Team Menard was an auto racing team that competed in the Indianapolis 500, CART, Indy Racing League, NASCAR Cup Series, and NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series. The team was owned by Menards founder, John Menard Jr. Founded in 1980 to compete in CART, from 1991 to 1996 they modified their own Buick V6 engines for racing. This combination won pole for the 500 with Scott Brayton in 1995 and 1996; Tony Stewart used this combination for the first part of his 1996-1997 IRL Championship. With more stringent regulations, the team continued to shine winning the 1999 championship with Greg Ray. However, with the influx of former CART teams to the IRL in the early 2000s, Team Menard struggled to compete for wins and the team merged in 2004 with Panther Racing, although their car continued to carry Menard's colors and be driven first by Mark Taylor, who was then replaced by Townsend Bell. In 2005, Menard's was an associate sponsor for another team and the former Menard No. 2 car driven by Tomáš Enge carried no identification to its Menard lineage. For 2006, the No. 2 car was dropped by Panther and all vestiges of the once dominant Team Menard lineage disappeared until the spring of 2008 when Menards became a primary sponsor on the No. 20 Vision Racing Dallara driven by Ed Carpenter in the IndyCar Series.

Team Menard
Owner(s)John Menard Jr.
BaseIndianapolis, Indiana
SeriesNASCAR Cup Series
NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series
CART World Series
IRL IndyCar Series
ManufacturerFord
Opened1999 (NASCAR)
1980 (CART)
Closed2001 (NASCAR)
2004 (IRL)
Career
Drivers' Championships2 (1996-1997, 1999 IRL)
Race victories10

The Team Menard name has also been used to refer to their sponsoring of various drivers throughout motorsports, including Paul Menard, Ryan Blaney, Austin Cindric, Brandon Jones and Matt Crafton in NASCAR, Simon Pagenaud in IndyCar and Frank Kimmel in ARCA, while TeamMenard.com was a portal to information on these drivers and their sponsor. However, Team Menard is not the name of any of their race teams and none of those cars are owned by John Menard. The URL currently redirects to the Menards home page.

Menard also had a NASCAR team running the No. 13 car. Robby Gordon ran 17 races in 2000, with P.J. Jones running an additional race.

Drivers

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CART (1980-1995)

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IRL/IndyCar Series (1996-2003)

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NASCAR Cup Series

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NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series (2000-2001)

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Complete racing results

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PPG CART Indycar World Series results

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(key)

