Brett Bodine Racing

Brett Bodine Racing was a NASCAR racing team from 1996 until 2003. It was owned by former NASCAR driver Brett Bodine and his then-wife Diane, and fielded the No. 11 car for Bodine, who purchased the team from Junior Johnson & Associates (for whom he had driven for in 1995) during the 1995–96 offseason. In purchasing the team Brett joined his brother Geoff as an owner-driver, Geoff having purchased the assets of AK Racing after Alan Kulwicki (also an owner-driver) was killed in a plane crash on April 1, 1993.

Brett Bodine Racing

Owner(s)	Brett Bodine
Base	North Carolina
Series	Winston Cup Busch Series
Race drivers	Brett Bodine Geoffrey Bodine Kirk Shelmerdine
Sponsors	Hooters Lowe's Ralphs
Manufacturer	Ford
Opened	1996
Closed	2003
Career
Drivers' Championships	0
Race victories	0

The team closed following the 2003 season after failing to find a full-time sponsor.

NASCAR Cup Series

Car No. 11 History

Brett Bodine drove the 11 car for Junior Johnson in 1995 with Lowe's sponsorship and drove the car again with Lowe's sponsorship in 1996 as an owner/driver. Brett's team struggled with consistency that season but they did manage to finish 24th in the points standings, with one top ten. After the season, Lowe's left to sponsor the No. 31 at Richard Childress Racing and Bodine's sponsorship woes began.

1997 saw Brett sign a long term sponsorship deal that would put Close Call Phone Cards on the car. The season started off well with Bodine achieving two top ten finishes in the first 9 races. However, just half-way into the season Close-Call stopped paying its sponsorship bills and Brett was forced to strip the decals off of his car. The car ran unsponsored for the remainder of the season and Bodine was forced to sell part of the team to Andy Evans, although he later re-acquired full interest. Bodine later accused Evans of trying to steal his team.^{[citation needed]}

 

Bodine's No. 11 at Pocono Raceway in 1997

1998 and 1999 found Bodine with reliable sponsorship from Paychex on his new Ford Taurus. He found modest success in 1998 finishing 25th overall in points, despite failing to finish in the top ten all season. He did, however, manage to finish in the top 20 on eleven occasions.

After 1998, Bodine struggled in 1999. He was only able to reach 35th-place in the final standing, again with no top tens and only four top 20s. The No. 11 team also failed to qualify for 2 events and Paychex chose not to return at the end of the season.

Without a sponsor having been found, Brett sold half-interest in his team once again, this time to Richard Hilton. As part of the deal Ralphs would come on as the primary sponsor. Although the sale of the team fell through Brett was able to retain the Ralphs sponsorship. However, the team reached only 35th place in the final points standings with no top tens and just 5 top twenties. They failed to qualify for five of the races.

Despite this, Ralphs came back to the team in 2001 as the primary sponsor and Brett signed RedCell Batteries as an associate, and the team received engines from Robert Yates Racing. But another blow to the organization RedCell stopped paying its dues midseason, and the team once again was forced to go without strong backing. They were able to work through these troubles and had a very successful season. They qualified for every race, finished in the top ten twice, the top twenty nine times, and moved up five spots to 30th in the points standings.

Despite the team's success in 2001 a primary sponsor was not forthcoming for 2002. Brett entered the season with just the associates Timberland Pro and Wells Fargo Financial. Dura Lube came on to help out early in the season until Brett picked up Hooters sponsorship for the 4th race of the season. At the start of the 2002 season the team were way behind in all aspects due to securing sponsorship so late in the season. Brett managed no top tens, only 4 top 20s, and 36th in the final standings while missing four races.

Hooters came back in 2003, but with far less money. The team scaled back to only a limited schedule. Geoffrey Bodine drove the car in the Bud Shootout at Daytona and Brett ran 5 early season races before Hooters pulled the plug, leaving the team with no sponsor. To compound problems, that same weekend in practice Brett was involved in a horrifying crash that sidelined him for several weeks. His brother Geoffrey drove the No. 11 Brett Bodine Racing Ford, for his injured brother, in its final race finishing 39th. With no major sponsorship for his team and most of his employees laid off, Brett attempted to run at Indy in a fan-sponsored "Brick Car" where, for $500, fans would get their name on the car. The program was a success, but Brett failed to qualify for the race by 0.001 seconds. No sponsor was found and the team was sold.

