ISM Racing is a former auto racing team owned by

Bob Hancher Bob, BOB, or B.O.B. may refer to: Places * Mount Bob, New York, United States *Bob Island, Palmer Archipelago, Antarctica People, fictional characters, and named animals * Bob (given name), a list of people and fictional characters *Bob (surnam ...

. The team fielded entries in the Indy Racing League and the NASCAR Winston Cup Series.

Indy Racing League

ISM fielded cars in the IRL from 1997 to 1999. In

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 ...

, Jeff Ward finished 6th in IRL driver points and won the pole at Phoenix in an ISM car and the team fielded three cars in the

1998 Indianapolis 500 The 82nd Indianapolis 500 was held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana on Sunday, May 24, 1998. This was the first Indianapolis 500 fully sanctioned by the Indy Racing League after the IRL relied on USAC to sanction the 1996� ...

. However, the team was only able to run part-time in

1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shootin ...

and shut down in July of that year. The IRL team used

G-Force The gravitational force equivalent, or, more commonly, g-force, is a measurement of the type of force per unit mass – typically acceleration – that causes a perception of weight, with a g-force of 1 g (not gram in mass measure ...

chassis and Oldsmobile engines.

ISM IRL drivers

* Jim Guthrie (1998) *

Steve Knapp Steve Knapp (born April 17, 1964, Minneapolis, Minnesota), is a former driver in IndyCar. He raced in the 1998–2000 seasons with 13 career starts, including 3 at the Indianapolis 500. His best career finish was in his first race, a third pl ...

(1998-1999) * Jeff Ward (1997-1999)

Complete IRL IndyCar Series results

(

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 ...

) (Results in bold indicate pole position; results in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap) # In conjunction with

Sinden Racing Services Sinden may refer to: *Sinden (surname) *Sinden (DJ), British DJ, remixer and record producer Graeme Sinden **The Count & Sinden, his collaboration with Joshua "Hervé" Harvey (The Count) *10369 Sinden 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number represent ...

NASCAR: Team Tabasco

McIlhenny Company, maker of Tabasco brand products, sponsored their Winston Cup car. The company announced 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 ...

that it would sponsor the No. 35 Pontiac driven by Todd Bodine. The car would be owned by

. The team debuted on the weekend of the announcement at Charlotte Motor Speedway, with Bodine finishing 26th. After a rumor that Tabasco had ended its sponsorship, the team failed to qualify for the first three races of the 1998 season. Surprisingly, McIlhenny Company voiced no concerns, despite the high-pressure stakes of NASCAR racing. After a tenth-place finish at

Atlanta Motor Speedway Atlanta Motor Speedway (formerly known Atlanta International Raceway from 1960 to 1990) is a 1.54-mile entertainment facility in Hampton, Georgia, United States, 20 miles (32 km) south of Atlanta. It has annually hosted NASCAR Cup Series ...

, Team Tabasco qualified for Darlington and Bristol finishing 27th and 29th, but failed to qualified for three of the next four races, ranking 39th place in the one race in which it did appear. A practice accident took Bodine out of the California 500, where

Wally Dallenbach Jr. Wally Dallenbach Jr. (born May 23, 1963) is an American racing driver who formerly competed in the NASCAR Winston Cup Series. He competed in 226 Winston Cup races from 1991 to 2001 and had 23 top 10 finishes. The son of open wheel racer and forme ...

filled in as driver. Bodine would be back on board for the Coca-Cola 600 in late May, finishing 28th. June 6 saw Bodine's last ride in the Tabasco Pontiac at Richmond International Raceway. In his brief tenure, Team Tabasco only managed to qualify in five of the first thirteen races (including the race during which Dallenbach drove). ISM replaced Bodine with

Loy Allen Jr. Loy Allen Jr. is a former professional NASCAR Winston Cup, Busch, and ARCA series race car driver, turned real estate developer and embry-riddle-trained commercial pilot. On February 12, 1994, he became the youngest and first rookie in NASCAR Wi ...

for the Pepsi 400 on a temporary basis; after the race was delayed due to wildfires, Bodine was fully released by the team before the next race at

New Hampshire International Speedway New Hampshire Motor Speedway is a oval speedway located in Loudon, New Hampshire, which has hosted NASCAR racing annually since 1990, as well as the longest-running motorcycle race in North America, the Loudon Classic. Nicknamed "The Magic Mil ...

. Gary Bradberry and Jimmy Horton were scheduled to drive for the team at future races. After running only one of the next three races, however, Hancher sold the operation to Tim Beverly and his driver

Darrell Waltrip Darrell Lee Waltrip (born February 5, 1947) is an American motorsports analyst, author, former national television broadcaster, and stock car driver. He raced from 1972 to 2000 in the NASCAR Cup Series (known as the NASCAR Winston Cup Series dur ...

. The

Tyler Jet Motorsports Tyler Jet Motorsports was a NASCAR Winston Cup Series team. History Tyler Jet Motorsports was owned by Tim Beverley, owner of the airplane sales company that shared a name with the race team, and was formed in 1998 after Beverley purchased the a ...

team drove Chevrolet Monte Carlos and intended to continue using the model. In their first race, the Brickyard 400, Waltrip started dead-last but climbed through the field to finish 13th. But the team's use of Chevrolets sparked outrage at McIlhenny Company because it had invested heavily in Pontiacs as part of its marketing program. Lawsuits ensued between Tabasco and Hancher, and McIlhenny Company forced the team to run Pontiacs. Waltrip's best finish that year was 18th at Richmond; otherwise, the team performed poorly and Tabasco left the sport at the end of the year. In NASCAR discussion this affair has become known as the "Tabasco Fiasco".

References

{{Tyler Jet Motorsports American auto racing teams Defunct NASCAR teams IndyCar Series teams McIlhenny family 1997 establishments in the United States 1999 disestablishments in the United States