Ricky Bobby

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Revision as of 04:51, 2 May 2009

Ricky Bobby is an American race car driver. Ricky Bobby currently drives the #63 Chevrolet for Andrews/Bobby Motorsports in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series.

Early Career

Ricky Bobby started racing when he was a teenager. He worked on his uncle's race team at a local short track. Bobby raced in five races before he started racing in his own car.

Ricky Bobby started his career in the NASCAR Busch Grand National Series in 1987 as a jack man on the #54 Chevrolet driven by Cale Parsons for Ne Motorsports. In 1989, Ricky Bobby was hired by RD Motorsports to the #84 Chevrolet driven by Terry Miller. In 1990 Bobby was switched to Miller's teammate, Mark Johnson and the #74 Chevrolet.

In 1991, Ricky Bobby was hired by RAM Racing for the #31 Ford driven by Jake Rogers. Partway through the season, Rogers was suffering from the flu and decided to stay out a few races. RAM Racing picked three different drivers to drive the three races and one was Ricky Bobby. Bobby performed the best finishing 10th.

In 1992, Ricky Bobby was hired by RAM Racing to drive the #81 Ford part-time in the Busch Grand National Series. Bobby earned four top fives including one 2nd pace finish.

In 1993, RAM Racing was able to run full time with Ricky Bobby in the Busch Grand National Series. Bobby managed to win two races and six top fives. After his second win, Bobby purchased a share in RAM Ford Lincoln in North Carolina. Ricky Bobby purchased the share from Randy MacAuley who also owned RAM Racing.

Fenwick Motorsports

Bobby got his break in 1994, when he was signed by Darrell Vick Racing to drive the #76 Pontiac in the Winston Cup Series. Bobby managed to score two top fives and six top tens but failed to win a race. In mid 1994, Darrell Vick Racing was purchased by Fenwick Motorsports.

In 1995, Bobby's team switched from Pontiac to Chevrolet to align with Fenwick Motorsports. Bobby managed 2 top fives, and eight top tens but failed to win. At the end of the year, Don MacAuley was hired as Bobby's crew chief.

For 1996, Bobby managed two wins, 6 top fives, and 13 top tens.

For the 1997 season, Wonder Bread came on board as sponsor for Bobby's car and Bobby was switched to the #73 Fenwick team. Bobby's #76 was changed to the #74 and Fenwick Motorsports signed rookie, Cal Naughton Jr. to drive the car. In 1997, Bobby managed to win 4 races, 10 top fives, and managed to win the 1997 Winston Cup Championship.

In 1998, Bobby managed to win 6 races and 21 top tens and won his second championship. Partway through the year, Bobby opened his second dealership, Ricky Bobby Buick GMC in North Carolina.

In 1999, Ricky Bobby was on his way to his third championship. Bobby had already won 2 races when he was involved in a horrific crash midway through 1999. Bobby was sent to a local hospital where he was put in critical condition. By the next week he was put in stable condition. Three months after the accident, Bobby was in good enough condition to go home. Bobby spent the majority of the rest of the year away from the track and in rehab. Bobby was replaced for the 2000 season with Jerry Nelson and Scott Benson Jr.

By 2000, Ricky Bobby was in fair enough condition to race and attended the winter practice for Fenwick Motorsports. However, Bobby only did a few number a laps before quitting practice. By February, Bobby decided to sit out the 2000 season. Ricky Bobby was replaced by Scott Benson Jr. Bobby spent a lot time in 2000 getting used to racing again.

Ricky Bobby was set to race for Fenwick Motorsports in 2001. However, he said he still was not ready in time for the Daytona 500 so he was let go from Fenwick Motorsports. Bobby was determined to race in 2001 however, he could not find a ride. So in mid 2001, Ricky Bobby formed Ricky Bobby Racing. A month later, Ricky Bobby purchased a Ford race car from Robert Yates Racing.

Ricky Bobby made his return at the Fall race at Talladaga. Ricky Bobby managed to qualify 26th in his unsponsored #82 Ford. Bobby was running in the top 15 late in the race when he was caught up in an accident and failed to finish the race.

Ricky Bobby stayed out the next race and announced that he was preparing his own race team for the the next few races and has bought more cars from Robert Yates Racing. However, he only attempted the final race at Homestead-Miami Speedway where he finished 12th.

Ricky Bobby announced that he would attempt to race the full season next year would keep using cars from Robert Yates Racing. The #82 Ford would be sponsored by Minute Maid and Powerade.

Ricky Bobby Racing

For 2002, Ricky Bobby only managed one top five finish at the Spring race at Talladega.

