The Racer's Group, or TRG, is a
WeatherTech SportsCar Championship
The IMSA SportsCar Championship, currently known as the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship under sponsorship, is a sports car racing series based in the United States and Canada and organized by the International Motor Sports Association (IMS ...
racing team located in
Petaluma, California
Petaluma (Miwok: ''Péta Lúuma'') is a city in Sonoma County, California, located in the North Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area. Its population was 59,776 according to the 2020 census.
Petaluma's name comes from the Miwok village na ...
, owned by
Kevin Buckler
Kevin Buckler (born c. 1959) is an American race car driver and entrepreneur. He founded Adobe Road Winery and currently owns The Racer's Group, a professional sports car racing team; TRG Motorsports, formerly a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series team; and ...
and his wife Debra. TRG has competed professionally in
road racing since 1995. The team formerly competed in
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 ...
as TRG Motorsports from 2007 to 2011.
Early history
In 1992, Buckler started racing in regional
Porsche Club races, working his way through the ranks before entering his first professional race at the 1995
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 ...
Grand Prix of California, which he ended up winning. From then until 2001, The Racer's Group ran part-time schedules with various drivers. Just before the 2002 season started, the Porsche factory offered to support the team at the
Rolex 24 at Daytona
The 24 Hours of Daytona, also known as the Rolex 24 At Daytona for sponsorship reasons, is a 24-hour sports car endurance race held annually at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida. It is run on the Sports Car Course layout ...
by lending the services of factory drivers
Timo Bernhard
Timo Bernhard (born 24 February 1981) is a former driver from Germany. He was a sports car driver from Porsche, but was seconded to Audi for selected events in 2009 and 2010. He is a winner of the Triple Crown in endurance racing. On 29 June 2 ...
and
Jörg Bergmeister
Jörg Bergmeister (born 13 February 1976, in Leverkusen) is a former racing driver from Germany and an ambassador of Porsche.
His late father, Willi Bergmeister, owned a workshop and dealership where Michael Schumacher learned his trade as a c ...
.
Major victories
After seven previous attempts at Daytona, The Racer's Group, with drivers Buckler, Bernhard, Bergmeister, and
Michael Schrom
Michael Schrom is an American racing driver from Ghent, New York.
Schrom was a full-time competitor in Porsche Carrera Cup series who also drove a Porsche 911 in the 24 Hours of Daytona in 2000, 2001, 2002, and 2003. In 2003, The Racer's Group Po ...
, won the GT class at the 2002 Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona. With the success of the team at Daytona, the
Porsche factory again provided TRG with factory support and drivers for the
2002 24 Hours of Le Mans
The 2002 24 Hours of Le Mans was an automobile endurance race held for Le Mans Prototype and Grand Touring cars from 15 to 16 June 2002 at the Circuit de la Sarthe, close by Le Mans, France. It was the 70th running of the event, as organize ...
. In one of the closest GT races in history, Buckler, Bernhard, and
Lucas Luhr
Lucas Luhr (born 22 July 1979) is a German BMW factory racing driver, currently competing for BMW and Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing in the GTLM category of the Tudor United SportsCar Championship.
Early career
Born in Mülheim-Kärlich, Luhr ...
edged the
Freisinger Motorsport
Freisinger Motorsport is a German company which has tuned, restored, and raced Porsches since 1967. Founded by Manfred Freisinger in Karlsruhe, the company now is run by his son Manfred Freisinger Jr.
Since 1992, the company has competed intern ...
team by little more than one minute to capture a win at the team's maiden run at the
24 Hours of Le Mans
The 24 Hours of Le Mans (french: link=no, 24 Heures du Mans) is an endurance-focused sports car race held annually near the town of Le Mans, France. It is the world's oldest active endurance racing event. Unlike fixed-distance races whose ...
. As the
American Le Mans Series
The American Le Mans Series (ALMS) was a sports car racing series based in the United States and Canada. It consisted of a series of endurance and sprint races, and was created in the spirit of the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
The American Le Mans' hea ...
and
Grand American seasons continued, The Racer's Group strung together a long series of high finishes, including wins at the
Grand Prix of Mosport
The Chevrolet Grand Prix is an annual IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship race held every July at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park in Bowmanville, Ontario, Canada. The race originated in 1975 and is currently a two hour and forty minute race ...
,
Grand Prix of Mid-Ohio
The Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio is an IndyCar Series race held at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in Lexington, Ohio. Professional open wheel races at the facility date back to 1970. The U.S. Formula 5000 series ran from 1970 to 1976, and the revived ...
, and the Grand-Am 400 at
California Speedway
Auto Club Speedway, originally opened as California Speedway, is a , low-banked, D-shaped oval superspeedway in unincorporated San Bernardino County, California, near Fontana. It has hosted NASCAR racing annually since 1997. It was also previo ...
