Precision Products Racing (PPR) was a

NASCAR The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC (NASCAR) is an American auto racing sanctioning and operating company that is best known for stock car racing. It is considered to be one of the top ranked motorsports organizations in ...

team that competed regularly from 1990 to 1998. It was owned by Richard Jackson and based in

Asheville, North Carolina Asheville ( ) is a city in Buncombe County, North Carolina, United States. Located at the confluence of the French Broad River, French Broad and Swannanoa River, Swannanoa rivers, it is the county seat of Buncombe County. It is the most populou ...

. The team officially closed after the 2001 season following a part-time schedule in the

ARCA RE/MAX Series The ARCA Menards Series is an American stock car series, the premier division of the Automobile Racing Club of America (ARCA). It is considered a minor, semi-professional league of stock car racing, used as a feeder series into the three national ...

Winston Cup

Precision Products Racing was formed by Jackson in

1990 Important events of 1990 include the Reunification of Germany and the unification of Yemen, the formal beginning of the Human Genome Project (finished in 2003), the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope, the separation of Namibia from South ...

, following his departure from a team he co-owned with his brother Leo. The team debuted at the

1990 Daytona 500 The 1990 Daytona 500 was the first stock car race of the 1990 NASCAR Winston Cup Series season and the 32nd iteration of the event. The race was held on Sunday, February 18, 1990, in Daytona Beach, Florida at Daytona International Speedway, a ...

with the #1 Skoal Classic Oldsmobile driven by

Terry Labonte Terrance Lee Labonte (born November 16, 1956), nicknamed "Texas Terry" or "the Iceman", is an American former stock car racing, stock car driver. He raced from 1978 to 2014 in the former NASCAR Winston Cup and Sprint Cup Series (now called the NAS ...

. In the team's debut, Labonte led seven laps and finished 2nd. Labonte would go on to have eight additional top-ten finishes and ended the season fifteenth in the overall standings. PPR also fielded a second car on the Series' two

road course Road racing is a North American term to describe motorsport racing held on a paved road surface. The races can be held on a closed circuit—generally, a purpose-built racing facility—or on a street circuit that uses temporarily closed publi ...

races, the #0 driven by Irv Hoerr, who finished in the top-ten on both occasions. Labonte departed the team at season's end and was replaced by

Rick Mast Richard Kenneth Mast (born March 4, 1957) is an American former NASCAR driver. He competed in both the Winston Cup and Busch Series, retiring in 2002. He holds a business administration degree from Blue Ridge Community College. Early career M ...

for

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 ...

. His best finish that season was a 4th at the Daytona 500, and he picked up two additional top-ten finishes, earning a twenty-first place points finish. In

1992 1992 was designated as International Space Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 – Boutros Boutros-Ghali of Egypt replaces Javier Pérez de Cuéllar of Peru as United Nations Secretary-General. * January 6 ** The Republ ...

, Mast had one top-ten finish and also won the team's first

pole position In a motorsports race, the pole position is usually the best and "statistically the most advantageous" starting position on the track. The pole position is usually earned by the driver with the best qualifying times in the trials before the ra ...

at the season-ending Hooters 500. He was eliminated from competition after being involved in a Lap 1 wreck with

Brett Bodine Brett Elias Bodine III (born January 11, 1959) is an American former stock car racing driver, former driver of the pace car in Cup Series events, and current NASCAR employee. Brett is the younger brother of 1986 Daytona 500 winner Geoff Bodine a ...

and

Hut Stricklin Waymond Lane "Hut" Stricklin Jr. (born June 24, 1961) is an American former professional stock car racing driver. Racing career Stricklin grew up in Calera, Alabama. He married Pam Allison, the daughter of NASCAR legend Donnie Allison after they ...

. PPR also fielded a second car for the final time in its history at Sears Point Raceway, where Hoerr finished 41st following an engine failure. The team would switch to Ford in 1993, with Mast earning five top-ten finishes, his best finish being a 5th at

Bristol Motor Speedway Bristol Motor Speedway (formerly known as the Bristol International Raceway from 1978 to 1996 and as the Bristol International Speedway from 1961 to 1978) is a oval Oval track racing#Short track, short track in Bristol, Tennessee. The track ha ...

. Mast and PPR had a banner year in the

1994 NASCAR Winston Cup Series file:Jeff Burton Pocono June 98.jpeg, Jeff Burton, the 1994 NASCAR Rookie of the Year. The 1994 NASCAR Winston Cup Series was the 46th season of NASCAR NASCAR Cup Series, professional stock car racing in the United States and the 23rd modern ...

