FANTASY NASCAR Racin

In 1977 Stacy first arrived on the NASCAR scene. He had made his fortune in coal mining along with many shady deals along the way. Before it was through he would be known for darkening the pages of NASCAR’s history, while spoiling many drivers career’s along the way. Stacy bought the team from Nord Krauskopf’s after the 1976 season. JD Stacy announced he had bought the operation, lock stock and barrel, shortly afterwards, and added he had intentions to acquire or start a second team soon as well, as the first steps to starting a NASCAR dynasty. The Stacy team’s first run was at the Firecracker 400 in Daytona that year, and Neil Bonnett surprised a good many observers by taking the pole for the event. Mechanical difficulties kept him from backing up that promising run, but Neil did wind up bringing the car home eighth. The team scored their first victory, and Bonnett his first win as well, at Richmond that September, with Harry Hyde patiently coaching his driver to the checkers. Bonnett backed up that win with another at the series finale in Ontario, California, edging out Richard Petty by two tenths of a second at the stripe. As a historical footnote, that was the last victory ever for a Chrysler product in Cup racing. Success proved harder to come by in 1978 as Bonnett went win-less. But all was not sweetness and light. Throughout the season there had been rumors Stacy was in financial trouble. A second team he had promised to start for Ferrel Harris in exchange for a loan, made only two starts. Ferris and Harry Hyde were

forced to launch lawsuits to recover the money they were owed from Stacy. In the closing weeks of the season Stacy went out to his car in the parking lot and saw some suspicious wires hanging beneath it. When Stacy discovered it was a bomb rigged to blow him to pieces he somewhat wisely decided to drop out of sight, and when he went he took his checkbook with him. In 1981 JD Stacy came out of hiding and made yet another big splash into the world of NASCAR. Dale Earnhardt had won Rookie of the Year honors in 1979 and the Cup Championship in

1980, driving for a team owned by Rod Osterlund. Though he denied the team was for sale, on June 26th, Osterlund sold his team and all its assets for $1.7 million, to none other than JD Stacy. Earnhardt drove four races for Stacy before announcing he was resigning, while still defending Winston Cup Champ, because he was dissatisfied with the way things were being run. Stacy replaced Earnhardt with Joe Ruttman. While Ruttman did not win a race, he did post seven top tens in his seventeen starts with Stacy’s team, including a second at the season finale in Riverside. In 1982 Stacy had bigger plans. He entered the 1982 season trying to build his dynasty, which he constantly told folks would one day dominate the sport. In addition to Joe Ruttman, Stacy started another team for driver Jim Sauter. In addition to the two cars he owned, Stacy also provided

what was rumored to be seven figures worth of support to each of five other teams, in entries driven by Terry Labonte, Dave Marcis, Ron Bouchard, Benny Parsons, and Jody Ridley. It was an unparalleled amount of teams running under one banner, especially in light of the fact the cars ran Stacy’s blighted name on their quarter panels, not a company that he owned or had an interest in. He was apparently just delighted by seeing his name get around in the fast circles. While a Stacy backed car did not win the Daytona 500, four drivers carrying his name, Terry Labonte, Ron Bouchard, Joe Ruttman and Jody Ridley, did place in the top ten. At the next race at Richmond, Dave Marcis gambled on the rain ending, rather than delaying, the closing laps of the race and did not pit when

the caution flag flew for a light rain. The gamble paid off and JD Stacy went to victory lane with Marcis. But from there, things seemed to be falling apart. Ruttman lost confidence in the team and resigned at the end of March. Stacy hired Tim Richmond to take over as the driver. After finishing thirty-third at Darlington in April, Jim Sauter was fired, and replaced by a young (as in 18 years of age) woman, Robin McCall, who had never even competed in a Winston Cup race. Later that month Stacy started laying off shop employees, and others quit citing concerns about

