M. C. Anderson Racing
 | |
| Owner(s) | M.C. Anderson |
|---|---|
| Base | Savannah, Georgia |
| Series | Winston Cup |
| Race drivers | Sam Sommers, Buddy Baker, Benny Parsons, Marty Robbins, Cale Yarborough |
| Sponsors | Valvoline Melling Tool Company, U.S. Army |
| Manufacturer | Buick, Chevrolet, Oldsmobile |
| Opened | 1976 |
| Closed | 1893 |
| Career | |
| Debut | 1976 World 600 (Charlotte) |
| Latest race | 1982 Atlanta Journal 500 (Atlanta) |
| Drivers' Championships | 0 |
| Race victories | 10 |
M.C. Anderson Racing is a former NASCAR Winston Cup Series race team owned by Morgan Cuyler "M.C." Anderson, who made his fortune in the construction business. The team ran out of Savannah, Georgia. Known for being in NASCAR for a short time, the team however was one of the more dominant teams in the series in the late 1970's and early 1980's. After the 1982 season, Anderson sold his team to Texan drag racer, Raymond Beadle to start Blue Max Racing. Some driver of M.C. Anderson Racing include Buddy Baker, Benny Parsons, and Cale Yarborough.
History
[edit]Car No. 27 History
[edit]The team first appeared in 1976 at the World 600 with Georgian driver Sam Sommers who was a short track ace, however the larger style of tracks that NASCAR was trending to at the time was not for his suiting. After the 1977 season, Anderson recruited Buddy Baker to drive the 27 car in 1978 on a partial basis before going all in on 1979. The team also recruited engine builder and crew chief David Ifft to lead the calls on the pit box. Baker drove for the team in 19 races in 1978, however the season was riddled with attrition with 12 DNF's. However the other races he finished, he placed in the Top 10 with a best finish of second at Talladega and a third at Dover. He was leading the Daytona 500 after leading a race high 76 laps, with ten to go with a big gap over second place Bobby Allison, Baker blew up and dropped out of the race, finishing 196 of 200 laps. After a season where durability issues plagued Baker despite being a known hard nosed racer in those days, he left the team to go to Ranier-Lundy Racing.
After a small search was conducted, Benny Parsons, the 1973 Champion was recruited to drive the 27 car in 1979. His gentle driving style resulted in more success with the team as they went full time as planned in 1979, they won their first race as a team at Benny's home track at North Wilkesboro and rounded up the season with a win at Ontario in California. At the Daytona 500, the team taped together a television camera inside the cockpit of the race car to deliver a live in-car shot of the races, this was the first time in NASCAR history where a team transmitted to live television, in this case for CBS. The team would finish fifth in the standings. In 1980, the group would run it back again and would come with a financial boost in the case of Michigan businessman Harry Melling. He was a self made businessman who made oil pumps for the Ford Motor Company and wanted to find ways into advertisement and found his way to Benny Parsons, who had Michigan roots as he lived in Detroit for a time as a taxi-cab driver. The 1980 season would be the most successful year together as they won three times, at Charlotte, Michigan, and the last NASCAR race in Ontario to close out the year. The team finished third in points, however Junior Johnson & Associates driver Cale Yarborough left the team to go part time racing to spend more time at home with his family. M.C. seeing an opportunity to get a legend, brought Yarborough over. Along with the move, Valvoline agreed to sponsor the team as well. The move meant that Anderson would have to go back to part time.
