Morgan-McClure’s fate could mark sad ending for storied team
By Steve Waid
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
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TURN ONE COMMENTARY
The recent news that Morgan-McClure Motorsports has closed the doors on its Sprint Cup operation didn’t come as much of a surprise – sadly.
Times had not been good for the team. Over the past several years, the Abingdon, Va.-based organization has gone through a long list of drivers and sponsors in an effort to compete on the Cup circuit.
Being competitive, however, has been elusive to say the least. The last time Morgan-McClure won a race was in 1998, at Martinsville, with Bobby Hamilton. The last time it earned a top-five finish was a year later, again with Hamilton.
Since then, drivers such as Mike Wallace, Mike Skinner, Jimmy Spencer, Scott Wimmer and numerous others have come and gone.
Late in 2006, Morgan-McClure signed veteran Ward Burton, who had been out of racing and was delightfully welcomed back by fans.
But the struggles continued. Burton qualified for just 16 of 36 races, and his best finish in a points race was 18th.
Over the past few weeks, Morgan-McClure has lost its driver, crew chief and part-time sponsor, State Water Heaters, which told the team just before Christmas that it was moving to another organization.
The team’s leader, Larry McClure, said the time had come to end operations. He admitted that a lack of sponsorship was the reason. However, he added that if the organization finds sponsorship, it will continue to compete.
McClure said earlier that he’s not going to race with his own money any longer.
McClure also said there is an offer on the table to become a satellite team for a larger multicar organization, but only if sponsorship is somehow put together.
It was obvious the future of Morgan-McClure was bleak and now it seems it has no future at all.
But make no mistake, the team has had its moments in the sun. There was a time it was considered one of NASCAR’s more capable organizations.
Over a span of nine years, it won 14 races. Not spectacular, but a darn sight better than in the decade since.
Morgan-McClure was founded in 1983, the year in which Mark Martin was its driver for six races. The team didn’t compete on the full schedule until 1988, with driver Rick Wilson and sponsor Kodak – which would be with the team throughout its productive seasons.
In 1990, McClure was scouting for a new driver and he placed a phone call to Ernie Irvan, then racing for independent owner D.K. Ulrich. McClure asked Irvan if he wanted to race with his team, and Irvan couldn’t get to Abingdon fast enough.
Irvan reached his potential with Morgan-McClure. In the four seasons he spent with the team, he won seven races, including the 1991 Daytona 500 – a harbinger of things to come.
After Irvan’s departure near the end of the 1993 season, Sterling Marlin came on board in 1994.
Morgan-McClure’s steady, winning performances continued. Marlin won six times in four years.
More significantly, he won the Daytona 500 two years in succession, in 1994 and 1995. And it was with Marlin that the team earned its best-ever finish in the point standings, third, in ’95.
It was on the restrictor-plate tracks that Morgan-McClure was at its best. It won eight superspeedway races in eight years. It benefited greatly from the skills of engine builder Runt Pittman, who, for a time, was rumored to have discovered a horsepower secret.
After Hamilton’s lone victory in ’98, Morgan-McClure’s long downslide began. Since Hamilton’s departure in 2000, the team has gone through 16 different drivers and, it seems, just as many sponsors.
Many say the odds have been stacked against the team for years. Its location in the far-reaching outpost of Abingdon instead of the Charlotte area, the hub of resources and talent, has hindered it.
Nor can it be expected to do well as a single-car team going up against an army of well-financed multicar teams.
No doubt McClure has heard all of that – and more – before. But he steadfastly maintained his team and somehow fielded cars year after year.
Now, however, it seems he’s not going to be able to do so for another season.
McClure said he hasn’t given up trying to find a sponsor, however great the odds. Given what Morgan-McClure had been over the past several years, no one would have been surprised if McClure shut the doors a long time ago.
- Mentioned Drivers:
- Mark Martin
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