Ranier Racing with MDM

Ranier Racing with MDM, formerly known as Ranier-Lundy, was an American professional stock car racing team that last competed in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, the K&N Pro Series East, and the ARCA Racing Series. The team formerly competed in the NASCAR Winston Cup Series until 1987, fielding Cale Yarborough during the 1980s late in its operations. The team later became Robert Yates Racing after Yates, an engine builder and crew chief with the operation, bought the team in 1988. The team largely fielded General Motors vehicles for its various drivers until switching to Fords in 1985.

The team won the Daytona 500 three times, in 1980 with Buddy Baker and in 1983 and 1984 with Yarborough.

The team was based in Charlotte and co-operated by Harry Ranier (February 25, 1937 – July 21, 1999) and J. T. Lundy (January 3, 1941 – December 27, 2023), who left in 1987. Ranier was a Kentuckian coal mining magnate. Ranier's entry into the sport predates magnates such as J. D. Stacy and Billy Hagan.

Cup Series

Car No. 28 history

1967–1980

Harry Ranier started entering racecars into NASCAR's top division sporadically starting in 1967 and consistently starting in 1978 with driver Lennie Pond and later Buddy Baker.

In 1978, Ranier's team won its first race at the Talladega 500 with Pond after other key leading cars were slowed when Bill Elliott's car blew a tire and spreading debris.

Buddy Baker drove for the team starting in 1979. In 1980, Waddell Wilson was crew chief and engine builder. Baker won the 1980 Daytona 500 for the team in a famous paint scheme known as the "gray ghost". The car set the record for fastest Daytona 500 ever run by average speed, a record that still stands.

1983–1988

In 1983, Yarborough moved to the No. 28 Hardee's Chevrolet owned by Harry Ranier, competing in 16 events. He won four races, including his third Daytona 500, his sixth Atlanta Coca-Cola 500, and swept both events at Michigan, along with three poles. In 1984 he repeated by winning his fourth Daytona 500, becoming the second driver to score back-to-back wins, the Winston 500 at Talladega, a race that featured 75 lead changes, and the Van Scoy Diamond Mine 500, along with four poles. In 1985 after his team switched to a Ford, he won his first Talladega 500 and scored his final win in the Miller High Life 500 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

1987–1988

Prior to the 1987 season, car owner Ranier tapped Davey Allison to replace veteran driver Cale Yarborough in the Ranier-Lundy No. 28 Ford Thunderbird. Yarborough was leaving the Ranier-Lundy team to start his own operation along with the team's sponsor, Hardee's. Ranier negotiated a sponsorship deal with Texaco's Havoline motor oil brand, a deal that was signed during the Speedweeks at Daytona International Speedway.[citation needed] He also hired Robert Yates as his engine builder and Joey Knuckles as the No. 28's crew chief, who paired with Allison for years.

On qualifying day, Allison signalled that he was in Winston Cup to stay when he qualified an unmarked, but Texaco-Havoline painted No. 28 Thunderbird second for the 1987 Daytona 500, becoming the first rookie ever to start on the front row for NASCAR's most prestigious event. A pit miscue which allowed a rear tire to fall off on the track ended his hopes of a good finish in the race, but success for Davey Allison would be just around the corner.

Allison drove full time in the Texaco/Havoline #28 for Ranier in 1987 and 1988. Ranier sold his team to Yates on October 1, 1988, prior to the 1989 season. Allison would have most of his success driving for Yates Racing. Ranier did not field a car again until the fall of 1996.

