| Dan Pardus | |
| Birth Name: | Daniel Joseph Pardus |
| Birth Date: | 2 April 1963 |
| Birth Place: | Port Orange, Florida, U.S. |
| Total Cup Races: | 1 |
| Years In Cup: | 1 |
| Best Cup Pos: | 68th (1998) |
| First Cup Race: | 1998 Pepsi 400 (Daytona) |
| Cup Wins: | 0 |
| Cup Top Tens: | 0 |
| Cup Poles: | 0 |
| Total Busch Races: | 18 |
| Years In Busch: | 2 |
| Best Busch Pos: | 49th (2002) |
| First Busch Race: | 2001 Pepsi 300 (Nashville) |
| Last Busch Race: | 2002 Little Trees 300 (Charlotte) |
| Busch Wins: | 0 |
| Busch Top Tens: | 0 |
| Busch Poles: | 0 |
Daniel Joseph Pardus (born April 2, 1963) is an American former stock car racing driver. He was a regular on the NASCAR Goody's Dash Series, and also competed in events in the Busch and Winston Cup Series, as well as the ARCA Re/Max Series.
A native of Port Orange, Florida, a suburb of Daytona Beach, Pardus, a graduate of Mainland High School,[1] won back to back track championships at New Smyrna Speedway in 1980 and 1981.[2] Pardus began racing in NASCAR's touring series in 1992, competing in the Goody's Dash Series, a series for four-cylinder subcompact cars.[2] He ran in the series for several years, running a Chevrolet Cavalier and, later, a Pontiac Grand Am; he joined Jim & Judie Motorsports, the team he would run the majority of the remainder of his racing career for, before the 1995 season.[3]
Pardus moved to the ARCA Re/MAX Series, a full-size stock car series, in 1997; running approximately half the series schedule, he placed third in the series' Rookie of the Year award standings and 12th overall.[4] He ran only five races in the series in 1998, as he attempted to make his debut at the top level of NASCAR competition, the Winston Cup Series;[5] he failed to qualify for a number of races through the season,[6] and was injured early in the season in a practice crash at Texas Motor Speedway.[7] In October he successfully made his debut, in what would prove to be his only start in the series, in the Pepsi 400 in October.[8] Pardus finished 36th in the event,[9] which had been delayed from July by extensive wildfires in central Florida.[10]
Pardus entered the 1999 season intending to run the full 1999 Winston Cup Series schedule, competing for Rookie of the Year driving the No. 50 for Midwest Transit Racing.[9] The team ran a limited schedule due to limited sponsorship; following his third failure to qualify in three attempts, at Charlotte Motor Speedway in May, Pardus was released as the team's driver, moving to a management position.[11]
In 2000, driving for the Gardners, Pardus failed to qualify for the Daytona 500;[12] after running a limited ARCA schedule in 2000, Pardus and the team moved to the NASCAR Busch Series in 2001, with sponsorship from The Outdoor Channel; he made his debut in the series at Nashville Superspeedway.[13] In his second Busch Series race, at Chicagoland Speedway, Pardus was involved in a hard crash with David Donohue, suffering a broken back;[14] he returned to competition later in the year, and ran a partial schedule in 2002, competing in twelve races, all but one for Jim & Judie Motorsports; the exception being a drive for Jay Robinson Racing in the GNC Live Well 250 at Daytona International Speedway;[1] he also failed to qualify for six other races. Pardus' team hired pit crews from Winston Cup Series teams to pit their cars; at Nashville, due to a scheduling conflict, the crew for ML Motorsports pitted the car.[15]
Following the 2002 season, The Outdoor Channel ended their sponsorship of Jim & Judie Motorsports;[16] Pardus attempted to qualify for two races in 2003, at Daytona International Speedway and Darlington Raceway failing to qualify for both.[17] Pardus would make one more attempt at a NASCAR start, in 2005 at Daytona, driving the No. 73 Chevrolet for Raabe Racing Enterprises in qualifying for the Pepsi 400; he failed to qualify for the event.[18]
Pardus is married, to Alice.[2] He has two children, Danielle and Preston Pardus, both of whom also race cars; Preston won the Sports Car Club of America Spec Miata national championship in 2017.[19] [20]
