Mickey Gibbs (born March 15, 1958) is an American professional

stock car racing Stock car racing is a form of Auto racing, automobile racing run on oval track racing, oval tracks and road courses. It originally used Production vehicle, production-model cars, hence the name "stock car", but is now run using cars specifical ...

driver from

Alabama Alabama ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South, Deep Southern regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gu ...

. Gibbs won races in the ALL PRO Super Series, NASCAR All-American Challenge Series,

American Speed Association The American Speed Association (ASA) is a sanctioning body of motorsports in the United States formed in 1968. The Association was based in Pendleton, Indiana, Pendleton, Indiana, and later in Daytona Beach, Florida. The ASA sanctioned asphalt a ...

, and ARCA ranks, along with the 1983

Snowball Derby The Snowball Derby presented by Bayou Fox Hooters is a 300-lap late model, super late model stock car racing, stock car race held annually at the Five Flags Speedway, a half-mile paved oval track in Pensacola, Florida, Pensacola, Florida, United ...

before reaching the pinnacle of stock car racing, then known as the

NASCAR Winston Cup Series The NASCAR Cup Series is the top racing series of the NASCAR, National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR), the most prestigious stock car racing series in the United States. The series began in 1949 as the Strictly Stock Division, ...

. He is not related to highly successful NASCAR team owner

Joe Gibbs Joseph Jackson Gibbs (born November 25, 1940) is an American auto racing team owner and former American football, football coach. He served as the head coach of the Washington Redskins of the National Football League (NFL) from 1981 Washingto ...

Climbing the Ladder

After making a lone start in the first race of the newly-revamped Budweiser Late Model Sportsman Series, Gibbs was a regular in the ALL PRO Super Series in the early years of the series. He scored his first win in 1983 at the famed Birmingham International Raceway, roughly an hour's drive from his hometown of Glencoe. He ranked 8th in the championship. He also held off former Winston Cup race winner and fellow All PRO regular

Jody Ridley Murphy Jody Ridley (born May 19, 1942) is a former NASCAR driver. He won the 1980 NASCAR Winston Cup Rookie of the Year award and one race at Dover International Speedway the next year, the only Cup victory for Donlavey Racing. His career sta ...

to win that December's Snowball Derby; a race that also featured

Bobby Allison Robert Arthur Allison (December 3, 1937 – November 9, 2024) was an American professional stock car racing driver and owner. Allison was the founder of the Alabama Gang, a group of drivers based in Hueytown, Alabama, where there were abundant ...

Rusty Wallace Russell "Rusty" William Wallace Jr. (born August 14, 1956) is an American former NASCAR racing driver. He won the 1984 NASCAR Cup series NASCAR Rookie of the Year, Rookie of the Year and the 1989 NASCAR Winston Cup Series, 1989 NASCAR Winston Cup ...

, and

Gary Balough Gary Balough (born September 16, 1947) is a retired American stock car racing driver who competed from 1962 to 2001. Balough has won more than 1000 races throughout his short-track career and has accumulated more than 20 wins in the All-Pro divis ...

among other contemporary and future stars. In 1985, Gibbs moved to the All-American Challenge Series. He would win 5 races and place 4th in the points, behind Stanley Smith, Ronnie Sanders, and champion Dave Mader III. He would score another win in 1986, while not running all the races. Gibbs had a strong 1987 ALL PRO Series campaign. He won 6 races, including 2 more at BIR (one of which also counted towards the ASA championship), but was not as consistent as champion Jody Ridley or 2nd place

Steve Grissom Steven Paul Grissom (born June 26, 1963) is an American former stock car racing driver. He was the 1993 Busch Series champion and has eleven Busch wins in 185 starts. Grissom turned down a scholarship to play quarterback at the University of Alab ...

. Gibbs was 3rd on the season. 1988 saw Gibbs in a brighter spotlight after finding success in the ARCA Permatex SuperCar Series. Holding off wiley veteran racers Red Farmer and

Charlie Glotzbach Charles Lee Glotzbach (June 19, 1938 – April 23, 2021) was an American Auto Racing Club of America, ARCA and NASCAR Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series, Winston Cup Series driver. He holds one of the oldest race records in NASCAR. He has the recor ...

, Gibbs won the

ARCA 200 Stock car races in the ARCA Menards Series has been held at Daytona International Speedway as part of Speedweeks since 1964. The race, formally known as Daytona ARCA 200, is currently known for sponsorship reasons as the Chili's Ride the 'Dente ...

at Daytona. He made 5 Winston Cup starts that year before winning the ARCA season finale at

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

, with a dominant performance that saw him defeat newly-crowned Busch Grand National champion

Tommy Ellis Tommy Ellis (born August 8, 1947) is an American former stock car racing driver who competed in the 1970s and 1980s. Often referred to as "Terrible" Tommy Ellis for his rough tactics, he won the last national late model sportsman championship in 1 ...

and new ARCA champ Tracy Leslie.

