Glory Road:
Owners

Team Penske founder Roger Penske (Class of 2019) oversees a $43 billion global business empire that employs more than 73,000 people in 3,300 locations. Applying the same lessons he learned in business, Penske has built a hugely successful racing operation that competes and wins races and championships in NASCAR, IndyCar and sports cars.

Roger Penske has won more than 230 races and multiple championships in NASCAR’s top two divisions. In 2022, Joey Logano won his second Cup championship in this Team Penske No. 22 Ford Mustang.

A U.S. Army mechanic in World War II, Wendell Scott (Class of 2015) returned home to his native Danville, Virginia where he repaired cars, ran moonshine and became the first Black driver to win a state track championship and later a race in NASCAR’s top series. With the help of his family, Scott was a true trailblazer.

Driving this home built and maintained No. 11 1937 Ford Modified, Wendell Scott won the Virigina Modified state championship.

Bill Blair grew up on an 800-acre farm just south of the Virginia-North Carolina border. Blair hauled illegal liquor in the early 1930s and modified his pre-World War II Fords to add horsepower and beef up the suspension.  After World War II, Blair turned his attention to stock-car racing.  His mechanical ability helped him build winning race cars.

Bill Blair campaigned his own Oldsmobile Super 88 in 21 NASCAR races in 1953. 

In 1950, Glenn Wood (Class of 2012) ran his first race on a local Virginia short track. With the help of three generations of family members, including his brother and chief mechanic Leonard (Class of 2013), Wood Brothers Racing has won more than 100 NASCAR Cup Series races and is still competitive today.

In 1958, Glenn Wood qualified on the pole and finished third in the final NASCAR Modified Sportsman race on the old Daytona Beach-Road Course in this 1954 Ford.

Bud Moore (Class of 2011) landed on Utah Beach during D-Day and was decorated for valor. In 1961, Moore formed his own Cup Series team, winning championships with Joe Weatherly (Class of 2015) in 1962-63. Among the drivers who would later race for Moore were Dale Earnhardt (Class of 2010), Buddy Baker (Class of 2020) and Ricky Rudd (Class of 2025).

After previously campaigning Pontiacs, Bud Moore became the lead factory team owner for Mercury in 1964. He designed and built this No. 8 Mercury Maurader for driver Joe Weatherly.

Holman Moody Racing won consecutive championships in NASCAR’s top division in 1968-69 with driver David Pearson (Class of 2011). The team also built engines and entire race cars for other Ford Motor Co. teams throughout the 1960s. Ralph Moody (Class of 2025) specialized in car design and construction, while John Holman ran the front office.

In 1965, Holman Moody-built Fords won 48 of 55 NASCAR Grand National Division (now Cup Series) races, including eight with team driver Fred Lorenzen (Class of 2015). 

Richmond native Junie Donlavey didn’t race for fame or fortune. Instead, he raced for the pure love of the sport and the people in it, from whom he earned their universal admiration and respect. Over his long career, seven Hall of Fame drivers piloted Donlavey Racing Fords in at least one race.

Junie Donlavey, a beloved car owner, helped many racers get experience in NASCAR including Ricky Rudd (Class of 2025) and Jody Ridley who shared the No. 90 Donlavey Racing Ford in 1979.

Lee Petty (Class of 2011) founded an engineering business in his native North Carolina. The business evolved into a championship race team that set multiple NASCAR records. Petty’s sons Richard (Class of 2010) and Maurice (Class of 2014) and nephew Dale Inman (Class of 2012) would go on to be NASCAR Hall of Fame inductees.

Petty Enterprises crew chief Dale Inman’s call for gas only during the final pit stop of the 1981 Daytona 500 was the key to Richard Petty’s record seventh victory in NASCAR’s biggest race. 

One of NASCAR’s most colorful personalities, Junior Johnson (Class of 2010) was a moonshiner, a brilliant mechanic and a star driver. Johnson would enjoy his greatest success as a team owner, winning six NASCAR Cup Series championships. In 1983, Johnson reintroduced the multi-car team concept, when he hired Neil Bonnett to campaign a second Chevrolet with teammate Waltrip.

In a savvy marketing move, team owner Junior Johnson convinced sponsor Budweiser to support both Neil Bonnett’s No. 12 Chevrolet and Darrell Waltrip’s No. 11. 