Car No. 28 results

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	NWCC	Pts	Ref
1973	Lennie Pond	54	Chevy	RSD	DAY DNQ	RCH 7	CAR 20	BRI 6	ATL	NWS 7	DAR 36	MAR 19	TAL 46	NSV	CLT 38	DOV 20	TWS 24	RSD	MCH 37	DAY 20	BRI 4	ATL 6	TAL 47	NSV 23	DAR 37	RCH 28	DOV 9	NWS 6	MAR 30	CLT 6	CAR 9		23rd	4013.85
1974	RSD	DAY 23	RCH 4	CAR 9	BRI 26	ATL 10	DAR 21	NWS 5	MAR 5	TAL 5	NSV 11	DOV 6	CLT 20	RSD	MCH 26	DAY 7	BRI	NSV	ATL 5	POC 30	TAL	MCH	DAR 13	RCH 10	DOV 32	NWS	MAR 12	CLT 6	CAR 11	ONT		18th	723.25
1975	RSD	DAY 19	RCH 2	CAR 23	BRI	ATL 10	NWS 5	DAR 27	MAR 25	TAL 26	NSV	DOV 33	CLT 36	RSD	MCH	DAY 38	NSV	POC	TAL 32	MCH	DAR 21	DOV 20	NWS 5	MAR 24	CLT 22	RCH 2*	CAR 4	BRI 2	ATL 6	ONT 6		21st	2540
1976	RSD 6	DAY 4	CAR 30	RCH 23	BRI 22	ATL 4	NWS 6	DAR 4	MAR 22	TAL 11	NSV 6	DOV 8	CLT 8	RSD 25	MCH 7	DAY 32	NSV 4	POC 5	TAL 5	MCH 25	BRI 8	DAR 5	RCH 6	DOV 34	MAR 29	NWS 5	CLT 7	CAR 2	ATL 24	ONT 2		5th	3930
1977	RSD	DAY	RCH	CAR 34	ATL 9	NWS	DAR 31	BRI	MAR 4	TAL	NSV	DOV 7	CLT 4	RSD	MCH	DAY 33	NSV	POC	TAL 5	MCH	BRI	DAR 28	RCH 5	DOV 30	MAR 25	NWS	CLT 30	CAR 36	ATL	ONT		30th	1193
1978	RSD DNQ		RCH 2*	CAR 5	ATL 5	BRI 5		NWS 4	MAR 18	TAL 21	DOV 3		NSV 2	RSD 7		DAY 5	NSV 26	POC		DAR 26	RCH 12		MAR 5	NWS 7	CLT 6	CAR 7	ATL 39	ONT 6		7th	3794
Olds		DAY 10		DAR 3		CLT 33		MCH 25		TAL 1	MCH 8	BRI 26		DOV 7
1979	Buddy Baker	28	Chevy	RSD 7		CAR 31	RCH 29		NWS 8	BRI 25	DAR 5	MAR 2		NSV 8	DOV 3	CLT 36	TWS 3	RSD	MCH 1*		POC 3		MCH 2*	BRI	DAR 4	RCH	DOV 4	MAR 1*	CLT 25	NWS	CAR 33	ATL 39	ONT 4	15th	3249
Olds		DAY 40		ATL 1		TAL 32		DAY 34	NSV		TAL 39
1980	RSD	DAY 1*	RCH		ATL 7	BRI		TAL 1*	NSV		DAY 4	NSV		TAL 32*		21st	2603
Chevy		CAR 15		DAR 35	NWS	MAR 24		DOV 3		MCH 3		MCH 6	BRI	DAR 26	RCH	DOV 3	NWS	MAR 2		CAR 27
Buick		CLT 39	TWS	RSD		POC 2		CLT 3		ATL 4	ONT
1981	Bobby Allison	Chevy	RSD 1*		RCH 23		DAR 9		CLT 2		2nd	4827
Pontiac		DAY 2*		CAR 6	ATL 4	BRI 3	NWS 2*		MAR 13		NSV 3
Buick		DAR 9		TAL 1		DOV 2	CLT 1*	TWS 3	RSD 29	MCH 1	DAY 28	NSV 2	POC 25	TAL 5*	MCH 7	BRI 4		RCH 5	DOV 3	MAR 10	NWS 2		CAR 2	ATL 4	RSD 1*
1982	Benny Parsons	Pontiac	DAY 26	RCH 3*	BRI 9	ATL 4	CAR 3	DAR 4	NWS 4	MAR 29	TAL 3*	NSV 22	DOV 20	CLT 39	POC 3	RSD 23		8th	3616
Buddy Baker		MCH 31	DAY 8	NSV 24	POC 5	TAL 2	MCH 25	BRI 9	DAR 5	RCH 9	DOV 29	NWS 24	CLT 6	MAR 6	CAR 7	ATL 21
Joe Ruttman		RSD 40
1983	Cale Yarborough	DAY 1	RCH		28th	1960
Chevy		CAR 9*	ATL 1	DAR 6	NWS	MAR	TAL 29	NSV	DOV 22	BRI	CLT 28	RSD	POC 27	MCH 1	DAY 40	NSV	POC	TAL 24	MCH 1*	BRI	DAR 7	RCH	DOV	MAR	NWS	CLT 10	CAR 36	ATL 23	RSD
1984	DAY 1*	RCH 14	CAR	ATL 3	BRI	NWS	DAR 4	MAR	TAL 1	NSV	DOV	CLT 21	RSD	POC 1*	MCH 13*	DAY 3*	NSV	POC 2	TAL 5	MCH 5	BRI	DAR 17	RCH 14	DOV	MAR	CLT 3	NWS	CAR	ATL 11	RSD		22nd	2448
1985	Ford	DAY 36	RCH	CAR 7	ATL 22	BRI	DAR 30	NWS	MAR	TAL 3*	DOV	CLT 40	RSD	POC 24	MCH 3	DAY 36	POC 31	TAL 1	MCH 32	BRI	DAR 2	RCH	DOV	MAR	NWS	CLT 1	CAR 28*	ATL 2	RSD		26th	1861
1986	DAY 27	RCH	CAR 6	ATL 27	BRI	DAR 22	NWS	MAR	TAL 37	DOV	CLT 3*	RSD	POC 3	MCH 30	DAY 17	POC 25	TAL 24	GLN	MCH 7	BRI	DAR 10	RCH	DOV	MAR	NWS	CLT 36	CAR 33	ATL 34	RSD		29th	1642
1987	Davey Allison	DAY 27	CAR 9	RCH 26	ATL 5	DAR 27	NWS	BRI	MAR	TAL 1*	CLT 16	DOV 1*	POC 12	RSD	MCH 2	DAY 20	POC 5	TAL 2*	GLN 17	MCH 5	BRI	DAR 29	RCH	DOV 2	MAR	NWS 26	CLT 19	CAR 42	RSD 14	ATL 5		21st	2824
1988	DAY 2	RCH 29	CAR 9	ATL 40	DAR 3	BRI 29	NWS 8	MAR 6	TAL 34	CLT 5	DOV 5	RSD 32	POC 5	MCH 35	DAY 38	POC 3	TAL 39	GLN 16	MCH 1	BRI 4	DAR 9	RCH 1*	DOV 4	MAR 18	CLT 19	NWS 11	CAR 27	PHO 3	ATL 2		8th	3631

