Behind The Number ~ History Of The No. 1
1/13/2014
Jim Fitzgerald
In 2014, Jamie McMurray is scheduled to pilot the Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates owned Chevrolet, sponsored primarily by McDonald’s and Cessna. The car will carry the number “1”, as it has in recent history. Of course, the car number has not always been with Ganassi. Going back to the beginning of the Modern Era in 1972, Bill Champion used it first for his driver, Dick Brooks, and it was only for one race at College Station, Texas, where Brooks was able to finish in the 17th position.
The following season saw the No. 1 in the hands of Clem Proctor in his own car at Riverside for the first race of the year. Later in ’73, it would be Richard Howard providing the number to Billy Scott at Charlotte for the World 600. In the fall race there, Howard saw that the No. 1 would make its third and final appearance of the season with Dick Trickle at the wheel. The future Rookie of the Year (sixteen years later) would give the car number its best Modern Era finish to that point, with a 5th place run.
In 1974, the car number was passed around like a football at a SuperBowl tailgate party. It ran four times and finished none of them. Richard Howard once again put Billy Scott in the car at Charlotte, and eight races later at Talladega, it was Bobby Allison putting his Alabama Gang team mate Neil Bonnett in the No. 1. John Banks then used it at Michigan on his own car, and then it was Howard once again at Charlotte, but instead of Billy Scott, this time Johnny Rutherford was at the helm, but his engine quit 202 laps into the race, and he finished 24th.
In 1975, Frank Coletto put Pete Torres in the No. 1 for the first and fourteenth races of the season, both at Riverside, where Torres would finish in the 16th and 26th positions, respectively. Bill Ward snatched up the number then and used it when he ran his own car at Talladega and finished 28th.
In 1976, the No. 1 saw the track four more times. After using the No. 28 the year before, Hoss Ellington would begin his long time association with the number when he put Donnie Allison in the car for three races. Allison won the fall race at Charlotte, then backed it up with a 7th at The Rock and a 5th at Atlanta. Herschel McGriff also used the number himself one race after when the circuit went to Ontario.
Ellington and Allison saw continued success in 1977 as they used the No. 1 to win two poles as well as two races. The first win was at Talladega where Allison led a race high 92 laps. The second win that season was at Rockingham where Allison led all but 118 of the 492 laps.
Donnie Allison driving the No. 1
In 1978, Donnie Allison drove the No. 1 car every time Hoss Ellington put it on the track, which was for seventeen races. It wasn’t the best of years as Donnie failed to finish ten of those seventeen, and only made nine laps in the Daytona 500 before retiring for some crumpled fenders. He did win the second Atlanta race, however. At the second race at Richmond, Allison did not enter the event, and the No. 1 was grabbed and used by Ed Negre in his own effort, but he only made six laps before having a brake issue and parking. (Start and Park back then? Never happened, according to some.)
Throughout the 1979 season, it was all Donnie Allison when the No. 1 saw track time. He started twenty races and it was feast or famine. There were no wins, but there were eight races which Allison could not finish for various reasons. However, on the flip side of that turmoil were seven top-five finishes and three additional top-tens for their efforts. Donnie’s time in the No. 1 was waning, though.
He did start the first three of the first five races in 1980 scoring two top-tens, but after that, Donnie Allison was out of the car. At Darlington early in the season, it would be David Pearson running Ellington’s car, and he ran it well enough to win in it. Pearson ran eight races in the No. 1 that year and score top-tens in five of them. Long time competitor and car owner Henley Gray would use the number for his son, Steve, to race at Dover in the fall. They finished 40th and took home $450.00.
Ellington had selected Buddy Baker to pilot his No. 1 Buick/Oldsmobile in the 1981 season, and while Baker was unable to get to the winner’s circle, he did manage nine top-ten finishes in fifteen races. As seems to be the case with the No. 1, when someone isn’t using it, someone else takes it, and this time it was Chuck Pittenger running his own car in the final race of the year at Riverside.
Buddy Baker took his turn at the wheel of the No. 1 in 1981
1982 saw the steering wheel move around a lot as well. Baker had six DNFs in the first eight races of the season. At Michigan, it would be Benny Parsons behind the wheel, but he fared no better and finished 32nd. A week later, it would be NASCAR’s young Prince, Kyle Petty getting his shot at the Firecracker in Daytona. Petty finished 38th that day, and ran five more races in the No. 1 car, not finishing any higher than 14th. Rockingham saw Benny Parsons back behind the wheel for a 34th place finish and in the final race for the No. 1 that season, it was a bit of a throw back, as Donnie Allison made a return, but he could only muster a 38th place finish after a crash.
STP colors on the No. 1
Ellington continued to be the major user of the No. 1, and in 1983, it was exclusively his, with driver Lake Speed at the wheel. They ran eighteen races that year, tallying five top-ten finishes, but no wins. The best finish was a third place run at Talladega. In 1984, Harry Goularte used the No. 1 for his car when he ran at Riverside (22nd), Charles Poalillo (23rd) ran it at Pocono, and Billy Hagan used it for Joe Milliken in the final race at Riverside (28th), but the rest of the time it was all Ellington with Lake Speed as the driver. Nine DNFs would sabotage the team, but they did manage seven top-tens including a season best finish of 3rd at The Rock.
