King Racing - Indy Cars

Indy Cars

King Racing made their debut during the 1988 CART/PPG World Series season fielding the #15 and 17 Mac Tools Lola T8700-Buick V6 at the 1988 Indianapolis 500 with Jim Crawford in #15 and Johnny Rutherford in #17. Both would qualify mid pack. Crawford would lead for 6 laps (the only laps not lead by a Team Penske driver). Crawford was running 2nd late in the race however Crawford ran over debris and finished 6th. For the 1989 CART/PPG World Series season the team would field Crawford again in the #15 Mac Tools Lola T8700-Buick V6 at the 1989 Indianapolis 500 and would qualify 4th and would suffer a practice crash and the car was repaired in time to race. Crawford would retire with mechanical problems. King Racing would not compete in 1990. They made a return during the 1991 CART/PPG World Series season with Crawford driving the #26 Quaker State Lola T9100-Buick V6 and would qualify 8th. Crawford would however retire with mechanical problems. For 1992 PPG IndyCar World Series season King Racing would compete in their first race besides the Indianapolis 500 when Roberto Guerrero in the #36 Quaker State Lola T9100-Buick V6 at the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach he was however off the pace due to CART ruling not giving V6 engines as much boost. However at the 1992 Indianapolis 500 King Racing ran Quaker State sponsored Lola T9200-Buick V6 with Guerrero in #36 and Jim Crawford in #26. Due to USAC (who sanctioned the Indianapolis 500) were more easy on V6 engines by giving them more boost. As a result Guerrero would qualify on the pole position setting new 1-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 the Team Penske teammates of Rick Mears and Emerson Fittipaldi would get involved on separate crashes on lap 76 and Fittipaldi's crash would take out Crawford. For 1993 PPG IndyCar World Series King Racing would expand to a full-time team with Guerrero driving the #40 Budweiser King Lola T9300-Ilmor-Chevrolet Indy V8. Jim Crawford would drive #80 and Al Unser Sr in #60. At the 1993 Indianapolis 500 Guerrero would be involved in a crash with Jeff Andretti. Unser would lead early on but would drop 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 replace by Eddie Cheever Jr for the last few races of the season. Guerrero would finish 14th in points. For 1994 PPG IndyCar World Series season Scott Goodyear would drive the #40 Budweiser King Lola T9400-Ford-Cosworth XB. At the 1994 Indianapolis 500 the team would hire 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 and Goodyear would replace Jones on race day but would retire with mechanical problems early on. Goodyear would give King Racing their only CART win when he drove to victory at the Marlboro 500 at Michigan International Speedway. Goodyear would finish 12th in points (King Racing's highest CART position in points). The team would close their CART team at the end of the season and their NASCAR team would close at the end of 1995 NASCAR Winston Cup Series.