Stacy’s financial health. The sponsorship checks that Stacy owed the five independent teams that carried his name began arriving late when they arrived at all. On paper at least, everything looked fine. Tim Richmond, driving the primary car out of the Stacy stables had been a pleasant surprise. Terry Labonte was leading the Winston Cup points hunt, having assumed the lead after the fourth race of the season, carrying Stacy’s sponsorship. But that is when things started falling apart. The checks Stacy was writing weren’t worth the paper they were printed on. At the June

6th race at Pocono, Tim Richmond and Bobby Allison were battling each other and the weather for the win. When rain set in and the caution flag waved, Allison decided to gamble and stay out on the track, thinking the event might end prematurely. He lost that gamble and ran out of gas on Pocono’s long back straight. Dave Marcis, gentleman racer and a long time friend of the Allison family, graciously used his car to push Bobby back to the pits where Allison took on fuel without losing a lap. Once

racing resumed, Allison held off Richmond to take the victory. JD Stacy was furious. Had Marcis left Allison sitting stranded on the back straight, very likely Richmond would have won. Marcis professed surprise at Stacy’s irritation, pointing out he and Richmond were not actually teammates, they just shared a sponsor, and no one had told him it was part of his duties to help other Stacy backed cars win. Shortly thereafter, Marcis received notification that despite being the only driver who had won that year carrying Stacy’s colors, JD was withdrawing from sponsoring Dave’s car. The next race on the circuit was at Riverside, and Tim Richmond scored his first win, and the first win for one of Stacy’s team cars that season.

Ironically the win came on the same day Marcis had received notification Stacy was no longer backing him. That race was also the last ride for Benny Parsons in a car flying Stacy's logos. Despite having posted eight Top 10s, and four fourth place finishes, Stacy claimed not to be satisfied with how Benny was running, and pressured team owner Harry Ranier to release him. Buddy Baker assumed driving chores in the Ranier car in Parson’s place. The real shock came that Wednesday when Stacy announced he was no longer going to sponsor Cup points leader Terry Labonte in Billy Hagan’s car. Financial problems continued to build and that fall Ranier removed Stacy’s logos from his cars and announced he was suing JD for being months

behind in his payments. Shortly thereafter, Ron Bouchard’s team did the same. Stacy was down to his team car driven by Tim Richmond and sponsoring Junie Donlavey’s, driven by Jody Ridley. Also about that point, Stacy began moving his shop equipment under the cover of darkness fearing it would be repossessed. With the team’s very future uncertain, Tim Richmond announced he would not be returning to the team in 1983. Tim did leave the struggling operation in style, winning the season finale at Riverside for JD and his cronies. Almost unbelievably, despite the mounting lawsuits, ill will, and financial problems Stacy was back in 1983. As a driver, Stacy selected a 24 year old Arkansas native by the name of Mark Martin. Young and

naïve, Mark Martin was delighted by the opportunity to finally drive a top drawer Cup entry; he sold his shop and all his equipment, and laid off his few employees. After just a hand full or races, including a seventh at Atlanta and a third at Darlington, the Stacy team announced they were firing Martin and putting Morgan Shepherd in the car, leaving Mark out in the cold, with an uncertain future. It would be five years before he found another full time Winston Cup ride with Jack Roush. In 23 starts with JD Stacy’s team Morgan Shepherd posted no wins, but 13 top ten finishes, including a second place at that year’s

Firecracker 400. At the end of the season, JD Stacy folded his team and disappeared back into obscurity. Some of his drivers, notably Dale Earnhardt, Mark Martin and Terry Labonte, were able to recover from the damage his broken promises did to their careers. Others were not. JD Stacy entered the sport of NASCAR racing with lots of money and little in the way of enemies. He left seven years later with very little money and lots of enemies. In the history of NASCAR there have been a great many heroes, noble men, and foresighted prophets but as in any large venture there have also been a few bad apples. Many have said that among the rottenest fruits ever to disgrace the annals of NASCAR’s history is one Jim “JD” Stacy.

Fantasy NASCAR Racing

JAMES D "J D" STACY

03/27/1930 - 10/12/2016