JIMMY  "SMUT"  MEANS   -   05/29/1950

is a former Winston Cup/Nextel Cup owner/driver.  Currently, he is an adviser for Front Row Motorsports and owns his own team, Means Racing.  He competed in NASCAR for eighteen years in mostly his own equipment, posting seventeen career top-tens.  He made three career Xfinity Series starts in 1989, finishing 10th at Darlington Raceway.  Following his retirement, Means worked as a crew chief in NASCAR, working for Bud Moore Engineering and Moy Racing.  Means was part the Alabama Gang which included Bobby Allison, Davey Allison, Red Farmer, and Donnie Allison and later Steve Grissom and Mike Alexander.  Means made his Cup debut in 1976 at the Daytona 500, driving the #5 Chevy for Bill Gray.  He led one lap but finished 40th after an engine failure.  He ran an additional eighteen races for Gray in the #52 car with sponsorship from WIXC, finishing in eleventh place twice.  The following season, Means drove twenty-six races and had a career-best six top-ten finishes, but due to twelve DNFs, he only finished nineteenth in points.  Means had the highest finish of his career in 1983, when he had a seventh-place run at Talladega.  Combined with two other top-tens, he dropped seven spots in the standings.  During the 1984, Means suffered injuries in a crash at Talladega Superspeedway, forcing him to miss several races.  He did not have a top-ten finish over the next two years, and he lost his Broadway sponsorship, picking up funding from Voyles Auto Savage in late 1986 NASCAR Winston Cup Series.  He also switched his manufacturer to Pontiac.  In 1987, Eureka Vacuum Cleaners became Means' new sponsor, and he had the last 

top-ten of his career at Richmond International Raceway.  He dropped to what was at the time the lowest points finish of his career (30th) in 1988, and continued to struggle in 1989, failing to qualify for several races and dropping another spot in the standings despite a new sponsor in Alka-Seltzer.  Means had already chosen to skip two races in favor of Bobby Hillin, Jr. in 1991 after being involved with J.D. McDuffie's fatal crash; he continued to relinquish the ride to Mike Wallace at the end of the season.  After losing the Alka-Seltzer sponsorship, Means continued to drive a part-time schedule, posting only one Top 10 finish. 

After getting part-time funding from NAPA and Hurley Limo, Means ran eighteen races before retiring from driving in late 1993.  His final Cup start came at Rockingham where he started 37th and finished 29th.  When he retired from driving, he became a car owner and started fielding cars in the Xfinity Series in 2001; and did so every year through 2021.  It took until 2015 for one of his drivers to have a top ten finish; as Joey Gase finished fifth at Talladega. Gase also grabbed the only other two top tens for Means as he finished seventh and tenth in the two Daytona races in 2017.  Some info from WikiPedia.

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