Robert Yates (Class of 2018) earned a reputation for building some of the most powerful engines in NASCAR. After buying out Harry Ranier in 1989, Yates took over a Ford team, first with Davey Allison (Class of 2019) and later with Dale Jarrett (Class of 2014). Jarret won the 1999 NASCAR Cup Series championship.

Driving this Robert Yates Racing No. 28 Ford Thunderbird, Davey Allison won the 1992 Daytona 500.

After a successful career in other forms of motorsports, when Jack Roush (Class of 2019) came to NASCAR, he willingly hired drivers with little or no prior NASCAR experience, including Mark Martin (Class of 2017), Carl Edwards (Class of 2025) and Kurt Busch (Class of 2026). Roush used lower NASCAR series as training grounds for drivers, crew chiefs and pit crews.

Jack Roush fielded NASCAR Busch Series (now O’Reilly Auto Parts Series) cars like this No. 60 1998 Ford Taurus for Mark Martin in the 1990s to help the team gain a competitive advantage. 

After 12 years as an independent owner/driver, Richard Childress (Class of 2017) stepped out of the cockpit for good in mid-1981, hiring Dale Earnhardt (Class of 2010) as his replacement. Richard Childress Racing became known as a scrappy, blue-collar team, and Earnhardt won six of his seven NASCAR Cup Series championships driving for RCR.

The black No. 3 Richard Childress Racing 2000 Chevrolet Monte Carlo,driven by Dale Earnhardt, dominated NASCAR superspeedways. 

After expanding his team to two cars in 1986, three in 1988, and four in 2002, Rick Hendrick (Class of 2017) knew the key to success was teamwork. By requiring transparency and open cooperation among his crew chiefs, team members and drivers, Hendrick has built the most successful organization in NASCAR history.

Hendrick Motorsports has won more races at Martinsville Speedway than any NASCAR team at any single track. The chassis of this No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet Monte Carlo swept Martinsville in 2003 and 2005.

When Dodge decided to re-enter NASCAR after a 24-year absence, the automaker recruited three-time NASCAR Cup Series champion crew chief Ray Evernham (Class of 2018) to start his own team and spearhead the Dodge effort. Evernham’s laser focus on technology and innovation helped the team to win the pole in their first appearance in the Daytona 500 in 2001. 

The 2006 season was a high-water mark for Evernham Motorsports, when Kasey Kahne won six races and captured 12 top-5s, 19 top-10s and six poles for the team.

The longest tenured team in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, ThorSport Racing, is also the most successful. Under the leadership of husband-and-wife team owners Duke and Rhonda Thorson, the team has won six driver titles and three owner titles to date. The Sandusky, Ohio, operation is one of only a few teams not based in the Carolinas. 

Despite a devastating fire that destroyed 40 percent of their shop in 2016, ThorSport finished second in points for the season. The team pressed on, and just three years later, they took home the 2019 championship in this No. 88 Ford F-150. 

A three-time Super Bowl champion as an NFL head coach, Joe Gibbs holds the rare distinction of being inducted into two Halls of Fame: The Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1996 and the NASCAR Hall of Fame in 2020. Just as he did in the NFL, Gibbs has built a multi-time championship organization in NASCAR. 

Joe Gibbs has an uncanny ability to extract the most from his athletes, including grandson Ty Gibbs, the 2022 NASCAR Xfinity Series (now O’Reilly Auto Parts Series) champion.

JR Motorsports has become a dominant NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series team, with key contributions from all of its owners, drivers, crewmembers and employees. CEO Kelley Earnhardt Miller runs the day-to-day operations, while Dale Earnhardt Jr. (Class of 2021) finds and coaches drivers and Rick Hendrick (Class of 2017) provides technical support from his Hendrick Motorsports organization. 

Drivers Chase Elliott, William Byron, Tyler Reddick and Justin Allgaier (No. 7) have all won championships in JR Motorsports Chevrolets. 

When Kevin and DeLana Harvick became NASCAR team owners in 2001, they focused on veterans like four-time NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series champion Ron Hornaday Jr. (Class of 2018). After stepping away from team ownership for a few years, the couple is now concentrating on helping young drivers develop, including their teenage son Keelan,

Keelan Harvick scored his first Limited Late Model victory at South Carolina’s Florence Speedway in 2025.