FANTASY NASCAR Racin

McAnally Racing is known as a powerhouse team at the regional level of NASCAR, with a record number of series championships and race wins – is also known for providing young drivers an opportunity to develop their skills and further their career in motorsports. BMR. Three letters synonymous with excellence. They have resonated in the West Series for 30 years. BMR or Bill McAnally Racing for the layman. It’s like HMS (Hendrick Motorsports) or JGR (Joe Gibbs Racing) in the NASCAR Cup Series. A team which quickly found success and which season after season remains at the top of the hierarchy. Bill McAnally was also an underdog when he debuted in the West Series in 1992. A secondhand car, a small workshop, an old transporter. McAnally says, "I finally was able to wrangle up enough funds to purchase my first Winston West car, an old 1990 Pontiac, built by Speedway Engineering Rear Steer, previously a Hershel McGriff car. I was as proud as I could be, although you needed a tetanus shot to be close to it!” The BMR adventure could even have ended in 1994 after a fire destroyed his racing equipment. But mutual aid kept him going. He stated, "It was a real disaster. My dually and enclosed trailer loaded to go to the season opener at Mesa Marin Speedway for Winston West was stolen. It was parked next to the house, as it always was.

Bad deal! He was found in a field. They stole tools, and odds and ends, and then burnt the truck and trailer to the ground to cover prints, so more was destroyed in the fire than they actually stole.” But racing friends lent him cars until he got a phone call from Richard Childress telling him to call him back. Bill says, "What a surprise! I called him back the next morning and he told me to come at RCR race shop. Few days later I took the plane to go to Richard Childress Racing. And there was also Chuck Rider (from

BaHaRi Racing). They took me to the parts warehouse where they were storing what they no longer used and told me to take whatever I needed! I rented a truck and filled it with wheels, clutches, springs, all kinds of things. They gave me everything. The next weekend I won a Late Model race and sent the trophy to Richard Childress. A modest way to thank him". Some drivers have spent multiple seasons with the team, honing their talent; while others passed through more quickly, as they moved up the NASCAR ladder. Yet others took advantage of the opportunity with BMR to compete in select events or get experience at a particular track. Some who have competed on a full-time basis for BMR in the past include Cole Custer, Riley Herbst, Todd Gilliland, Derek Kraus, Brendan Gaughan, Sarah Fisher, Kerry Earnhardt, Eric Holmes, Brandon McReynolds, Chris Eggleston, Austin Cameron, Steve Portenga, Peyton Sellers, and Jim Inglebright. In

addition, Christopher Bell, Clint Bowyer, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Alex Bowman, Chase Briscoe, Travis Pastrana, Trevor Bayne, and Bryan Herta also utilized BMR in their driver development – racing in select series events. BMR – which is headquartered in Roseville, California – made its debut in what was then known as the NASCAR Winston West Series in 1992, with car owner Bill McAnally behind the wheel. Bill McAnally first started racing in the Late Model series at All American Speedway in 1990. While preparing to begin his Late Model career he reached out to NAPA to try getting some sponsorship for his car. They agreed to sponsor him, and McAnally won the Late Model division championship in the Whelen All-American Series at the track. NAPA has continued to sponsor the team to this day. McAnally moved up to the K&N Pro Series West (then called the

NASCAR Winston West Series), making two starts that season. The following season he bumped that up to five starts. The 1994 season got off to a bad start when he lost his car and equipment to vandals the night before the season opener. Despite this, McAnally still managed to race in six events while rebuilding his team that year. In 1995 he finally reached his dream of running a full regular-season schedule, finishing ninth in the championship standings. He followed that up with another ninth-place finish in the standings the following year. In total, McAnally made 56 starts between 1992 and 1998 while also working a full-time job as a lineman for a utility company. In 1999 McAnally was getting ready to retire from racing when a chance meeting took place with a father and son who wanted to go racing. That meeting resulted in Sean Woodside racing for McAnally in 1999. He won the first race of the season at Tucson and went on to win the series

championship. McAnally next opened a seat for Brendan Gaughan who went on to win back-to-back titles for BMR in 2000 and 2001, and opened a NASCAR Truck Series team in the same years. McAnally debuted in the NASCAR Truck Series in 2000 with Brendan Gaughan as the driver of the #62 truck. He run 6 races that season and failed to qualify for 1 race. In 2001, Gaughan returned for 3 races with the best finished of 3rd at Mesa Marin Raceway. In 2004, McAnally fielded the #61 Chevrolet at Infineon Raceway with Austin Cameron as the driver; and it was McAnally's first ever Cup start. McAnally would add two more titles with driver Eric Holmes in 2008 and 2010. In 2015 and

2016 the team saw even more success, winning back-to- back championships with Chris Eggleston and Todd Gilliland respectively. This made McAnally just the third car owner in the history of the series to win consecutive titles on two separate occasions. They came back just as strong in 2017, winning another championship with Todd Gilliland. McAnally is the only owner in NASCAR history to have eight championships at the touring series level of NASCAR. In November 2018, it was announced that BMR would reopen a NASCAR Truck Series team debuting again at ISM Raceway fielding the #19 Toyota Tundra for Derek Kraus. After finishing in the top ten, BMR expanded its inventory