Waterford Speedbowl
The New London-Waterford Speedbowl is a 3/8 mile asphalt oval race track located on CT 85 in Waterford, Connecticut, just off Interstate 395. It first opened for business on April 15, 1951, as "The New London-Waterford Speed Bowl", t ...
where he won modified rookie of the year honors in 1982.
In 1983 he moved to the
NASCAR North Tour
The American Canadian Tour (ACT) is a late model stock car racing series based in the northeastern United States, and Quebec, Canada. The current American-Canadian Tour Late Model Tour was founded in 1992 as a cost-cutting, regional touring divisi ...
, and he was the series' rookie of the year. That season, he made his first attempt at making the
Daytona 500
The Daytona 500 is a NASCAR Cup Series motor race held annually at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida. It is the first of two Cup races held every year at Daytona, the second being the Coke Zero Sugar 400, and one of three ...
, but did not qualify. One year later, he suffered a horrific crash in the
Gatorade Twin 125's
The Bluegreen Vacations Duel, formerly known as the Twin 125s, is a NASCAR Cup Series preliminary event to the Daytona 500 held annually in February at Daytona International Speedway. It consists of two races, which both serve as a qualifying rac ...
race and failed to qualify once again, he won the consolation race the following year. In 1985 he scored five victories in the
North Tour on his way to the series championship; LaJoie was not awarded the championship until 1988, as a lawsuit regarding a disqualification at
Catamount Speedway was not resolved until then.
Early NASCAR career
![Randy_LaJoie_Snellman_Racing_Chevrolet_Pocono_June_1986](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/72/Randy_LaJoie_Snellman_Racing_Chevrolet_Pocono_June_1986.jpg)
LaJoie made his NASCAR Winston Cup debut in 1985 at Atlanta Motor Speedway. Driving the No. 07
Snellman Construction-sponsored
Chevrolet
Chevrolet ( ), colloquially referred to as Chevy and formally the Chevrolet Motor Division of General Motors Company, is an American automobile division of the American manufacturer General Motors (GM). Louis Chevrolet (1878–1941) and ous ...
owned by Bob Johnson, he started 16th and finished 14th. He ran his next race the following season at
Pocono Raceway
Pocono Raceway (formerly Pocono International Raceway), also known as ''The Tricky Triangle'', is a superspeedway located in the Pocono Mountains in Long Pond, Pennsylvania. It is the site of three NASCAR national series races and an ARCA M ...
, where he finished 29th after suffering engine failure. He also made his Busch Series debut that season, running four races in his own No. 03
Pontiac Pontiac may refer to:
*Pontiac (automobile), a car brand
*Pontiac (Ottawa leader) ( – 1769), a Native American war chief
Places and jurisdictions Canada
*Pontiac, Quebec, a municipality
** Apostolic Vicariate of Pontiac, now the Roman Catholic D ...
, posting a tenth-place finish at
Charlotte Motor Speedway
Charlotte Motor Speedway (previously known as Lowe's Motor Speedway from 1999 to 2009) is a motorsport complex located in Concord, North Carolina, outside Charlotte. The complex features a quad oval track that hosts NASCAR racing including th ...
. He ran another race in 1987 at
Dover International Speedway
Dover Motor Speedway (formerly Dover Downs International Speedway and later Dover International Speedway) is a race track in Dover, Delaware. The track has hosted at least one NASCAR Cup Series race each year since 1969, including two per yea ...
and finished 10th. After a third-place finish the following season, he joined
Frank Cicci Racing
Cicci Racing was an American professional stock car racing team that competed in the NASCAR Xfinity Series. The team is owned by Frank Cicci of Elmira, New York and was last driven by Jay Sauter.
Beginnings
FCR first began racing as a short tr ...
mid-way through 1989 and had a career-best second-place run at
Hickory Motor Speedway
Hickory Motor Speedway is a short track located in Hickory, North Carolina. It is one of stock car racing's most storied venues, and is often referred to as the "World's Most Famous Short Track" and the "Birthplace of the NASCAR Stars".
The t ...
. He ended the season 26th in points.
He did not return to Cicci in 1990, and ran a handful of Busch Races in his own No. 71, his best finish was 23rd at
Richmond
Richmond most often refers to:
* Richmond, Virginia, the capital of Virginia, United States
* Richmond, London, a part of London
* Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town in England
* Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada
* Richmond, California, ...