Winston Cup Career

After winning the ARCA 200 at Daytona, Gibbs failed to qualify for the

Daytona 500 The Daytona 500 is a NASCAR Cup Series motor race held annually at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida. It is the first of two Cup races held every year at Daytona, the second being the Coke Zero Sugar 400, and one of three ...

. His first Winston Cup start came at Rockingham, driving for his father Don Gibbs. He started 25th, but was relegated to 35th because of an engine failure just before halfway in the

Goodwrench 500 The Subway 400 was the second race of the NASCAR Winston Cup Series season until 2004, held a week after the Daytona 500. This 400-mile (644 km) annual race was sponsored by Subway and was held at North Carolina Speedway (''The Rock'') sin ...

. He would miss the field again at Atlanta, but led briefly under caution at Talladega (less than an hour from Glencoe). His only finish among his 5 starts was at

Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...

, where he came home 31st. Gibbs began the 1989 season driving for

Winkle Motorsports Winkle may refer to: Snails * Common periwinkle, an edible marine intertidal species found in Europe and North America * Any species within the family Littorinidae, the winkles, small intertidal sea snails * Some edible species of nerites which ...

. After missing the

again, he took the green flag in

Buddy Arrington Buddy Rogers Arrington (July 26, 1938 – August 2, 2022) was an American NASCAR Winston Cup Series driver and owner. Racing career Arrington has the second-most starts without a win, and finished in the top 10 of NASCAR points twice; in 1 ...

's car. Though he finished 20th at Rockingham for Winkle, he sat a disappointing 31st in points after Atlanta and was released from the team. Following his release from Winkle, he raced for both Dingman Brothers Racing and his father's team. The father-son duo's 1990 season began by missing

Daytona Daytona may refer to: Locations * Daytona Beach, Florida * Daytona Beach Shores, Florida * South Daytona, Florida * The Daytona Beach metropolitan area * Halifax area, also known as Daytona, the region around Daytona Beach Motor racing * Dayto ...

, but that was followed by respectable finishes of 19th at

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, a city in the United States * Richmond, London, a town in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, England * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town ...

and 15th at Rockingham. In an abbreviated season, Gibbs attempted 12 races and started 9.

1991 It was the final year of the Cold War, which had begun in 1947. During the year, the Soviet Union Dissolution of the Soviet Union, collapsed, leaving Post-soviet states, fifteen sovereign republics and the Commonwealth of Independent State ...

appeared to provide the break Gibbs needed. He signed with

Team III Racing A team is a group of individuals (human or non-human) working together to achieve their goal. As defined by Professor Leigh Thompson of the Kellogg School of Management, " team is a group of people who are interdependent with respect to info ...

, owned by Sam McMahon III, for the full season, with championship-winning crew chief

Barry Dodson Barry Dodson (June 4, 1953 – December 20, 2017) was an American stock car crew chief. He was the crew chief for Rusty Wallace's 1989 NASCAR Winston Cup Series championship for Blue Max Racing. He pitted for several drivers who won a combined 19 ...

. 17th at

yielded the biggest payday of his career (nearly $25,000). Gibbs also came home 19th at Talladega, and a career-best 14th at Sears Point and Michigan. Though he sat a respectable 25th in points after the

Pepsi 400 The Coke Zero Sugar 400 is an annual NASCAR Cup Series stock car race at Daytona International Speedway. First held in 1959, the event consists of 160 laps, , and is the second of two major stock car events held at Daytona on the Cup Series ci ...

at Daytona, he and the unsponsored team parted ways. He was replaced by

Dick Trickle Richard Leroy Trickle (October 27, 1941 – May 16, 2013) was an American race car driver. He raced for decades around the short tracks of Wisconsin, winning many championships along the way. Trickle competed in the ASA, ARTGO, ARCA, All ...

and others to complete the season. Gibbs would not return to the Winston Cup Series.

Final Races and Summary

Gibbs last known racing exploits came in a return to ARCA, driving for Bobby Jones in 1992. He demonstrated he still had the ability to win, leading 121 of 156 laps in a victory at

Texas World Speedway Texas World Speedway (TWS) was a motorsport venue located in College Station, Texas. The track was one of only eight superspeedways of or greater in the United States used for racing, the others being Indianapolis, Daytona, Pocono, Talladega ...

. His last start came at Atlanta, but ended in a crash after halfway. Gibbs competed in 36 Winston Cup races between 1988 and 1991, and one Budweiser Late Model Sportsman Series race. His success in the lower ranks included 6 wins in the All-American Challenge Series, 7 ALL PRO Series wins (one of which doubled as an ASA win), 3 ARCA wins (including the 1988 Daytona 200), and the 1983 Snowball Derby.

Motorsports career results

NASCAR

( key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. ''Italics'' – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

Winston Cup Series

=Daytona 500

References

External links

* {{Arrington Racing 1958 births Living people American Speed Association drivers ARCA Menards Series drivers NASCAR drivers Racing drivers from Alabama