Specialty Racing, LLC was an auto racing team that competed in the NASCAR Nationwide Series. Based in Statesville, North Carolina, it was owned by Doug Taylor and Charles Shoffner. In 2011, Specialty Racing planned to field the No. 61

Ford Mustang The Ford Mustang is a series of American automobiles manufactured by Ford. In continuous production since 1964, the Mustang is currently the longest-produced Ford car nameplate. Currently in its sixth generation, it is the fifth-best selli ...

, 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 Sinking of the MS Estonia, sank in ...

at Dover when Patty Moise 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 fr ...

Ford to a 19th-place finish. The team would run 5 more races that season achieving a season best 12th place at Michigan in just their 3rd race. In

1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is O. J. Simpson murder case, acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the 1994, year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The ...

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 tra ...

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 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 was hired to serve as driver for the

1996 File:1996 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: A Centennial Olympic Park bombing, bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, set off by a radical Anti-abortion violence, anti-abortionist; The center fuel tank explodes on TWA Flight 8 ...

campaign.

Kleenex Kleenex is a brand name for a variety of paper-based products such as facial tissue, bathroom tissue, paper towels, tampons, and diapers. Often used informally as a genericized trademark for facial tissue in the United States and Canada, the nam ...

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 Indianapolis (), colloquially known as Indy, is the state capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the seat of Marion County. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the consolidated population of Indianapolis and Marion ...

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 t ...

a total of seven drivers sat in the seat of the car, including Doug Taylor himself for the March Las Vegas race. The best finish for the year was put forth when Ted Musgrave drove to a 12th-place finish at

Darlington Darlington is a market town in the Borough of Darlington, County Durham, England. The River Skerne flows through the town; it is a tributary of the River Tees. The Tees itself flows south of the town. In the 19th century, Darlington underwen ...

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 ...

was the last year of Doug Taylor Motorsports. The team raced in 31 out of 32 races with Kerry Earnhardt, Rick Fuller,

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. Racin ...

, Taylor and Lepage sharing driving duties. Lepage drove the car in 24 of the races. Full-time sponsorship was provided by Channellock and manufacturers were switched from Ford to

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 ...

. The team earned its first pole award with Lepage driving at the MBNA Platinum 200 at

Dover Dover () is a town and major ferry port in Kent, South East England. It faces France across the Strait of Dover, the narrowest part of the English Channel at from Cap Gris Nez in France. It lies south-east of Canterbury and east of Maidstone ...

. Also, it posted 10 top ten finishes, 6 top five finishes and the highlight of the season at the Food City 250 in Bristol 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 Rahmoc Enterprises is a former NASCAR Winston Cup team that operated from 1978 to 1993. The team was owned by long-time engine builder Bob Rahilly and Butch Mock. Butch Mock and Bob Rahilly split in 1992, with the race team becoming Butch Mock ...

Current team history

Specialty Racing returned to the NASCAR Busch Series 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 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 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 Na ...

. 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 Eldon Chase Miller (born January 28, 1987) is an American former stock car racing driver, who last competed in the NASCAR Nationwide Series (now the Xfinity Series) in 2013. He currently works for Front Row Motorsports as a mechanic. Racing care ...

, 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