. He did not run another NASCAR-sanctioned race until 1993, when he got selected to run the No. 20 Fina car owned by
Dick Moroso
Richard D. Moroso, commonly called “Dick”, was an American hot rodder, drag racer, and businessman.
Moroso grew up in Old Greenwich CT and started selling speed parts out of his family's basement in the early 1960s under the name Speed Assoc ...
at Talladega. This would turn out to be a shrewd career move for LaJoie as he ran up front with the leaders all afternoon and finished a surprising second. This got LaJoie five more races for Moroso and one for
BACE Motorsports
BACE Motorsports was a championship-winning NASCAR team. It was owned by entrepreneur Bill Baumgardner, who also founded Staff America. Baumgardner was inspired to start his own team after Staff America was a sponsor in the Busch Series for two ye ...
in the Busch Series. His best finish was second, twice. In 1994, he was a thought by some to be a dark horse for the championship. He drove for Moroso full-time in the No. 20
Fina Lube-sponsored Chevy that season posting seven Top 10’s. LaJoie led the point standings early in the season before a string of poor results, also a lack of performance dropped him to 16th in the final point standings. He also ran three Cup races, finishing in the Top 20 in all three of them that season.
1995–2002
In 1995, LaJoie was called up to the Cup series again, driving the No. 22
MBNA
MBNA Corporation was a bank holding company and parent company of wholly owned subsidiary MBNA America Bank, N.A., headquartered in Wilmington, Delaware, prior to being acquired by Bank of America in 2006.
History
The former Maryland National ...
-sponsored
Pontiac Grand Prix
The Grand Prix is a line of automobiles produced by the Pontiac Division of General Motors from 1962 until 2002 for coupes and 1989–2008 for sedans.
First introduced as a full-size performance coupe for the 1962 model year, the model varied ...
for
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 ...
. LaJoie ran 13 races for Davis in his rookie season before he was released midway through the year. Following his departure, he returned to Busch to drive the No. 64 for
Dennis Shoemaker. He had three top-tens and a pole at Richmond in nine starts. The following season, he was hired by BACE Motorsports to drive its No. 74 entry. LaJoie won five races over the course of the season and clinched his first Busch Series championship. He followed that up with another five wins and his second straight championship in 1997. After falling back to fourth in the standings in 1998, as well as dealing with a feud with team owner
Bill Baumgardner
Bill(s) may refer to:
Common meanings
* Banknote, paper cash (especially in the United States)
* Bill (law), a proposed law put before a legislature
* Invoice, commercial document issued by a seller to a buyer
* Bill, a bird or animal's beak
Plac ...
, LaJoie left BACE at the end of the season. He returned to the Cup series that season driving nine races for
Hendrick Motorsports.
He signed to drive the No. 1
Chevrolet Monte Carlo
The Chevrolet Monte Carlo is a two-door coupe that was manufactured and marketed by the Chevrolet division of General Motors. Deriving its name from the city in Monaco, the Monte Carlo was marketed as the first personal luxury car of the Chevr ...
for
James Finch
James Finch (born 1950, Lynn Haven, Florida) is an American businessman. He is the owner of Phoenix Construction, a construction company that specializes in airport construction. He owned Phoenix Racing until late 2013 when he sold the team to ...
in 1999, despite the fact that the team lacked major sponsorship. After a season-opening victory at the
NAPA Auto Parts 300
The Daytona 300, currently known for sponsorship reasons as the Beef. It's What's for Dinner. 300, is the first race of the NASCAR Xfinity Series season, held at Daytona International Speedway. It is held the day before the Daytona 500, and is c ...
,
Bob Evans Restaurants
Bob Evans Restaurants, also known as Bob Evans, is an American chain of restaurants owned by Golden Gate Capital based in New Albany, Ohio. After its founding in 1948 by Bob Evans (1918–2007), the restaurant chain evolved into a company with t ...
came on board as the team's sponsor. Despite the added funding, LaJoie dropped to tenth in points. He moved up to seventh in the standings the next season with one win, but chose to depart the team at the end of the season for
NEMCO Motorsports
NEMCO Motorsports is an American professional stock car racing team that last competed in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series. The team is owned by driver Joe Nemechek and his family. NEMCO Motorsports has had success, winning the 1992 Busch Se ...
. Driving the No. 7 with a sponsorship from
Kleenex, LaJoie won two more races but again fell to 12th in points. He had 14 Top 10 finishes in 2002 and moved up one spot in the points.