. TRG finished on the podium 14 times in 2002, including 8 in a row in the ALMS.
After the season, Buckler and co-driver Schrom had a 1-2 finish in the
Porsche World Cup
Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG, usually shortened to Porsche (; see below), is a German automobile manufacturer specializing in high-performance sports cars, SUVs and sedans, headquartered in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. The company is ...
. The award, given annually to the top independent
Porsche drivers in the world, was given to Buckler at the Porsche factory in
Weissach
Weissach is a municipality in the district of Böblingen in Baden-Württemberg in Germany.
The Weissach axle is named after the town, where the research centre of Porsche is located. The Porsche 918 Spyder supercar was developed in Weissach; Por ...
, Germany, in December 2002. Buckler and Schrom were the first and only teammates to finish 1-2 in the Porsche Cup. They followed the award up with a win at the
24 Hours of Daytona
The 24 Hours of Daytona, also known as the Rolex 24 At Daytona for sponsorship reasons, is a 24-hour sports car endurance race held annually at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida. It is run on the Sports Car Course layo ...
since 1977, becoming the first GT-class team to win overall.
Pontiac GTO.R GM factory team
2003 and the few years beyond saw TRG continue to compete in
ALMS and
Grand American. In 2005, TRG was selected by
GM as a factory team.
Pontiac Motorsports 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 ...
and TRG teamed up to race the new generation of
Pontiac GTO
The Pontiac GTO is an automobile that was manufactured by American automaker Pontiac from 1963 to 1974 for the 1964 to 1974 model years, and by GM's subsidiary Holden in Australia for the 2004 to 2006 model years.
The first generation of the G ...
vehicles, specifically twin GTO.R's. GM brought in
Paul Edwards and
Jan Magnussen
Jan Ellegaard Magnussen (born 4 July 1973) is a Danish professional racing driver and was a factory driver for General Motors until the end of the 2020 season. He has competed in Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART), NASCAR, the FIA Formula O ...
to drive the No. 64, while TRG hired
Marc Bunting and
Andy Lally
Andrew J. Lally (born February 11, 1975) is an American professional auto racing driver. He competes full-time in the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, driving the Audi R8 for Magnus Racing and previously part-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, dr ...
to drive of the No. 65. In 2006,
Kelly Collins
Kelly may refer to:
Art and entertainment
* Kelly (Kelly Price album)
* Kelly (Andrea Faustini album)
* ''Kelly'' (musical), a 1965 musical by Mark Charlap
* "Kelly" (song), a 2018 single by Kelly Rowland
* ''Kelly'' (film), a 1981 Canadia ...
replaced Magnussen, the same year Pontiac won the manufacturer's championship, TRG took 1st and 3rd in the team championship, and drivers Bunting and Lally took won the driver's championship.
In 2006, Marc Bunting and Andy Lally won the GT drivers championship, and Bunting won the Bob Akin Sportsman Award. TRG won the GT team championship, second straight year. Lally and Bunting broke the record for most podium finishes with 14 of a possible 16 this year. The old record was their own, set in 2004 of 11 podium finishes.
The TRG GTO.R Daytona 24 Hour effort was the subject of a six-part documentary by noted film maker Sean Heckman and is currently playing on INHD.
2007–present
![GT67 Steven Bertheau Spencer Pumpelly 2011 Road America](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/91/GT67_Steven_Bertheau_Spencer_Pumpelly_2011_Road_America.jpg)
The GTO program has been discontinued by GM as of the 2006 season end, and TRG returned Porsche vehicles in 2007, as well as running in the DP class. They began 2008 with second, third, and fourth-place finishes at the 24 Hours of Daytona.
For the
2015 United SportsCar Championship season
The 2015 IMSA Tudor United SportsCar Championship (TUSC) was the second and final season of the International Motor Sports Association's Tudor United SportsCar Championship and last to be held under that name. It was also the 45th overall season o ...
, TRG entered one
Aston Martin Vantage GT3
The Aston Martin Vantage is a series of hand-built sports cars from the British automotive manufacturer Aston Martin. Aston Martin has previously used the "Vantage" name on high-performance variants of their existing GT models, notably on the ...
for a full season with drivers
Christina Nielsen
Christina Nielsen (born 10 January 1992 in Hørsholm, Denmark) is a Danish racing driver who is the first female driver to win a WeatherTech SportsCar Championship series title. She is the daughter of racing driver Lars-Erik Nielsen, who raced in ...
and
James Davison
James D. Davison (born 28 August 1986) is an Australian professional racing driver who drives an Aston Martin Vantage GT3 in the Blancpain GT World Challenge America. He has also competed in the NTT IndyCar Series, NASCAR Cup Series, and NASCA ...
running the number 007. The team recorded a runner-up class finish at Sebring.