For 2003, Coca-Cola scaled back their sponsorship to a lower number and Procter & Gamble brought sponsorship to the car. In 2003, Bobby managed 3 top fives and 6 top tens. By the end of the year, Bobby was also purchasing cars from Roush Racing. At the end of 2003, it was announced that Ricky Bobby had purchased a small share of RAM Racing which runs in the NASCAR Busch Series. Rumors began that Bobby was going to compete in the Busch Series or Bobby was going to bring RAM Racing up to the Winston Cup Series.

In early 2004, Bobby opened a new race shop in North Carolina to operate Ricky Bobby Racing and RAM Racing will also be run in the same building. Ricky Bobby Racing was also able to get partial sponsorship from Kraft Foods so Ricky Bobby entered a part time second car as the #63 Ford driven by Michael Regan. RBR started building their own cars part way through the year but were still using used cars from other teams. Bobby managed 4 top fives and 8 top tens and finished second at Martinsville. Due to poor finishes Michael Regan left RBR after 2004.

After Regan left Ricky Bobby Racing, Ricky Bobby hired rookie James Young, who was racing at RAM Racing in the Busch Series, as the new part time driver. However, new sponsorship was found, including RAM Ford Lincoln, so the #63 car was run full time. Changes were made at RBR. Bobby moved to the #63 team and James Young began driving the #53 (formerly 82). Most of the sponsorship left RBR at the end of 2005 so RBR was looking for sponsorship. In November, it was announced that Ricky Bobby had purchased more of RAM Racing giving him 50% share with co-owner Randy MacAulay.

Bobby/Flint Racing

RBR started 2006 with partial sponsorship on both cars and was able to find sponsors for most of the races. RBR was doing well despite minor sponsorship problems. Midway through the year, MJF Industries purchased a share of RBR and the name was changed to Bobby/Flint Racing. The deal also filled in the missing sponsors for BFR and Bobby managed 6 top tens but still failed to win a race.

Ricky Bobby started 2007 with even higher expectations. However, the crew at Bobby/Flint Racing had a difficult time with the Car of Tomorrow especially the first COT race where they finished 37th and 40th. The overall performance of Bobby/Flint Racing began to fall around July. Ricky Bobby failed to win a race. Both Minute Maid and Nabisco left Ricky Bobby Racing at the end of 2007. RBR never finished higher than 14th.

By the end of 2007, Ricky Bobby Racing decided to look for a new partner to buy cars from and share information on the COT. Ricky Bobby originally wanted to switch manufacturers to Chevrolet and form a deal with Hendrick Motorsports but a deal could not be made. Bobby eventually decided to a partnership with Kyle Andrews Motorsports and switched manufacturers from Ford To Chevrolet.

For 2008, sponsorship for James Young was MJF Industries and Bobby's sponsorship was several different sponsors including Procter & Gamble, Memorex, and several others. In 2008, the performance of Ricky Bobby Racing improved slightly. However Ricky Bobby had bad luck in the first half of the season with a best finish of 4th at Atlanta. Bobby earned three top five finishes and six top tens. Ricky Bobby failed to win a race and finished 17th in the standings. At the end of 2008, sponsorship was not confirmed and were still looking for sponsorship.

ABM

By the end of 2008, it was announced that Chase Myers would be leaving Kyle Andrews Motorsports and would be raplaced with Cal Naughton Jr. in the #56 Chevrolet.

In early 2009, it was announced that MJF Industries was filing for bankruptcy and would be leaving NASCAR. Kyle Andrews Motorsports purchased MJF Industries' ownership of the team. Bobby/Flint Racing merged with Kyle Andrews Motorsports and formed AB Motorsports. The team will attempt to run a total of four cars. Ricky Bobby will drive the #63 Chevrolet, Scott Miller will drive the #56 Chevrolet formerly driven by Chase Myers, Cal Naughton Jr. will instead drive the #53 Chevrolet formerly driven by James Young, who will move back to the Nationwide Series full-time with RAM Racing, and Justin Andrews will drive the #65 Chevrolet.

Midway trough the year, Ricky Bobby's car was facing sponsorship problems. ABM eventually decided to shut the #63 team down due to lack of sponsors. Ricky Bobby eventually decided to sponsor the 63 car at Darlington with Ricky Bobby GM. However, instead of himself driving the car, Ricky decided to let James Young drive the 63 car for that race. Young did well enough that potential sponsors were found. Bobby and the #63 returned two weeks later to finish in the top 10. It was announced by Ricky Bobby that James Young may return to full time in the Sprint Cup Series driving the #63 Chevrolet.

Personal Life

Ricky Bobby was born in North Carolina to parents Reese and Lucy Bobby. When Bobby was young his parents split up and began living with his mother. In 1994 Ricky Bobby was married and they have two sons.

Movie

In 2006, a movie about Ricky Bobby was released. The movie was called Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby and stars Will Ferrell as Ricky Bobby. Originally, the movie was going to be a documentary about Bobby but the script was changed part way through the making of the movie. There are some differences in the movie and real life.