Car No. 11 results

NASCAR Winston Cup Series results
Year	Driver	No.	Make	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31	32	33	34	35	36	Owners	Pts
1996	Brett Bodine	11	Ford	DAY 32	CAR 28	RCH 25	ATL 24	DAR 27	BRI 20	NWS 23	MAR 18	TAL 23	SON 20	CLT 24	DOV 24	POC 40	MCH 22	DAY 9	NHA 16	POC 27	TAL 22	IND 22	GLN 14	MCH 28	BRI 14	DAR 28	RCH 25	DOV 27	MAR DNQ	NWS 23	CLT 28	CAR 16	PHO 26	ATL 21
1997				DAY 18	CAR 17	RCH 23	ATL 18	DAR 35	TEX 19	BRI 10	MAR 27	SON 6	TAL 33	CLT 26	DOV 33	POC 25	MCH 19	CAL 26	DAY 23	NHA 42	POC 29	IND 18	GLN 39	MCH 31	BRI 31	DAR 15	RCH 21	NHA 33	DOV 26	MAR 17	CLT 30	TAL 22	CAR DNQ	PHO 33	ATL 41					29th	2747
1998				DAY 24	CAR 16	LVS 26	ATL 26	DAR 22	BRI 11	TEX 16	MAR 13	TAL 11	CAL 28	CLT 22	DOV 16	RCH 20	MCH 33	POC 18	SON 32	NHA 28	POC 38	IND 33	GLN 34	MCH 32	BRI 26	NHA 30	DAR 42	RCH 19	DOV 22	MAR 34	CLT 19	TAL 13	DAY 25	PHO 43	CAR 31	ATL 31				25th	2907
1999				DAY 22	CAR 33	LVS 20	ATL 33	DAR 30	TEX 18	BRI 22	MAR 14	TAL 43	CAL 28	RCH 38	CLT 22	DOV 37	MCH 30	POC 26	SON 31	DAY 34	NHA 31	POC 26	IND DNQ	GLN 40	MCH DNQ	BRI 12	DAR 26	RCH 31	NHA 29	DOV 29	MAR 42	CLT 27	TAL 31	CAR 43	PHO 42	HOM 40	ATL 30			37th	2398
2000				DAY DNQ	CAR 35	LVS DNQ	ATL 16	DAR 27	BRI 22	TEX 23	MAR 36	TAL DNQ	CAL 41	RCH 38	CLT 30	DOV 28	MCH 36	POC 32	SON 30	DAY DNQ	NHA 20	POC 30	IND 39	GLN DNQ	MCH 42	BRI 28	DAR 27	RCH 35	NHA 42	DOV 20	MAR 41	CLT 32	TAL 26	CAR 26	PHO 20	HOM 14	ATL 28			36th	2267
2001				DAY 15	CAR 27	LVS 38	ATL 26	DAR 36	BRI 27	TEX 28	MAR 36	TAL 26	CAL 27	RCH 39	CLT 17	DOV 25	MCH 33	POC 37	SON 13	DAY 9	CHI 19	NHA 13	POC 33	IND 37	GLN 13	MCH 40	BRI 26	DAR 27	RCH 43	DOV 28	KAN 25	CLT 28	MAR 40	TAL 12	PHO 26	CAR 35	HOM 32	ATL 36	NHA 8	35th	2948
2002				DAY 16	CAR 30	LVS 35	ATL 38	DAR 38	BRI 36	TEX 38	MAR 26	TAL 13	CAL 23	RCH 19	CLT 27	DOV 34	POC 24	MCH 34	SON 24	DAY 38	CHI 30	NHA 27	POC 33	IND 42	GLN 32	MCH 38	BRI 32	DAR 39	RCH 20	NHA 36	DOV DNQ	KAN DNQ	TAL 29	CLT 26	MAR 38	ATL 34	CAR 36	PHO DNQ	HOM DNQ	40th	2388
2003				DAY DNQ	CAR	LVS	ATL 41	DAR	BRI 24	TEX 31	TAL DNQ	MAR	CAL	RCH 31	CLT DNQ	DOV 42	POC	MCH INQ^†						IND DNQ	GLN	MCH	BRI	DAR	RCH	NHA	DOV	TAL	KAN	CLT	MAR	ATL	PHO	CAR	HOM	46th	469
	Geoff Bodine																	MCH 39	SON	DAY	CHI	NHA	POC
^† - Qualified but replaced by Geoff Bodine

Car No. 09 History

2001 saw Brett Bodine Racing expand to a two car team for two races. Driven by the No. 11's car success Brett was able to field a second car, driven by brother Geoffrey, at both Bristol and Homestead with sponsorship from Smirnoff Ice and Miccosukee Casino, respectively. Bodine finished 27th at Bristol and 37th at Homestead. The team was to continue to run a limited schedule in 2002 but was never able to find a primary sponsor. The No. 09 Brett Bodine Racing Fords never returned to the track, with the team number being reassigned to Phoenix Racing.

Car No. 09 results

NASCAR Winston Cup Series results
Year	Driver	No.	Make	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31	32	33	34	35	36	Owners	Pts
2001	Geoff Bodine	09	Ford	DAY	CAR	LVS	ATL	DAR	BRI	TEX	MAR	TAL	CAL	RCH	CLT	DOV	MCH	POC	SON	DAY	CHI	NHA	POC	IND	GLN	MCH	BRI 27	DAR	RCH	DOV	KAN	CLT	MAR	TAL	PHO	CAR	HOM 37	ATL	NHA	61st	52

Car No. 27 History

In 2002 Hooters had a small sponsorship deal with independent driver Kirk Shelmerdine. When Hooters signed on to sponsor the Brett Bodine Racing team, part of the deal involved Brett was to run Kirk in a couple of races in the No. 27 sponsored by Naturally Fresh Foods. However, this quickly came to end when Kirk was unable to make a race, and the drivers went their own ways.

Busch Series

Car No. 11 History

This car made its debut at Richmond in 2001 with Josh Richeson, a relative of Brett's, behind the wheel. The car's numbers were 6 and 06. In 2002 the car's number was changed to 11 and Brett was able to field Josh in seven races. The car was unsponsored in two events, sponsored by Smuckers in one event and by one of Brett's cup sponsors, Timberland Pro, in the other 4 events. 28th was the best ever finish by this car, achieved in its final start at Richmond in 2002. The team did not have the financial means to run a Busch Series operation in 2003.

References

External links

• Racing Reference