Recent years
LaJoie returned to the No. 7 team in 2003, and won two poles, but was dismissed from the ride midway through the season. He filled out the year with one race apiece for
Innovative Motorsports
Innovative Motorsports (IMI) is a former NASCAR team. It was owned by George DeBidart and began racing in the Busch North Series in the mid-1990s, before moving to the Busch Series in 1998.
Winston Cup
Innovative ran four Cup races during its ...
and
FitzBradshaw Racing
Trail Motorsports (formerly HighLine Performance Group, FitzBradshaw Racing and Fitz Motorsports) was a NASCAR team based in Mooresville, North Carolina, which is near Charlotte. The team is owned by Armando Fitz and Art Shelton, and was previous ...
, as well as a Craftsman Truck race for
Kevin Harvick Incorporated
Kevin Harvick, Inc., colloquially referred to as KHI, was a NASCAR team owned by NASCAR Cup Series driver Kevin Harvick and his wife DeLana, who is the daughter of former Busch Series driver John Linville. The team owned cars in the NASCAR Natio ...
. He began the 2004 season in FitzBradshaw's No. 82 car and ran five races with a best finish of 13th, before moving on, running one race each for
Marsh Racing
Marsh Racing is an American professional stock car racing team that currently competing in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East. The team is owned by Ted Marsh, a longtime Chevrolet team sporting the No. 31 with backing from Whelen Engineering. His c ...
and
Tommy Baldwin Racing
Tommy Baldwin Racing is an American professional stock car racing team that currently competes in the modified ranks. The team is based in Mooresville, North Carolina, and is owned by former crew chief Tommy Baldwin Jr., son of the late modified ...
. He also teamed with
HT Motorsports
HT Motorsports was an American truck racing team from Martinsville, Virginia, owned by trucking company owner Jim Harris. It fielded entries for the nine years in the Camping World Truck Series before suspending operations early in 2010.
Truc ...
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 ...
for six races, finishing eighth at
Gateway. In the Cup series, he had a 43rd-place finish for
Hover Motorsports
Hover Motorsports was a NASCAR Nextel Cup Series team. They last attempted a race at the 2006 Daytona 500, when they fielded the No. 8Roadloans.comFord Taurus for Carl Long, but failed to qualify. They were planning to partner with Peak Fitness ...
at Richmond, and also ran two races in the No. 98
Ford Taurus
The Ford Taurus is an automobile that was manufactured by the Ford Motor Company in the United States from the 1986 to 2019 model years. Introduced in late 1985 for the 1986 model year, six generations were produced over 34 years; a brief hiat ...
for
Mach 1 Racing
Mach 1 Racing was a NASCAR Winston Cup Series team. It was owned by Hollywood stuntman Hal Needham and actor Burt Reynolds.
The team made its debut in 1981, fielding the No. 22 Skoal Pontiac driven by Stan Barrett. Barrett ran ten races for t ...
, his best finish being 36th.
Mach 1 switched to the No. 34 Chevy in 2005, and he began the season with them before he was released. He reunited with Cicci in the Busch Series with
Dollar General sponsorship and posted three top-10 finishes, finishing 19th in points. Dollar General left the team at season's end, leaving LaJoie without a full-time ride. He had signed to drive for Mach 1, which was under new management again in 2005, but was replaced early in the season by teammate
Chad Chaffin
Chad Chaffin (born July 20, 1968) is an American former stock car racing driver.
Chaffin has raced in all three of NASCAR's major series. He was a two-time track champion at the historic Nashville Speedway USA, where he met his friend, Andy Ki ...
. He drove one race apiece in the Busch Series for
Davis Motorsports
JD Motorsports, is an American professional stock car racing team that currently competes in the NASCAR Xfinity Series. It is owned and operated by Johnny Davis. It currently fields two Chevrolet Camaro SS teams: The No. 4 for Bayley Currey and ...
,
Jay Robinson Racing
Premium Motorsports (formerly Jay Robinson Racing) was an American professional stock car racing team that competed in the NASCAR Cup Series. The team last fielded the No. 15 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 LE full-time for Brennan Poole, and the No. 27 Ca ...
, and
Vision Racing
Vision Racing was a racing team in the Indy Racing League founded in 2005 when Tony George purchased the assets of the defunct Kelley Racing and hired his stepson Ed Carpenter to be the driver. The team has previously raced in the Izod IndyCa ...
