Ppc Racing
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| Owner(s) Name | Greg Pollex |
| Racing Series | Busch Series, Craftsman Truck Series |
| Number of Championships | 0 NEXTEL Cup 1 Busch Series 0 Craftsman Truck Series |
| Car Number(s) | Busch Series: #10, #22, #15 (Part Time) Craftsman Truck Series: #10 |
| Driver(s) | John Andretti, #10(Busch) Kenny Wallace, #22 Michel Jourdain Jr., #15 Terry Cook, #10(Craftsman) |
| Primary Sponsor(s) | FreedomRoads/Camping World/RVs.com, #10(Busch) Autozone, #22 Roshfrans, #15 Power Stroke Diesel by International, #10(Craftsman) |
| Shop Location | Mooresville, North Carolina |
| Homepage | ppc Racing Homepage |
- The correct title of this article is ppc Racing. The initial letter is shown capitalized due to technical restrictions.
ppc Racing is a competitive NASCAR racing team based in Mooresville, North Carolina, which is near Charlotte. The team is owned by Greg Pollex. ppc Racing came about from a merger of Pollex's Busch Series team with a car owned by Steve DeSouza and Ted Campbell in 1999.
Contents |
[edit] Busch Series
The team has two full time cars in the Busch Series: the #10 FreedomRoads/Camping World/RVs.com Ford driven by John Andretti, and #22 Autozone Ford driven by Kenny Wallace.
[edit] Car #10 History
What is now the #10 car debuted at Darlington Speedway in 1993. It was #23 Ford sponsored by If Its Paper and driven by Chad Little. At the time, Pollex co-owned the team with NFL quarterback Mark Rypien. Little competed in 12 races with the team that season, posting three top-ten finishes. Going full-time with Bayer Select sponsoring in 1994, Little finished third in the Busch series points, finishing in the top-ten in half of the races run that season. The next season was even better, as Little collected six victories and a runner-up finish in the points. When Pollex moved Little and the team up to the Cup series in 1997, Pollex left the Busch Series for a while. Midway through 1997, Pollex sold his Cup operation to Jack Roush.
Pollex returned in 1999 with a new operation. This time it was the #32 Kleenex Chevy driven by Jeff Green. Despite failing to qualify for the spring Rockingham race, Green won three races and finished second in the points in what was a remarkable comeback season for both Green and the team. For 2000, the team underwent some changes, as it bought the #57 car driven by Jason Keller, switched back to Ford, and Green's car was now #10 and sponsored by NesQuik. Green went on a tear that year, winning six races and the championship by a record 616 points over Keller. After yet another successful 2001 season where Green visited Victory Lane four times and wound up second in the points, he departed for Richard Childress Racing's Winston Cup team. His replacement was Scott Riggs, an up-and-coming driver in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series. Riggs won twice and finished 10th on his way to winning the Busch Series Rookie of the Year standings. After two more wins and a sixth place finish in points, Riggs left for MB2/MBV Motorsports, and the team disappeared briefly, before coming back in 2005. Rookie driver Michel Jourdain Jr. was tabbed the car's pilot, and he posted one-top ten finish before being replaced by Brent Sherman midway through the season. In 2006, Sherman will move to the NEXTEL Cup series and was replaced by John Andretti. Andretti has had limited success in his "rookie" NASCAR Busch Series season. His primary competition is Burney Lamar. Although Lamar was eventually released by Kevin Harvick, Andretti would go into the season finale tied with Danny O'Quinn in rookie points. Although Andretti finished 16th and O'Quinn 36th, O'Quinn still edged Andretti by 1 point to win rookie of the year.
[edit] Car #22 History
The #22 car debuted in 1991 at Lanier Speedway as the #54 Air Products Buick owned by driver Jason Keller and his father. Keller started eighth but finished 29th after a crash. The next year, Keller ran five races, but only finished one. In 1993, the team switched to #57 and ran 12 races. Despite the abbreviated schedule, Keller had one top-ten finish and finished 33rd in points. In 1994, Keller and his team signed Budget Gourmet to sponsor his Chevrolets, and posted three poles and had a seventeenth-place finish in the points. In 1995, Keller won his first race at the Kroger 200 and finished fourth in points. Despite not visiting victory lane again in 1996, Keller drove his Slim Jim-sponsored Chevys into a sixth place points finish. Keller struggled the next two seasons, as he did not finish in the top-ten in points, and was forced to run 1998 without major sponsorship. After that year, owner Steve DeSouza bought his operation, and signed IGA as sponsor. It was the right combination, as Keller won at Bristol and IRP, and climbed to eighth in points.
In 2000, the team merged with ppc and got new sponsorship from Excedrin. While Keller's teammate Jeff Green dominated the Busch Series that year, Keller quitely had a strong season, winning one race and finishing a career-best second in points. Albertson's was the next sponsor to climb on board, and Keller won another race and finished third in points while switching to Fords, before winning four more races and returning to second in points in 2002. After a respectable 2003 season, the team switched to #22 and brought Miller High Life on board to sponsor. Keller went winless for the first time since 1998, and departed for Team Rensi Motorsports at the end of the year. He was replaced by Kenny Wallace and sponsor Stacker 2. Wallace had five top-fives and finished seventh in points. He will continue to run with ppc with Autozone backing the car in 2006.
[edit] Craftsman Truck Series
The #10 Ford Power Stroke Diesel by International truck is driven by Terry Cook in the Craftsman Truck Series.
[edit] Nextel Cup Series
In 2004, ppc Racing made an attempt for the Nextel Cup series. John Andretti drove for the team in the # 14 Ford with VB Tobacco Products providing sponsorship. In 2005, the sponsor was bancrupt, and the full time team was forced to fold up. PPC still owns the cars, and if sponsorship materializes, they would consider running races again.
