King Racing was a racing team which fielded cars in the NASCAR Winston Cup Series as well as in CART and the Indianapolis 500. The team was owned by NHRA drag racing driver Kenny Bernstein.

NASCAR For its entire run in NASCAR’s top series, King Racing fielded a car numbered 26 and carrying sponsorship from Quaker State Motor Oil. Bernstein fielded Buick Regals until General Motors pulled the brand from NASCAR following the 1991 season; after that, the team competed with Ford Thunderbirds.

King’s first season was 1986 with the 26 being driven by Joe Ruttman with Larry McReynolds, who had begun working in the sport nearly ten years earlier, as crew chief. In 1987 Ruttman was replaced with Morgan Shepherd, and for 1988 Ricky Rudd joined the team.

The team won its first Cup Series race in 1988 with Rudd at The Budweiser at the Glen. Rudd also won the Banquet Frozen Foods 300 at Sears Point Raceway in 1989 on his way to an eighth place points finish.

Rudd left King Racing to take over for Geoff Bodine at Hendrick Motorsports following the 1989 season, and for 1990 Geoff’s brother Brett Bodine took over the 26. He won the First Union 400 at North Wilkesboro, which proved to be the team’s final victory.

Partway through the 1991 season, Robert Yates Racing signed McReynolds away from the 26 to replace Jake Elder as the crew chief to Davey Allison. Bodine, meanwhile, recorded six top tens, including two top five finishes at Martinsville, on his way to a 19th-place finish in the points.

Bodine would stay on with King for three more seasons, competing in a total of 158 races for the team. 1992 saw him finish 15th in the standings with thirteen top ten finishes and two top fives. He recorded nine top tens and three top fives, finishing 20th despite missing the fall race at Dover due to injury. Then, in 1994, Bodine managed a second-place finish in the inaugural Brickyard 400, scoring his last career top five finish. He followed this up with two more top tens, the last at Charlotte in the fall, and finished 19th in points.

In 1995, Bodine left to join Junior Johnson & Associates as the replacement for Bill Elliott following Elliott's decision to become an owner-driver (something Bodine would do a year later), and Steve Kinser was signed away from the World of Outlaws sprint car series to take over. The multiple time world champion had trouble adjusting to the world of stock car racing, and after he finished 40th or worse three times in five starts and failed to qualify for two other races, Kinser was released from the team. Hut Stricklin was brought in to finish the season and recorded two top five finishes and five total top tens.

After a 34th-place finish in points, Bernstein sold his team to Rudd Performance Motorsports at the end of 1995 and returned to focusing strictly on drag racing.

Indy cars

1988 King Racing made their debut during the 1988 season, fielding the No. 15 and 17 Mac Tools Lola T8700-Buick V6 at the Indianapolis 500 with Jim Crawford in No. 15 and Johnny Rutherford in No. 17. Both qualified mid-pack. Crawford led for eight laps (the only laps not led by a Team Penske driver). Crawford was running in second place late in the race. Crawford then ran too low on the track, getting into the grass, and dropped to 6th place during a pit stop to change the damaged tire.

1989–1991 For the 1989 season, the team fielded Crawford again in the No. 15 Mac Tools Lola T8700-Buick V6 at the Indianapolis 500 and qualified in 4th place. Crawford suffered a practice crash. The car was repaired in time to race. Crawford retired with mechanical problems. King Racing did not compete in 1990. They made a return during the 1991 season with Crawford driving the No. 26 Quaker State Lola T9100-Buick V6 and would qualify in 8th place. Crawford would retire with mechanical problems.

