Team Menard Explained

Team Menard
Owner:John Menard Jr.
Series:NASCAR Cup Series
NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series
CART World Series
IRL IndyCar Series
Wins:10
Drivers Champ:2 (1996-1997, 1999 IRL)
Numbers:3, 13
Manufacturer:Ford
Base:Indianapolis, Indiana
Opened:1999 (NASCAR)
1980 (CART)
Closed:2001 (NASCAR)
2004 (IRL)

Team Menard was an auto racing team that competed in the Indianapolis 500, CART, Indy Racing League, NASCAR Cup Series, and NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series. The team was owned by Menards founder, John Menard Jr. Founded in 1980 to compete in CART, from 1991 to 1996 they modified their own Buick V6 engines for racing. This combination won pole for the 500 with Scott Brayton in 1995 and 1996; Tony Stewart used this combination for the first part of his 1996-1997 IRL Championship. With more stringent regulations, the team continued to shine winning the 1999 championship with Greg Ray. However, with the influx of former CART teams to the IRL in the early 2000s, Team Menard struggled to compete for wins and the team merged in 2004 with Panther Racing, although their car continued to carry Menard's colors and be driven first by Mark Taylor, who was then replaced by Townsend Bell. In 2005, Menard's was an associate sponsor for another team and the former Menard No. 2 car driven by Tomáš Enge carried no identification to its Menard lineage. For 2006, the No. 2 car was dropped by Panther and all vestiges of the once dominant Team Menard lineage disappeared until the spring of 2008 when Menards became a primary sponsor on the No. 20 Vision Racing Dallara driven by Ed Carpenter in the IndyCar Series.

The Team Menard name has also been used to refer to their sponsoring of various drivers throughout motorsports, including Paul Menard, Ryan Blaney, Austin Cindric, Brandon Jones and Matt Crafton in NASCAR, Simon Pagenaud in IndyCar and Frank Kimmel in ARCA, while TeamMenard.com was a portal to information on these drivers and their sponsor. However, Team Menard is not the name of any of their race teams and none of those cars are owned by John Menard. The URL currently redirects to the Menards home page.

Menard also had a NASCAR team running the No. 13 car. Robby Gordon ran 17 races in 2000, with P.J. Jones running an additional race.

Drivers

CART (1980-1995)

IRL/IndyCar Series (1996-2003)

NASCAR Cup Series

NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series (2000-2001)

Complete racing results

PPG CART Indycar World Series results

(key)

YearChassisEngineTyresDriversNo.1234567891011121314151617
1980INDY
Lightning Mk 1/77Offy Drake L4t Herm Johnson2814DNQ1711111313148
1981
Lightning Mk 1/77Chevrolet V8align=left rowspan=2 Herm Johnson2822221733713
Eagle 81989
1982
Eagle 81Chevrolet V8 Herm Johnson28196231334162217
1983INDY
Eagle 81Chevrolet V8 Herm Johnson27DNQ
1984INDY
March 84CCosworth DFX V8t Herm Johnson28818
1985INDY
March 85CCosworth DFX V8t Herm Johnson8DNQ
1986INDY
March 86CCosworth DFX V8t Herm Johnson28DNQ
Derek DalyDNQ
1989INDY
Lola T89/00Cosworth DFX V8t Johnny Rutherford98DNQ
1990INDY
Lola T89/00Buick 3300 V6talign=left rowspan=2 Jim Crawford1515
5119
Gary Bettenhausen31
Steve BarclayDNQ
1991SFRINDY
Lola T91/00Buick 3300 V6t Gary Bettenhausen5122
Kevin Cogan929
Lola T89/00 Tom Sneva59DNQ
1992SFRINDYTOR
Lola T92/00Buick 3300 V6t Al Unser273
Nelson PiquetDNQ
Gary Bettenhausen5117
Lola T91/00 Tom Sneva5931
Rocky MoranDNQ
1993SFRINDY
Lola T93/00Menard V6t Geoff Brabham2726
Gary Bettenhausen5117
Nelson Piquet (R)7732
Lola T92/00Buick 3300 V6t Eddie Cheever5916
1994SFRINDY
Lola T93/00Menard V6t Eddie Cheever278
Scott Brayton5920
Geoff BrabhamDNQ
1995SFRINDY
Lola T95/00Menard V6t Arie Luyendyk407
Scott Brayton6017
Buddy Lazier8027
Source:[1]

IRL IndyCar Series results

(key) (Results in bold indicate pole position; results in italics indicate fastest lap)

YearChassisEngineTyresDriversNo.12345678910111213141516
1996WDWPHXINDY
Lola T95/00Menard V6t
Scott Brayton21518DNS
Eddie Cheever310Wth11
Tony Stewart2021124
Mark Dismore3019
Danny Ongais327
1996–97NHALSVWDWPHXINDYTXSPPIRCLTNHALSV
Lola T95/00Menard V6t Mark Dismore32017
Tony Stewart212*21
G-Force GF01Oldsmobile Aurora V810*2*5*5*1*7*1411
Robbie Buhl31881613
1998WDWPHXINDYTXSNHADOVCLTPPIRATLTXSLSV
Dallara IR8Oldsmobile Aurora V8 Tony Stewart133141*320*14
G-Force GF01B1*2*8215
Robbie Buhl32011
Dallara IR81231610277
1999INDY
Dallara IR9Oldsmobile Aurora V8 Greg Ray22121C212*1*2311*213
Robby Gordon324
2000INDY
Dallara IR-00Oldsmobile Aurora V8 Greg Ray1171993315201*726
Robby Gordon326
2001INDY
Dallara IR-01Oldsmobile Aurora V8 Greg Ray222211*1711*18DNS141813
Jaques Lazier161*20
2002INDY
Dallara IR-02Chevrolet Indy V8 Jaques Lazier2186220
P. J. JonesDNQ
Raul Boesel2113
Mark Dismore1111201818
Vítor Meira15983
Robby Gordon318
2003INDY
Dallara IR-03Chevrolet Indy V8 Jaques Lazier22061229DNS
Richie Hearn14
Vítor Meira1216222019219DNS114
2212
Sources:[2]
  1. The 1999 VisionAire 500K at Charlotte was cancelled after 79 laps due to spectator fatalities.[3]

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Team Menard. Motor Sport. April 11, 2024.
  2. Web site: Team Menard Results. Motorsport Stats. April 11, 2024.
  3. News: Macenka. Joe. Car Crash Debris Kills Three Spectators. The Washington Post. May 2, 1999. April 11, 2024.