NASCAR
![Bobby Labonte 71 Car](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/25/Bobby_Labonte_71_Car.jpg)
Co-driver R. J. Valentine announced Lally's plans to race in 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 ...
, possibly with support from TRG during the broadcast of the
Grand-Am
Grand-Am Road Racing or Grand-Am was an auto racing sanctioning body that was established in 1999 to organize road racing competitions in North America. Its primary focus was the Rolex Sports Car Series, an endurance racing championship series. ...
Rolex Sports Car Series
The Rolex Sports Car Series was the premier series run by the Grand American Road Racing Association. It was a North American-based sports car series founded in 2000 under the name Grand American Road Racing Championship to replace the failed ...
GT Race at
Iowa Speedway
Iowa Speedway is a 7/8-mile (1.4 km) paved oval motor racing track in Newton, Iowa, United States, approximately east of Des Moines. It has over 25,000 permanent seats as well as a unique multi-tiered RV viewing area along the backstretc ...
on July 14, 2007. Lally raced the No. 47
Clorox
The Clorox Company (formerly Clorox Chemical Company) is an American global manufacturer and marketer of consumer and professional products. As of 2020 the Oakland, California based company had approximately 8,800 employees worldwide. Net sales ...
Ford Fusion in the NASCAR Busch Series road races at
Circuit Gilles Villeneuve
The Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, also spelled ''Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve'' (), is a motor racing circuit in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is the venue for the FIA Formula One Canadian Grand Prix. It has previously hosted the FIA World Sportscar ...
on August 4 and
Watkins Glen on August 11 as part of a partnership between TRG and
Wood Brothers/JTG Racing
Wood Brothers Racing is an American professional stock car racing team that currently competes in the NASCAR Cup Series. The team was formed in 1950 by eponymous brothers Glen Wood, Glen and Leonard Wood (racing), Leonard Wood. From 2006 to 200 ...
. He finished 29th and 10th respectively. In October 2007, TRG purchased the assets of
Darrell Waltrip Motorsports
Darrell Waltrip Motorsports was a NASCAR team owned by three-time Winston Cup champion Darrell Waltrip. It was formed in 1991 when Waltrip resigned from Hendrick Motorsports to start his own team, and was originally named DarWal, Inc.. During 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 ...
team, with Lally serving as the team's driver and
United States Army Reserve
The United States Army Reserve (USAR) is a reserve force of the United States Army. Together, the Army Reserve and the Army National Guard constitute the Army element of the reserve components of the United States Armed Forces.
Since July 2020 ...
sponsoring the No. 00
Toyota Tundra.
In
2008
File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...
, TRG switched to
Chevrolet Silverados and formed a second team. They began the 2008 season fielding entries in the No. 7 for Lally and the No. 71 for fellow rookie
Donny Lia
Domenick "Donny" Lia (born November 8, 1978) is an American stock car racing driver. He won the 2007 and 2009 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour championships. He also won the Race of Champions Modified Tour races in 2004, 2005, 2006, and 2007. He has r ...
. Lia won in his 8th career start in Mansfield driving the No. 71 TRG truck. Midway through the season, sponsorship issues forced Lally to cut a part-time schedule. He was replaced by Nevada driver
T. J. Bell for the rest of the season. Lally would return to the No. 71 late in the year when the team released Lia, followed by Ben Stancill and
J. R. Fitzpatrick
John Ryan "J. R." Fitzpatrick (born May 9, 1988) is a Canadian professional stock car racing driver. Fitzpatrick was the youngest driver to ever win the now defunct CASCAR Super Series championship, winning in the series' final season of 2006 at ...
. Bell had a streak of five consecutive top-tens and had a total of seven on the year.
In 2009, TRG Motorsports announced they would field a full-time team in the NASCAR Sprint Cup with the number 71. The team also ran a second car in a few races using the number 70. After failing to make the Daytona 500 with
Mike Wallace
Myron Leon Wallace (May 9, 1918 – April 7, 2012) was an American journalist, game show host, actor, and media personality. He interviewed a wide range of prominent newsmakers during his seven-decade career. He was one of the original correspo ...