1992 For 1992 season King Racing would compete in their first race besides the Indianapolis 500 when Roberto Guerrero drove the No. 36 Quaker State Lola T9100-Buick V6 at the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach on the streets of Long Beach; he was however off the pace due to CART ruling not giving V6 engines as much boost. However at the Indianapolis 500 King Racing ran a pair of Quaker State Lola T9200-Buick V6 with Guerrero in No. 36 and Crawford in No. 26. The USAC (who sanctioned the Indianapolis 500) regulations for V6 engines gave them more boost. As a result, Guerrero would qualify on the pole position setting new one-lap and 4-lap records with a 4-lap average of 232 mph and one lap at 233 mph. Crawford was also fast but had mechanical problems on pole day and recovered to qualify. Guerrero would spin out during the parade lap and would fail to start as a result. Crawford was running in the top 10 when he spun into the wall, collecting Rick Mears. Mears' teammate Emerson Fittipaldi also spun and crashed on the same lap.

1993 For 1993 King Racing would expand to a full-time team with Guerrero driving the No. 40 Budweiser King Lola T9300-Ilmor-Chevrolet Indy V8. Jim Crawford would drive No. 80 and Al Unser Sr. in No. 60. At the Indianapolis 500, Guerrero was involved in a crash with Jeff Andretti. Unser led early on but dropped to 13th. Crawford would spin out early on and would not recover. Guerrero would get a best finish of 4th at the New England 200 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway but was replaced by Eddie Cheever for the last few races of the season. Guerrero would finish 14th in points.

1994 For 1994 Scott Goodyear would drive the No. 40 Budweiser King Lola T9400-Ford-Cosworth XB. At the Indianapolis 500 the team hired Davy Jones to drive a spare car numbered 40T (it would be changed to 60 on race day). Goodyear would fail to qualify while Jones would qualify. So Goodyear would replace Jones on race day but retired with mechanical problems early on. Goodyear gave King Racing their only CART win when he drove to victory at the Marlboro 500 at Michigan International Speedway. Goodyear finished 12th in points (King Racing's highest CART position in points).

The 1994 season was the last in CART for King Racing, as Bernstein opted to shut the team down.

Driver history

CART IndyCar Jim Crawford (1988–1989, 1991–1993) Johnny Rutherford (1988) Geoff Brabham (1991) Roberto Guerrero (1991–1993) Willy T. Ribbs (1991) Eddie Cheever (1993) Al Unser (1993) Scott Goodyear (1994) Andrea Montermini (1994)

NASCAR Joe Ruttman (1986) Morgan Shepherd (1987) Ricky Rudd (1988–1989) Brett Bodine (1990–1994) Dick Trickle (1993; injury replacement at Dover) Steve Kinser (1995, replaced after North Wilkesboro) Hut Stricklin (1995)

Racing results

Complete CART Indy Car World Series results (key) Year Chassis Engine Drivers No. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 1988 INDY Lola T87/00 Buick 3300 V6t Jim Crawford15 6 Johnny Rutherford17 22 1989 INDYLola T87/00Buick 3300 V6t Jim Crawford15 19 1991 SFR INDY Lola T91/00 Buick 3300 V6t Jim Crawford26 26 Roberto Guerrero 15 19 18 1992 SFR INDY TORLola T92/00 Buick 3300 V6t Jim Crawford26 25 Lola T91/00 Roberto Guerrero 13 Lola T92/0036 33 1993 SFR INDY Lola T93/00 Chevrolet 265C V8t Roberto Guerrero40 19 15 5 28 7 26 24 29 10 7 4 23 11 Eddie Cheever 28 10 14 Jim Crawford60 24 Al Unser80 12 1994 SFR INDY Lola T94/00 Ford XB V8t Scott Goodyear40 10 11 19 30 22 11 28 14 10 1 22 11 4 7 8 27 Andrea Montermini60 16 7

IndyCar win

# Season Date Sanction Track / Race No. Winning Driver Chassis Engine Tire Grid Laps Led11994July 31CARTMichigan 500 (O)40 Scott GoodyearLola T94/00Ford XB V8tGoodyear 12 26