, finishing in the top-ten a career-high ten times, and finishing 2nd at

Rockingham Speedway Rockingham Speedway and Entertainment Complex (formerly known as North Carolina Speedway from 1998 to 2007 and North Carolina Motor Speedway from 1965 to 1996) is a D-shaped oval track in Rockingham, North Carolina, United States. The track h ...

, losing narrowly to

Dale Earnhardt Ralph Dale Earnhardt (; April 29, 1951February 18, 2001) was an American professional Stock car racing, stock car driver and racing team owner, who raced from 1975 to 2001 in the former NASCAR Winston Cup Series (now called the NASCAR Cup Serie ...

. Mast also won his second career pole at

Indianapolis Motor Speedway The Indianapolis Motor Speedway is a motor racing circuit located in Speedway, Indiana, United States, an enclave suburb of Indianapolis, Indiana. It is the home of the Indianapolis 500 and the Brickyard 400, and and formerly the home of the U ...

for the inaugural Brickyard 400, the first time

stock cars 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 ...

ran at the historic speedway. PPR ended the season 18th in the championship standings. The team only finished in the top-ten 3 times in

1995 1995 was designated as: * United Nations Year for Tolerance * World Year of Peoples' Commemoration of the Victims of the Second World War This was the first year that the Internet was entirely privatized, with the United States government ...

, earning one pole at Dover Downs International Speedway and dropping to 21st in points. In

1996 1996 was designated as: * International Year for the Eradication of Poverty Events January * January 8 – A Zairean cargo plane crashes into a crowded market in the center of the capital city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo ...

, PPR began fielding Pontiacs for Mast and also signed

Hooters Hooters is the registered trademark used by two American restaurant chains: Hooters, Inc., based in Clearwater, Florida, and Hooters of America, Inc. based in Atlanta, Georgia, and owned by the private investment firm Nord Bay Capital (with Tr ...

as a primary sponsor, replacing Skoal. In his final season with the team, Mast had five top-ten finishes, three of which came in a row, and moved back up to 18th in the standings. Both he and Hooters left the team at season's end.

Morgan Shepherd Clay Morgan Shepherd (born October 12, 1941) is an American former professional stock car racing driver and current team owner. He last competed part-time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, driving the No. 89 Chevrolet Camaro for Shepherd Racing Vent ...

was signed as driver for

1997 Events January * January 1 – The Emergency Alert System is introduced in the United States. * January 11 – Turkey threatens Cyprus on account of a deal to buy Russian S-300 missiles, prompting the Cypriot Missile Crisis. * January 1 ...

with Delco Remy America and Crusin' America Phone Cards as the initial sponsors. Although Shepherd had two top-tens in the first four races, the team quickly struggled and Shepherd left for Jasper Motorsports fourteen races into the season, citing concerns over the team's financial situation, during which time

R+L Carriers R, or r, is the eighteenth letter of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''ar'' (pronounced ), plural ''ars''. The lette ...

joined as permanent primary sponsor for the #1 car. He was replaced by rookie driver and team spotter Jerry Nadeau, who ran five races with a best finish of thirtieth before leaving the team. After failing to qualify for the 1997 Brickyard 400 with

Mike Wallace Myron Leon Wallace (May 9, 1918 – April 7, 2012) was an American journalist, game show host, actor, and media personality. Known for his investigative journalism, he interviewed a wide range of prominent newsmakers during his seven-decade car ...

, PPR's chassis specialist

Lance Hooper Lance Allen Hooper (born June 1, 1967) is an American former race car driver and crew chief in NASCAR as well as several touring divisions. Hooper attended his first race when he was just two weeks old, and also came from a long line of racing c ...

took over as driver for the next 6 races, failing to qualify at New Hampshire and earning a best finish of 24th twice. Shepherd returned for the last part of the season, missing the field twice and finishing no higher than 12th. For

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for Lunar water, frozen water, in soil i ...

, Jackson swapped numbers with Dale Earnhardt, Inc. (DEI), with DEI getting car number 1 and Jackson car number 14. PPR attempted the

1998 Daytona 500 The 1998 Daytona 500, the 40th running of the Daytona 500, event, was held on February 15 at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida as the first race of the 1998 NASCAR Winston Cup Series, 1998 NASCAR Winston Cup season. It wa ...

with Loy Allen Jr. with Delco Remy sponsoring, but failed to qualify following an accident in the team's qualifying race. Spending most of the season on the team's NASCAR Busch Grand National Series operation, Jackson only attempted one more Winston Cup race, the

Brickyard 400 The Brickyard 400 is an annual NASCAR Cup Series points race held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana, United States. The inaugural race was held in 1994 and was the first race other than the Indianapolis 500 to be held at the ...

with Hooper, but again did not qualify. This was Jackson's last involvement with Winston Cup until

2001 The year's most prominent event was the September 11 attacks against the United States by al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror. The United States led a Participan ...