He currently works as a utilities contractor, and worked as a part-time commentator for radio and TV broadcasts of racing events on SPEED Channel and HD Net, which he joined following his racing career.[21]
(key) (
Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)| NASCAR Winston Cup Series results | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Team | 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 | 32 | 33 | 34 | Pts | Ref | |||||
| 1998 | Midwest Transit Racing | 07 | Chevy | DAY DNQ | CAR | LVS | ATL | DAR | BRI | TEX | MAR | TAL DNQ | CAL | CLT DNQ | DOV | RCH | MCH | POC | SON | NHA | POC | IND DNQ | GLN | MCH | BRI | NHA DNQ | DAR | RCH | DOV | MAR | CLT | TAL DNQ | DAY 36 | PHO | CAR | ATL | 68th | 55 | [22] | |||||
| 1999 | 50 | DAY DNQ | CAR Wth† | LVS | ATL | DAR | TEX | BRI | MAR | TAL DNQ | CAL | RCH | CLT DNQ | DOV | MCH | POC | SON | DAY | NHA | POC | IND | GLN | MCH | BRI | DAR | RCH | NHA | DOV | MAR | CLT | TAL | CAR | PHO | HOM | ATL | N/A | – | [23] | ||||||
| 2000 | Jim & Judie Motorsports | 65 | Chevy | DAY DNQ | CAR | LVS | ATL | DAR | BRI | TEX | MAR | TAL | CAL | RCH | CLT | DOV | MCH | POC | SON | DAY | NHA | POC | IND | GLN | MCH | BRI | DAR | RCH | NHA | DOV | MAR | CLT | TAL | CAR | PHO | HOM | ATL | N/A | – | [24] | ||||
| † - Replaced after first round qualifying by Billy Standridge | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Year | Team | Manufacturer | Start | Finish | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1998 | Midwest Transit Racing | Chevrolet | align=center colspan=2 style="background:#FFCFCF;" | DNQ | |
| 1999 | align=center colspan=2 style="background:#FFCFCF;" | DNQ | |||
| 2000 | Jim & Judie Motorsports | Chevrolet | align=center colspan=2 style="background:#FFCFCF;" | DNQ |
| NASCAR Busch Series results | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Team | 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 | 32 | 33 | 34 | Pts | Ref | ||
| 2001 | Jim & Judie Motorsports | 32 | Chevy | DAY | CAR | LVS | ATL | DAR | BRI | TEX | NSH 35 | TAL | CAL | RCH | NHA | NZH | CLT DNQ | DOV | KEN DNQ | MLW | GLN | CHI 36 | GTY | PPR | IRP | MCH | BRI | DAR 31 | RCH | DOV | KAN | CLT 36 | MEM | PHO 29 | CAR 31 | HOM DNQ | 61st | 384 | [25] | ||
| 2002 | DAY DNQ | CAR 34 | LVS 33 | DAR 23 | BRI | TEX DNQ | NSH 32 | TAL | CAL | RCH 34 | NHA | NZH | CLT 25 | DOV | NSH 35 | KEN 27 | MLW | CHI DNQ | GTY | PPR | IRP | MCH 27 | BRI | DAR 39 | RCH DNQ | DOV | KAN | CLT 42 | MEM DNQ | ATL | CAR DNQ | PHO | HOM | 49th | 780 | [26] | |||||
| Jay Robinson Racing | 49 | Ford | DAY 41 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2003 | 39 | DAY | CAR | LVS | DAR | BRI | TEX | TAL | NSH | CAL | RCH | GTY | NZH | CLT | DOV | NSH | KEN | MLW | DAY DNQ | CHI | NHA | PPR | IRP | MCH | BRI | N/A | – | [27] | |||||||||||||
| Red Racing | 91 | Chevy | DAR DNQ | RCH | DOV | KAN | CLT | MEM | ATL | PHO | CAR | HOM | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
(key) (
Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)| ARCA Re/Max Series results | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Team | 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 | Pts | Ref | ||||||||||||||
| 1997 | Jim & Judie Motorsports | 42 | Chevy | DAY 9 | ATL 8 | SLM 25 | CLT 31 | CLT 19 | POC | MCH 23 | SBS | TOL | KIL | FRS | MIN 16 | POC | MCH 11 | DSF 32 | GTW 28 | SLM | WIN | CLT 16 | TAL 8 | ISF | ATL 24 | 12th | – | [28] | ||||||||||||||||
| 1998 | DAY 18 | ATL | SLM 4 | CLT | MEM | MCH 29 | POC | SBS | TOL | PPR | POC | KIL | FRS | ISF | ATL | DSF | SLM 32 | TEX | WIN | CLT | TAL 3 | ATL | N/A | – | [29] | |||||||||||||||||||
| 1999 | DAY 38 | ATL 40 | SLM 15 | AND | CLT 9 | MCH 29 | POC | TOL 16 | SBS | BLN | POC 27 | KIL | FRS | FLM | ISF | WIN | DSF | SLM | CLT 40 | TAL 25 | ATL 22 | 32nd | 1000 | [30] | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 2000 | DAY 7 | SLM | AND | CLT 14 | KIL | FRS | MCH 12 | POC 3 | TOL | KEN 4 | BLN | POC 22 | WIN | ISF | KEN 35 | DSF | SLM | CLT DNQ | TAL 18 | ATL 11 | 22nd | 1530 | [31] | |||||||||||||||||||||
| 2001 | DAY 24 | NSH | WIN | SLM | GTY | KEN | CLT | KAN | MCH | POC | MEM | GLN | KEN | MCH | POC | NSH | ISF | CHI | DSF | SLM | TOL | BLN | CLT | TAL | ATL | 151st | 115 | [32] | ||||||||||||||||