Complete 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 Pts 1986 Joe Ruttman 26 Buick DAY28 RCH2 CAR33 ATL42 BRI19 DAR21 NWS5 MAR2 TAL17 DOV11 CLT32 RSD42 POC7 MCH9 DAY7 POC38 TAL8 GLN33 MCH30 BRI17 DAR38 RCH6 DOV6 MAR5 NWS6 CLT25 CAR9 ATL9 RSD5 15th 3295 1987 Morgan Shepherd DAY16 CAR5 RCH31 ATL10 DAR22 NWS27 BRI8 MAR17 TAL10 CLT2 DOV32 POC31 RSD35 MCH25 DAY5 POC36 TAL39 GLN22 MCH3 BRI24 DAR9 RCH30 DOV40 MAR5 NWS4 CLT20 CAR5 RSD25 ATL39 17th 3099 1988 Ricky Rudd DAY17 RCH2 CAR17 ATL24 DAR30 BRI20 NWS2 MAR18 TAL29 CLT7 DOV19 RSD3 POC30 MCH11 DAY22 POC12 TAL41 GLN1 MCH16 BRI16 DAR10 RCH26 DOV10 MAR24* CLT8 NWS7* CAR2 PHO26* ATL4 11th 3547 1989 DAY19 CAR32 ATL24 RCH4 DAR12 BRI8 NWS6 MAR23 TAL31 CLT10 DOV6 SON1* POC20 MCH4 DAY9 POC31 TAL17 GLN29 MCH8 BRI3 DAR3 RCH4 DOV5 MAR8 CLT21 NWS9 CAR28 PHO29 ATL14 8th 3608 1990 Brett Bodine DAY17 RCH8 CAR25 ATL11 DAR8 BRI22 NWS1* MAR12 TAL12 CLT29 DOV18 SON41 POC4 MCH14 DAY22 POC16 TAL33 GLN3 MCH17 BRI25 DAR10 RCH31 DOV20 MAR4 NWS3 CLT8 CAR17 PHO15 ATL18 13th 3440 1991 DAY22 RCH24 CAR13 ATL15 DAR16 BRI22 NWS30* MAR4 TAL11 CLT28 DOV33 SON11 POC33 MCH36 DAY36 POC8 TAL32 GLN25 MCH37 BRI10 DAR14 RCH18 DOV32 MAR2 NWS7 CLT8 CAR30 PHO14 ATL29 19th 2980 1992 Ford DAY41 CAR8 RCH33 ATL20 DAR6 BRI11 NWS10 MAR8 TAL16 CLT20 DOV30 SON15 POC8 MCH19 DAY12 POC8 TAL10 GLN10 MCH12 BRI9 DAR4 RCH18 DOV22 MAR3 NWS7 CLT28 CAR7 PHO12 ATL40 15th 3491 1993 DAY17 CAR22 RCH32 ATL8 DAR12 BRI9 NWS17 MAR7 TAL30 SON24 CLT41 DOV16 POC29 MCH39 DAY19 NHA13 POC5 TAL9 GLN20 MCH14 BRI7 DAR2 RCH5 MAR6 NWS21 CLT15 CAR35 PHO28 ATL40 20th 3271 Dick Trickle DOV25 1994 Brett Bodine DAY32 CAR6 RCH8 ATL31 DAR36 BRI13 NWS23 MAR24 TAL17 SON13 CLT42 DOV32 POC8 MCH32 DAY16 NHA12 POC35 TAL17 IND2 GLN28 MCH12 BRI14 DAR29 RCH8 DOV26 MAR30 NWS33 CLT6 CAR18 PHO13 ATL36 19th 3159 1995 Steve Kinser DAY CAR RCH ATL DAR BRI NWS 34th 2369 Hut Stricklin MAR33 TAL24 SON33 CLT7 DOV4 POC5 MCH37 DAY16 NHA27 POC41 TAL36 IND22 GLN40 MCH10 BRI33 DAR7 RCH32 DOV38 MAR36 NWS25 CLT18 CAR28 PHO35 ATL38

References

External links Kenny Bernstein Website NASCAR Stats for Kenny Bernstein at everythingstockcar.com