Car No. 20 history

After staying out of the Cup Series for eight years, Ranier fielded a Cup entry with Elton Sawyer driving the new #20 in the 1996 season finale at the Atlanta Motor Speedway. Rainer back moved to Cup full time in 1997 with former partner Hardee's returning to sponsor the new #20 and Greg Sacks driving the car. However, after missing several early-season races, the team switched to part time, and eventually Hardee's left the team and it shut down.

Busch Series

Car No. 15 history

Ranier returned to run a limited schedule in the 1996 Busch Series with IRL star Tony Stewart driving the No. 15. The team had sponsorship from Mariah Entertainment for the first two events of a nine race schedule, running the rest unsponsored. Stewart had a best finish of 16th at Bristol. The Ranier Busch Series team shut down after the season.

Truck Series

For the operations after the 2016 season, see MDM Motorsports

Truck No. 71 history

On February 4, 2016, MDM-Hillman Racing joined Lorin Ranier to create a driver development team that would compete in, among other series, the Camping World Truck Series. A selection of Richard Childress Racing development drivers were scheduled to run a partial season in the No. 99 Chevrolet, with funding from the drivers' other sponsors. After rain cancelled qualifying at Dover, the team made a deal to run Dover and the rest of Ranier/MDM's 2016 schedule in the No. 71 Chevrolet, leasing owners points from Carlos Contreras. Brandon Jones and Austin Dillon split the Truck for six races.

Truck No. 99 history

Ranier Racing/MDM was supposed to field the No. 99 in six Truck races in 2016, however the truck was renumbered to No. 71 after leasing owners points from Contreras Motorsports.

In 2017, the No. 99 truck returned but since Ranier and Miller parted ways the team starting in 2017 and beyond is called MDM Motorsports.

K&N Pro Series / ARCA Racing Series

In 2015, Ranier Racing with MDM partner with Hillman Racing to field two cars (No. 40 and No. 41) in both K&N Pro Series East and K&N Pro Series West.

The team returned for 2016.

In 2017, the team shut down because Ranier/Hillman and Miller part ways. Miller renamed the team to MDM Motorsports.

Austin Dillon, Landon Cassill, Ryan Preece, Kyle Benjamin, Travis Miller, Brian Wong, Corey LaJoie and Spencer Davis all drove for the team in K&N.

The team also fielded two part-time entries (the No. 8 and No. 28) in ARCA Racing Series' 2016 season, the team had 1 win with Brandon Jones at Michigan. The team also had 1 pole-position with Kyle Benjamin at Iowa.

Alongside Jones and Benjamin, Harrison Burton, Travis Miller, Matt Tifft and Michael Self also drove for the team in ARCA.

External links

owner statistics at Racing-Reference