Lake Speed drove the No. 1 for Ellington in 1983 and 1984
Ellington’s hold on the No. 1 would weaken in the 1985 season. He was using the No. 21 with David Pearson, while the Wood Brothers had the No. 7 with Kyle Petty to start the season. It would be Petty Enterprises using the No. 1 with Dick Brooks as the driver for Daytona, Rockingham and Atlanta. At Darlington, Morgan Shepherd would take the wheel and gave the No. 1 Ford it’s best finish of the season so far. Brooks was back behind the wheel of the No. 1 at Charlotte however, but this time it was a Chevrolet, and it was owned by some car dealer, some fellow by the name of Hendrick. Henley Gray used it again to run Pocono with Charles Poalillo, and then at Talladega, Ellington took the number back to run some young kid from Alabama named Davey. The young Allison boy finished in tenth place in his first career start. He ran two more races for Ellington that year in the No. 1 as well, but suffered engine failures in both. Ellington also put Pancho Carter in the seat for the Southern 500 that year, but he only finished 29th.
Davey Allison ran three races for Ellington in 1985, and Sterling Marlin took his turn driving the No. 1 in 1986.
Ron Bouchard would take the wheel at the start of the 1987 season, but after three DNFs and one top-ten, Brett Bodine would take over the seat. Bodine’s best finish was an 11th place at Daytona in the summer. And, of course, someone used the number when it became available at Watkins Glen. It would be Chuck Schroedel for Henley Gray, and they managed to complete eight laps before being sidelined with engine issues.
Hoss Ellington’s 13-year run of using the No. 1 would come to an end in 1988. He tapped Dale Jarrett to run a limited schedule of eight races. Jarrett could manage only two top-fifteen finishes in those races, and when he crashed out five laps into the fall Atlanta race, Hoss Ellington’s career as a car owner was complete. Dick Bown would also use the No. 1 for his son Jim to run at, yes, Riverside, and Phoenix as well. 1989 saw the popular number used only once, by Butch Miller at Phoenix, where Miller finished last in Leroy Throop’s Dinner Bell sponsored Chevy.
In 1990, the No. 1 emblazoned car would do something it had not done yet in the Modern Era. It would run a full season. Car owner Richard Jackson would put 1984 series Champion Terry Labonte in his Skoal Classic sponsored Oldsmobile. Labonte almost ended a ten year dry spell for the No. 1 in Victory lane as he finished 2nd in the season opening Daytona 500. There were seven more top-tens that year, but Labonte finished 15th in points, and left to join his old car owner Billy Hagan to drive a No. 94 Sunoco sponsored Olds.
When 1991 began, it was the man from Rockbridge Baths, Virginia, Rick Mast, whom Jackson tapped to drive the No. 1 Olds. This would begin the most stable period for the No. 1 since the Modern Era began. Jackson and Mast teamed together until the end of 1996, when Hooters would be on the car. There was not a lot of success, but they were stable together and did score the pole for the inaugural Brickyard 400 in 1994.
Rick Mast running the No. 1 for Richard Jackson
In 1997, Jackson grabbed Morgan Shepherd to drive the No. 1 after Mast departed for Larry Hedrick’s No. 41. After the first Pocono race, Shepherd was out, however, and Jerry Nadeau was in, but that was only for a five race stretch. Lance Hooper took the wheel for the next five races, and then Shepherd was back in the seat for the final five races of the year. The team’s best finish was a third place at Atlanta in March with Shepherd at the wheel. After eight years a s a car owner, Richard Jackson would hang it up, and the following season, a new chapter would begin for the No. 1.
In 1998, the No. 1 would be run by Dale Earnhardt, Incorporated. The seven-time Champion had chosen Steve Park to be his driver. Park would start the first two races of the young season, but then would be injured in a crash at Rockingham. His replacement would be long-time Earnhardt rival then friend Darrell Waltrip. Waltrip brought home two top-ten finishes for the No. 1 in thirteen races. Park would return at Indy, but could only manage an 11th place best finish for the rest of the season. Park ran the entire 1999 season in the No.1 for DEI, and while there were bright points, such as leading many laps at Charlotte and Atlanta, there were only three top-tens to be had.
Steve Park in the No. 1 for Dale Earnhardt, Incorporated
Finally, in 2000, Park broke through. The team scored the pole at Bristol early in the year and four top-tens before the halfway point. At Watkins Glen in August, Park did what no other driver had been able to do since David Pearson did it in 1980, and that was win a race in the No. 1 car, his first with DEI. Seven more top-tens followed, and Park finished the season eleventh in the Championship standings.