, when he served as the crew chief for Hooper's #47 J. J. Baker Custom Homes Ford, owned by Dark Horse Motorsports. The team qualified for one of the four races it attempted over the next two years.

Car No. 1 results

Busch Series

Jackson's first involvement in NASCAR came in the

1982 NASCAR Busch Series The inaugural NASCAR Budweiser Late Model Sportsman Series began on Saturday, February 13 and ended on Saturday, October 31. Jack Ingram, driving as an owner-driver, won the championship at season's end. Teams and drivers Schedule Schedul ...

when he fielded an entry for his daughter

Lisa Lisa or LISA may refer to: People People with the mononym * Lisa (Japanese musician, born 1974), stylized "LISA" * Lisa, stagename of Japanese singer Lisa Komine (born 1978) * Lisa (South Korean singer) (born 1980) * Lisa (Japanese musician, b ...

. She ran at Asheville Speedway in her only career start, finishing 17th. PPR joined the Busch Series on a part-time basis in

ten years later, when it fielded the #0 Skoal Classic/ Majik Mart Oldsmobile for Mast, who had two sixth-place finishes and three overall top-tens out of eleven starts. Mast ran five times for PPR's Busch team in

1993 The United Nations General Assembly, General Assembly of the United Nations designated 1993 as: * International Year for the World's Indigenous People The year 1993 in the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands had only 364 days, since its ...

, earning a pole and three top-ten finishes. In addition,

Tommy Houston Tommy Houston (born January 29, 1945) is a retired NASCAR Busch Series driver. Over his career, Houston and Jack Ingram became known as the pair of journeymen drivers that helped that series grow throughout the 1980s and early 1990s. Houston w ...

made one start for the team at

Nazareth Speedway Nazareth Speedway was an auto racing facility in Lower Nazareth Township, Pennsylvania, Lower Nazareth Township in the Lehigh Valley region of eastern Pennsylvania, which operated from 1910 to 2004. The racing facility operated in two distinct co ...

, and Robert Pressley finished the season for Jackson following his release from Alliance Motorsports, finishing in the top-ten twice. In 1998, Jackson chose to move his team down to the Busch Series permanently after being unable to find regular sponsorship for his Cup team, fielding the #23

World Championship Wrestling World Championship Wrestling (WCW) was an American professional wrestling promotion founded by Ted Turner in 1988, after Turner Broadcasting System, through a subsidiary named Universal Wrestling Corporation, purchased the assets of National W ...

Pontiac for Hooper. Running a part-time schedule, Hooper had a 2nd-place qualifying effort at Richmond, but did not finish higher than 18th that year. The team suspended its NASCAR operations after the season.

ARCA

PPR made its debut in the ARCA Bondo/Mar-Hyde Series in 1997, fielding the #01 Precision Products/Bussman Pontiac for Nadeau. Running two consecutive races at

Charlotte Motor Speedway Charlotte Motor Speedway (known as Lowe's Motor Speedway from 1999 to 2009 due to sponsorship reasons) is a quad-oval Oval track racing#Intermediate, intermediate speedway in Concord, North Carolina. It has hosted various major races since it ...

, Nadeau finished fourth and second respectively. The team returned to the series in 1999, initially with the #47 Lucas Oil Pontiac for Hooper, who had two top-ten finishes. Later in the season, PPR fielded the #90 Invincible Sportswear Ford for IRL driver Jon Herb at the schedule's two dirt tracks (

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...

and Du Quoin State Fairgrounds), but Herb finished well off the lead lap both times, and failed to qualify for his first asphalt attempt at Atlanta. Jackson and Herb returned to

Automobile Racing Club of America The Automobile Racing Club of America (ARCA) is an auto racing sanctioning body in the United States, founded in 1953 by John Marcum. A subsidiary of NASCAR since 2018, the current president of ARCA is Ron Drager, who took over the position i ...

(ARCA) in 2000 on a more regular basis in the #47 car with Invincible Sportswear and WorldBestBuy.com sponsoring. Herb had nine top-twenty finishes, his best overall standing being eleventh on three separate races. PPR's final race came at Daytona in 2001, when Herb crashed after 29 laps and finished 35th.

References

{{reflist

External links

Richard Jackson Ownership statistics
1990 establishments in North Carolina 2001 disestablishments in North Carolina American auto racing teams Defunct NASCAR teams Defunct companies based in North Carolina Auto racing teams disestablished in 2001 Auto racing teams established in 1990