The Yarborough and Anderson pairing was a successful one, winning Atlanta and the summer race at Daytona together in 1981 and winning Rockingham, Michigan, and the Southern 500 at Yarborough's home track of Darlington, the last of his wins at the track. During the 1982 season, crew chief Tim Brewer came along to lead the team where Ifft moved to a managerial position with the team. However the move was short lived as tensions grew within the shop. Anderson had desired to go back full time racing with Yarborough in 1983, Yarborough was insistent of not driving on a full time basis again as he desired to be at home in South Carolina more. It came to a boiling point where Anderson entered Yarborough's car at Martinsville in the fall and Cale refused to drive the car. Anderson would leave his name on the entry sheet until Friday where the team did not show up and withdrew. Yarborough would receive an offer to drive for Rainier-Lundy in 1983 to remain part time. Disgusted, Anderson would announce he would be selling off his team at the end of 1982. The team would be bought by drag racer Raymond Beadle who ran the team the next year as Blue Max Racing.[1]
M.C. Anderson would later die on May 6, 1999 at the age of 62. A bridge carrying Interstate 95 outside of Savannah was named after him in February of 2000.[2]
Motorsports career results
[edit]NASCAR
[edit](key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)
Winston Cup Series
[edit]| NASCAR Winston Cup Series results | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Driver | No. | Make | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | NWCC | Pts | Ref | ||||||||
| 1976 | Sam Sommers | 27 | Chevy | RSD | DAY | CAR | RCH | BRI | ATL | NWS | DAR | MAR | TAL | NSV | DOV | CLT 24 |
RSD | MCH | DAY DNQ |
NSV | POC | TAL 36 |
MCH | BRI | DAR 30 |
RCH | DOV | MAR | NWS | CLT 36 |
CAR | ATL 9 |
ONT | 52nd | 412 | [3] | ||||||||
| 1977 | RSD | DAY 31 |
RCH | CAR 7 |
ATL 13 |
NWS | DAR 13 |
BRI 15 |
MAR 28 |
TAL 10 |
NSV | DOV | CLT 9 |
RSD | MCH 8 |
DAY 10 |
NSV 24 |
POC 32 |
TAL 26 |
MCH 4 |
BRI 20 |
DAR 29 |
RCH | DOV 10 |
MAR 5 |
CLT 34 |
CAR 17 |
ATL 28 |
ONT 38 |
21st | 2517 | [4] | ||||||||||||
| 1978 | Buddy Baker | 27 | Olds | RSD | DAY 7* |
RCH | ATL 27 |
BRI | TAL 2 |
DAY 37 |
NSV | TAL 28 |
MCH 36 |
BRI | 24th | 2130 | [5] | ||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chevy | CAR 33 |
DAR 6 |
NWS | MAR | DOV 23 |
CLT 7 |
NSV | RSD | MCH 8 |
POC 5 |
DAR 32 |
RCH | DOV 3 |
MAR 26 |
NWS | CLT 34 |
CAR 22 |
ATL 21* |
ONT 4 |
||||||||||||||||||
Daytona 500
[edit]| Year | Driver | Manufacturer | Start | Finish |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1977 | Sam Sommers | Chevrolet | 36 | 31 |
| 1978 | Buddy Baker | Oldsmobile | 31 | 7* |
| 1979 | Benny Parsons | Oldsmobile | 5 | 18 |
| 1980 | Benny Parsons | Oldsmobile | 14 | 5 |
| 1981 | Cale Yarborough | Oldsmobile | 29 | 8 |
| 1982 | Cale Yarborough | Oldsmobile | 3 | 2 |
References
[edit]- ^ Williams, Deborah (1982-11-09). "NASCAR Grand National team owner M.C. Anderson of Garden City, Ga., has agreed to sell part of his racing team to three-time National Hot Rod Association World Champion Raymond Beadle". www.upi.com/. Retrieved 2025-06-17.
- ^ "A RESOLUTION BY THE STATE TRANSPORTATION BOARD OF GEORGIA 2000" (PDF). mydocs.dot.ga.gov. Georgia DOT. 2000-02-17. Retrieved 2025-06-17.
- ^ "Sam Sommers – 1976 NASCAR Winston Cup Results". Racing-Reference. Retrieved June 2, 2019.
- ^ "Sam Sommers – 1977 NASCAR Winston Cup Results". Racing-Reference. Retrieved June 2, 2019.
- ^ "Buddy Baker – 1978 NASCAR Winston Cup Results". Racing-Reference. Retrieved August 11, 2015.
External links
[edit]- M. C. Anderson Racing owner statistics at Racing-Reference