The 2001 Daytona 500 was going okay for Park in his No.1 Pennzoil Chevrolet until lap 175 when his involvement in a 19-car crash ended his day. Then, 25 laps later, things went from bad to horribly wrong, when Dale Earnhardt, Park’s car owner, was killed on the final lap of the race. Park’s team mates, Michael Waltrip and Dale Earnhardt, Jr. finished 1st and 2nd, respectively, while Earnhardt crashed behind them. The following week at Rockingham, while the NASCAR world was still in shock over the loss of one of its greatest competitors, Dale Earnhardt, Jr. in his No. 8 didn’t even finish one lap before he crashed out. Sometimes you’re just not supposed to race. Waltrip went on to finish 19th, but Park would not be denied when it came to beginning the healing. Park led 167 laps on his way to winning his second race in the No. 1 car. Later in the season, however, Park would be injured in a freak accident in the Busch Series race at Darlington. After a red flag, and during the caution laps before the race restarted, Park’s car turned toward the inside wall and was hammered by the lapped car of Larry Foyt, who was heading to the front of the field to try to get a lap back. Park doesn’t remember the accident. Kenny Wallace would be tapped as his replacement until Park was ready to return. That would not happen until the following season. Fourteen top-tens and a pole Wallace captured at The Rock in the fall capped off a difficult 2001 season.
Kenny Wallace drove the No. 1 car for DEI in the first four races in 2002 as Park was still not quite ready to return. Wallace scored a top-ten at Rockingham and then turned the wheel back over to the returning Steve Park at Darlington. The magic, however, seemed to be lacking, and Park only finished two more races that season in the top ten.
Park returned to the seat of the No. 1 ride for 2003, but it was short lived. A Pole was scored at Fontana, but after a crash in that race and one the following week at Richmond, Park was released from the team. He moved to take the seat of the No. 30 for Richard Childress Racing who had just released Jeff Green. Green then completed the cycle by signing to drive the No. 1 car. Green ran the car with mediocre results until the Richmond race in the fall, save for the two road course events at Sonoma and Watkins Glen, when Ron Fellows drove. At Richmond, John Andretti took the wheel, but the results were no different. In fact, it was Fellows’ seventh place finish at Sonoma that would be the highlight finish of the season.
It was back to the 1980’s plan for the No. 1 in 2004. A partial schedule with multiple drivers yielded limited results. John Andretti ran Daytona and Rockingham to open the season. Andretti took the wheel three more times after that, but not until Charlotte in May, the July Daytona race, and then Chicago. Ron Fellows took over again at Watkins Glen and knocked off the best finish of the year, a second place, before Kenny Wallace drove it again at Talladega. At Atlanta and Homestead that season, it would be young Martin Truex, Jr. giving the No. 1 car a spin, but not finishing better than 32nd.
There were seven more races for Truex, Jr. in 2005, as well as one for Paul Menard at Watkins Glen. There were also five DNFs out of those seven for Truex, Jr., but a seventh at Charlotte looked good. In 2006, the No. 1 was back full time, still for DEI, and Martin Truex, Jr. was driving. Five top-five finishes were punctuated by a second place finish in the season finale, giving Truex, Jr. and the team some momentum going into the new season.
Martin Truex, Jr. scored his first career win in the No. 1
Dover. That’s where Truex, Jr. brought the No. 1 back to victory lane, and it happened on a Monday in 2007 after rain had cancelled the Sunday activity. There were thirteen total top-ten finishes for the team that season, and also a pole at Texas. The No. 1 was back! In 2008, there were eleven more top-tens, including a season-high fourth at Loudon.
In the offseason, a merger of sorts occurred between Dale Earnhardt, Inc. and Chip Ganassi. The new venture was called Earnhardt Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates. Despite a pole at the 2009 Daytona 500 and Atlanta and Phoenix in the fall, it was to be Truex, Jr.’s last year with the No. 1, and there were only six top-ten finishes to show for it at the end of the season. Truex, Jr. would move onto Michael Waltrip Racing in 2010, while it was Jamie McMurray in the seat of the No. 1.
Jamie McMurray currently drives the No. 1 for Chip Ganassi’s
team
McMurray wasted no time in making himself a winner in the No. 1. The Daytona 500, marred by a track that was aged and crumbling, and requiring a patch during the running of the race, was McMurray’s greatest victory to date. They scored a pole the following week in California, and another at Darlington, and then another at Chicago. Then, a week later, McMurray would pull of the most improbable of victories, this one at Indianapolis. Beyond that, McMurray would win again later in the year at Charlotte, while scoring another pole at the second race at Fontana. McMurray finished 14th in points that year.
Not much has changed for the No. 1 since then. In fact, McMurray added another victory to the tally of the No. 1 in 2013 at Talladega. From the start of the Modern Era, the No. 1 has accumulated twelve victories, 98 top-fives, and 213 top-tens. If you extend that to include the full history of what is now the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, those number grow to 19 wins, 149 top-fives, and 352 top-tens. The No. 1 has led 6726 laps, and has won at Charlotte, Rockingham, Talladega, and Watkins Glen twice, the most on any track for the number. Who is the all-time most-winning driver in the history of the No. 1? Well, that’s a draw. Paul Lewis, Eddie Gray, Lloyd Dane, David Pearson, and Martin Truex, Jr. all have one. Steve Park has two wins, and Billy Wade, Donnie Allison and current driver, Jamie McMurray each have four.
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