. He also was a test driver for
Richard Childress Racing
Richard Childress Racing (RCR) is an American professional stock car racing team that currently competes in the NASCAR Cup Series and the NASCAR Xfinity Series. The team is based in Welcome, North Carolina, and is owned and operated by Richard ...
, filling in for
Kevin Harvick
Kevin Michael Harvick (born December 8, 1975) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 4 Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing.
Harvick is the 2014 Cup Series champio ...
in the No. 21
United States Coast Guard
The United States Coast Guard (USCG) is the maritime security, search and rescue, and law enforcement service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the country's eight uniformed services. The service is a maritime, military, mult ...
Chevy
Chevrolet ( ), colloquially referred to as Chevy and formally the Chevrolet Motor Division of General Motors Company, is an American automobile division of the American manufacturer General Motors (GM). Louis Chevrolet (1878–1941) and oust ...
during practice and qualifying sessions.
LaJoie has not run a NASCAR-sanctioned race since 2006, focusing on team ownership for his son
Corey
Corey is a masculine given name and a surname. It is a masculine version of name Cora, which has Greek origins and is the maiden name of the goddess Persephone. The name also can have origins from the Gaelic word ''coire'', which means "in a caul ...
, who finished second in the 2012
K&N Pro Series East
The ARCA Menards Series East (formerly Busch East Series, Busch North Series, Camping World East Series, and NASCAR K&N Pro Series East) is a regional stock car racing series owned and operated by the Automobile Racing Club of America (ARCA) and ...
championship to
Kyle Larson
Kyle Miyata Larson (born July 31, 1992) is an American professional auto racing driver. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 5 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for Hendrick Motorsports. Larson is the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series champi ...
despite five wins in the series.
In 2016, LaJoie was inducted into the
New England Auto Racers Hall of Fame The New England Auto Racers Hall of Fame is a hall of fame for racing-related people in the New England region of the United States. NEAR was established in 1981. The New England Auto Racers Hall of Fame was established in 1998 by the New Englan ...
.
Television work and suspension
In addition to his racing seat business, LaJoie was also a part-time co-host of ''The Driver's Seat'' with John Kernan on
Sirius Satellite Radio
Sirius Satellite Radio was a satellite radio (SDARS) and online radio service operating in North America, owned by Sirius XM Holdings.
Headquartered in New York City, with smaller studios in Los Angeles and Memphis, Tennessee, Memphis, Sirius ...
's
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 ...
channel 128. He also did television commentary for the ORP and Montreal Busch Series races.
On June 22, 2010, LaJoie was suspended indefinitely from NASCAR for violating their substance abuse policy while working as a crewman on the No. 18 Nationwide Series car. He had smoked marijuana with some race fans following the
Coca-Cola 600
The Coca-Cola 600, originally the World 600, is an annual NASCAR Cup Series points race held at the Charlotte Motor Speedway in Concord, North Carolina, on a Sunday during Memorial Day weekend. The first race, held in 1960, was also the first on ...
in Charlotte and took responsibility for his actions. On August 25, 2010, LaJoie was reinstated by NASCAR after a two-month suspension.
"NASCAR.com"
, June 22, 2010
Motorsports career results
NASCAR
(key
Key or The Key may refer to:
Common meanings
* Key (cryptography), a piece of information that controls the operation of a cryptography algorithm
* Key (lock), device used to control access to places or facilities restricted by a lock
* Key (map ...
) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. ''Italics'' – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)
NASCAR Cup Series
=Daytona 500
=
Busch Series
Craftsman Truck Series
ARCA Permatex SuperCar Series
(key
Key or The Key may refer to:
Common meanings
* Key (cryptography), a piece of information that controls the operation of a cryptography algorithm
* Key (lock), device used to control access to places or facilities restricted by a lock
* Key (map ...
) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. ''Italics'' – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)
International Race of Champions
(key
Key or The Key may refer to:
Common meanings
* Key (cryptography), a piece of information that controls the operation of a cryptography algorithm
* Key (lock), device used to control access to places or facilities restricted by a lock
* Key (map ...
) (Bold – Pole position. * – Most laps led.)
References
External links
*
*
Randy LaJoie
at NASCAR.com
The Joie of Seating
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lajoie, Randy
Living people
1961 births
Sportspeople from Norwalk, Connecticut
Racing drivers from Connecticut
NASCAR drivers
International Race of Champions drivers
NASCAR Xfinity Series champions
Doping cases in auto racing
American sportspeople in doping cases
Hendrick Motorsports drivers