Triad Motorsports was a motorsports team that competed in the

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 ...

Winston Cup Series The NASCAR Cup Series is the top racing series of the 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, and fro ...

and

ARCA Menards Series The ARCA Menards Series is an American stock car racing, 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 ...

from 1993 to 1999. The team was owned by Jim Wilson. The team's drivers included

Gary Bradberry Gary Arnold Bradberry (born January 27, 1961) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He raced in the NASCAR All-Pro Series, and had top-ten points finishes from 1990 to 1993. After that, Bradberry made the jump to major NASCAR league ...

Billy Standridge William Gerald Standridge (November 27, 1953 – April 12, 2014) was an American stock car racing driver. He was a competitor in the NASCAR Winston Cup Series and Busch Series. Career Born November 27, 1953, Standridge started his racing career i ...

and Randy MacDonald.

NASCAR

The team debuted the No. 78 Ford Thunderbird in 1993 at the

First Union 400 The First Union 400 was a NASCAR Winston Cup Series stock car racing, stock car race held annually from 1951 to 1996 at the North Wilkesboro Speedway in Wilkes County, North Carolina. It was the first of two Winston Cup Series races held annuall ...

North Wilkesboro Speedway North Wilkesboro Speedway is a paved oval Oval track racing#Short track, short track in North Wilkesboro, North Carolina. The track has hosted a variety of racing events since its inaugural season of racing in 1947; primarily races sanctioned by ...

with driver Jay Hedgecock. Hedgecock would miss the race. They would attempt Pocono later that year, again missing the race. Hedgecock would qualify the 78 at the fall Wilkesboro even

Hedgecock would return in 1994, qualifying for both races he attempted.

Pancho Carter Duane Claude Carter Jr. (born June 11, 1950), nicknamed "Pancho," is an American former open-wheel racing driver. Best known for his participation in Championship car racing, he won the pole position for the 1985 Indianapolis 500, and won the M ...

would also attempt three races, qualifying for one. Carter would again attempt three races in 1995, and would once again only make one. Canadian driver Randy MacDonald would join the team in 1996 with limited success. The team did however score its first big sponsorship break, with

country music Country (also called country and western) is a popular music, music genre originating in the southern regions of the United States, both the American South and American southwest, the Southwest. First produced in the 1920s, country music is p ...

band

Diamond Rio Diamond Rio is an American country music band from Nashville, Tennessee. The band consists of Marty Roe (lead vocals, guitar), Jimmy Olander (lead guitar, banjo), Dan Truman (keyboards), Dana Williams (bass guitar, vocals), Micah Schweinsberg ( ...

and

Hanes Hanes (founded in 1900) and Hanes Her Way (founded in 1985) is an American clothing brand headquartered in Winston-Salem. Founded in 1900 as Shamrock Knitting Mills by John Wesley Hanes, the company is owned by Hanes, Inc. History Hanes was f ...

coming aboard. MacDonald had declared for Rookie of the Year, however, success was again limited. MacDonald would attempt 12 races, only qualifying for thre

Following his DNQ at the 1996

Southern 500 The Southern 500, officially known as the Cook Out Southern 500 for sponsorship reasons, is a NASCAR Cup Series stock car race at Darlington Raceway in Darlington, South Carolina, United States. The race distance is and consists of 367 laps. ...

, MacDonald was released in favor of

. Standridge would qualify for three races and was signed for the 1997 seaso

https://www.racing-reference.info/drivdet/standbi01/1996/W] For the first time, Triad would attempt their first full season. The effort would once again prove futile, as Standridge would only qualify for five of the first 17 races. Standridge would leave and re-open his own team. He would be replaced by

, who had been released by

TriStar Motorsports TriStar Motorsports was an American professional stock car racing team that used to compete in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series. The team competed in the NASCAR Winston Cup Series primarily during the early to mid 1990s, suspending racing oper ...

earlier that season. Bradberry would successfully qualify for eight out of 12 races he attempted with the team. At the end of the season, Bradberry was announced to be the team's full time driver for 1998, with sponsorship from Pilot Travel Centers and Flying J. The team's hopes of a successful season began to falter, as Bradberry only timed in with lap of 48.967 at 183 mph in his new Ford Taurus, leaving him 52nd of the 55 drivers entered. The team's former driver Standridge, would qualify 20th in his year old, underfunded, self owned 47 Ford Thunderbird. After starting 21st in his duel, Bradberry came up two spots short of advancing and missed the 500. Bradberry would not qualify until the fourth race of the season at Atlanta, starting 20th. The race, would go extremely bad, as the car only lasted 12 laps, leaving Bradberry and the 78 43rd. The 78 would miss the next two races before qualifying in fine fashion at Texas, starting 10th and finishing 24th. Following two more DNQ's, Bradberry would qualify for Fontana, Charlotte and Dover. Despite this, the team would skip Richmond, and instead return at Michigan, finishing 34th. The team would skip, Pocono, Infineon and New Hampshire, the latter which saw Bradberry take a turn behind the wheel of the ISM Racing Pontiac, known as the "Tobasco Fiasco", finishing 40th after an engine failur

Bradberry and Triad would return at the second Pocono race, missing the show. At the 1998 Brickyard 400, during second round qualifying, Bradberry had a hard crash in turn 2. Team and driver would not make another start until the 1998 Southern 500, finishing 37th. The team would make the final three races of the season, finishing no better than 28th. The team would set eyes in 1999, with Bradberry returning. However, like the previous two seasons, the team would miss the 500. Following three withdrawals and sponsorship problems, owner Jim Wilson had enough, and shut his team down, never to be seen in NASCAR agai

Car No. 78 results

ARCA

Triad would run four ARCA races, all in 1996, two with MacDonald and two with Standridge. MacDonald would score the pole position at the first Pocono race, but would break an oil pump and finish 16th. Standridge's best run came at Charlotte, where he started 3rd and finished 14t

References

*https://us.motorsport.com/nascar-cup/news/no-78-triad-ford-team-in-sponsorship-limbo/951806/ *https://www.racing-reference.info/owner/Jim_Wilson

External links

Owner Jim Wilson's Statistics
{{Triad Motorsports Defunct NASCAR teams ARCA Menards Series teams