, the team signed
David Gilliland
David Leonard Gilliland (born April 1, 1976) is an American professional stock car racing driver and team owner. Since 2017, he has operated David Gilliland Racing, a team that races in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, ARCA Menards Series, ...
and was 35th in points after Bristol, guaranteeing the team a start in Martinsville, only to fall out of the top-35 after the event. They were sponsored by Capital Windows and had announced an agreement to be sponsored by American Monster that fell through. The team shut down its Truck team very early into the season. In the summer,
TaxSlayer.com
TaxSlayer LLC (formerly known as TaxSlayer.com) is a privately held tax preparation and financial technology company based in Augusta, Georgia. The company offers online tax preparation technology for American consumers and tax professionals, allo ...
became the team's new sponsor. Starting with the September race in Atlanta,
Bobby Labonte
Robert Allen Labonte (born May 8, 1964) is an American semi-retired professional stock car racing driver and current analyst for ''NASCAR on Fox''. He also currently competes full-time in the Superstar Racing Experience, driving the No. 18 car. L ...
began to share the ride with Gilliland.
Mike Bliss
Michael Duane Bliss (born April 5, 1965) is an American professional stock car racing driver. A journeyman NASCAR competitor and the 2002 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series champion, he has run in all three national series.
Racing career
Bliss began ...
also filled in for the team on occasion.
Labonte competed the first half of the season for the team in 2010. TaxSlayer.com sponsored the team for twelve races. Since the team was not sponsored for the full season, a number of races resulted in a start-and-park situation. At Dover, the team quit after 65 laps. On June 23, Labonte parted ways with TRG Motorsports. Bliss finished ninth at Daytona.
Andy Lally
Andrew J. Lally (born February 11, 1975) is an American professional auto racing driver. He competes full-time in the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, driving the Audi R8 for Magnus Racing and previously part-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, dr ...
,
Landon Cassill
Landon Douglas Cassill (born July 7, 1989) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, driving the No. 10 Chevrolet Camaro for Kaulig Racing.
Early career
Cassill was born in Cedar R ...
,
Chad McCumbee and
Tony Raines
Floyd Anthony Raines (born April 14, 1964) is a retired American professional stock car racing driver. He is a former National Touring Series champion in the now defunct American Speed Association and 1999 Rookie of the Year in the NASCAR Natio ...
also drove the No. 71.
Hermie Sadler made his first start since 2006 at the October Martinsville race.
Brendan Gaughan raced at Phoenix, his first Cup race since 2004. Despite the team's sponsorship troubles and driver changes, TRG Motorsports finished 35th in the owner's points, guaranteeing the team a start for the first five races of 2011.
Owner Kevin Buckler said on ''
NASCAR Race Hub
''NASCAR Race Hub'' is a daily NASCAR news program broadcast on Fox Sports 1 Monday through Thursday. Originally broadcast on Speed, the show replaced ''NASCAR Nation'' and '' This Week in NASCAR''. ''NASCAR Race Hub'' premiered on October 12, 20 ...
'' before the Watkins Glen race that the No. 71 team would continue to race full-time in 2011. Lally announced he would run for Rookie of the Year honors. On March 23, 2011, Buckler announced that the team is switching manufacturers to
Ford
Ford commonly refers to:
* Ford Motor Company, an automobile manufacturer founded by Henry Ford
* Ford (crossing), a shallow crossing on a river
Ford may also refer to:
Ford Motor Company
* Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company
* Ford F ...
, beginning at Texas. They also went into a support program with
Roush Fenway Racing Roush is a surname. Notable people with the surname include:
Politics
*Glenn Roush (1934–2020), American politician in Montana
* J. Edward Roush (1920–2004), United States Representative for Indiana, namesake of:
** J. Edward Roush Lake, a re ...
. Late in 2011, TRG ran a second car, a No. 77. Lally drove the car at Charlotte (with Hermie Sadler in the 71) to a 42nd-place finish. T. J. Bell attempted Talladega in the car, with the late
Dan Wheldon
Daniel Clive Wheldon (22 June 1978 – 16 October 2011) was a British motor racing driver who won the 2005 IndyCar Series Drivers' Championship for Andretti Green Racing (AGR). He won the Indianapolis 500 in 2005 and 2011, and was co-winner ...
's name adorning the namerail, but did not qualify.
The No. 71 entry struggled at the end of the season and finished 36th in owner's points, not guaranteeing the team a start for the first five races of 2012. TRG suspended its NASCAR team for 2012. Lally left NASCAR and returned to the
Rolex Sports Car Series
The Rolex Sports Car Series was the premier series run by the Grand American Road Racing Association. It was a North American-based sports car series founded in 2000 under the name Grand American Road Racing Championship to replace the failed ...
.
References
External links
The Racer's GroupTRG-Aston Martin Racing North AmericaIMSA official team listings
{{DEFAULTSORT:Racers Group
24 Hours of Le Mans teams
American Le Mans Series teams
American auto racing teams
Grand American Road Racing Association teams
Petaluma, California
WeatherTech SportsCar Championship teams
Porsche Supercup teams
European Le Mans Series teams