Year Chassis Engine Tyres Drivers No. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17
1980 ONT INDY MIL POC MDO MCH WGL MIL ONT MCH MXC PHX
Lightning Mk 1/77 Offy Drake L4t G   Herm Johnson 28 14 DNQ 17 11 11 13 13 14 8
1981 PHX MIL ATL MCH RIV MIL MCH WGL MXC PHX
Lightning Mk 1/77 Chevrolet V8 G   Herm Johnson 28 22 22 17 33 7 13
Eagle 81 9 8 9
1982 PHX ATL MIL CLE MCH MIL POC RIV ROA MCH PHX
Eagle 81 Chevrolet V8 G   Herm Johnson 28 19 6 23 13 34 16 22 17
1983 ATL INDY MIL CLE MCH ROA POC RIV MDO MCH CPL LAG PHX
Eagle 81 Chevrolet V8 G   Herm Johnson 27 DNQ
1984 LBH PHX INDY MIL POR MEA CLE MCH ROA POC MDO SAN MCH PHX LAG CPL
March 84C Cosworth DFX V8t G   Herm Johnson 28 8 18
1985 LBH INDY MIL POR MEA CLE MCH ROA POC MDO SAN MCH LAG PHX MIA
March 85C Cosworth DFX V8t G   Herm Johnson 8 DNQ
1986 PHX LBH INDY MIL POR MEA CLE TOR MCH POC MDO SAN MCH ROA LAG PHX MIA
March 86C Cosworth DFX V8t G   Herm Johnson 28 DNQ
  Derek Daly DNQ
1989 PHX LBH INDY MIL DET POR CLE MEA TOR MCH POC MDO ROA NAZ LAG
Lola T89/00 Cosworth DFX V8t G   Johnny Rutherford 98 DNQ
1990 PHX LBH INDY MIL DET POR CLE MEA TOR MCH DEN VAN MDO ROA NAZ LAG
Lola T89/00 Buick 3300 V6t G   Jim Crawford 15 15
51 19
  Gary Bettenhausen 31
  Steve Barclay DNQ
1991 SFR LBH PHX INDY MIL DET POR CLE MEA TOR MCH DEN VAN MDO ROA NAZ LAG
Lola T91/00 Buick 3300 V6t G   Gary Bettenhausen 51 22
  Kevin Cogan 9 29
Lola T89/00   Tom Sneva 59 DNQ
1992 SFR PHX LBH INDY DET POR MIL NHA TOR MCH CLE ROA VAN MDO NAZ LAG
Lola T92/00 Buick 3300 V6t G   Al Unser 27 3
  Nelson Piquet DNQ
  Gary Bettenhausen 51 17
Lola T91/00   Tom Sneva 59 31
  Rocky Moran DNQ
1993 SFR PHX LBH INDY MIL DET POR CLE TOR MCH NHA ROA VAN MDO NAZ LAG
Lola T93/00 Menard V6t G   Geoff Brabham 27 26
  Gary Bettenhausen 51 17
  Nelson Piquet (R) 77 32
Lola T92/00 Buick 3300 V6t   Eddie Cheever 59 16
1994 SFR PHX LBH INDY MIL DET POR CLE TOR MCH MDO NHA VAN ROA NAZ LAG
Lola T93/00 Menard V6t G   Eddie Cheever 27 8
  Scott Brayton 59 20
  Geoff Brabham DNQ
1995 MIA SFR PHX LBH NAZ INDY MIL DET POR ROA TOR CLE MCH MDO NHA VAN LAG
Lola T95/00 Menard V6t G   Arie Luyendyk 40 7
  Scott Brayton 60 17
  Buddy Lazier 80 27
Source:[1]

IRL IndyCar Series results

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(key) (Results in bold indicate pole position; results in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year Chassis Engine Tyres Drivers No. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16
1996 WDW PHX INDY
Lola T95/00 Menard V6t G
F
  Scott Brayton 2 15 18 DNS
  Eddie Cheever 3 10 Wth 11
  Tony Stewart 20 2 11 24
F   Mark Dismore 30 19
  Danny Ongais 32 7
1996–97 NHA LSV WDW PHX INDY TXS PPIR CLT NHA LSV
Lola T95/00 Menard V6t F   Mark Dismore 3 20 17
  Tony Stewart 2 12* 21
G-Force GF01 Oldsmobile Aurora V8 10* 2* 5* 5* 1* 7* 14 11
  Robbie Buhl 3 18 8 16 1 3
1998 WDW PHX INDY TXS NHA DOV CLT PPIR ATL TXS LSV
Dallara IR8 Oldsmobile Aurora V8 F   Tony Stewart 1 33 14 1* 3 20* 14
G-Force GF01B 1* 2* 8 21 5
  Robbie Buhl 3 20 11
Dallara IR8 12 31 6 10 2 7 7
1999 WDW PHX CLT INDY TXS PPIR ATL DOV PPIR LSV TXS
Dallara IR9 Oldsmobile Aurora V8 F   Greg Ray 2 21 21 C1 21 2* 1* 23 1 1* 21 3
  Robby Gordon 32 4
2000 WDW PHX LSV INDY TXS PPIR ATL KTY TXS
Dallara IR-00 Oldsmobile Aurora V8 F   Greg Ray 1 17 19 9 33 15 20 1* 7 26
  Robby Gordon 32 6
2001 PHX HMS ATL INDY TXS PPIR RIR KAN NSH KTY GAT CHI TXS
Dallara IR-01 Oldsmobile Aurora V8 F   Greg Ray 2 22 21 1* 17 11* 18 DNS 14 18 13
  Jaques Lazier 16 1* 20
2002 HMS PHX FON NAZ INDY TXS PPIR RIR KAN NSH MCH KTY GAT CHI TXS
Dallara IR-02 Chevrolet Indy V8 F   Jaques Lazier 2 18 6 2 20
  P. J. Jones DNQ
  Raul Boesel 21 13
  Mark Dismore 11 11 20 18 18
  Vítor Meira 15 9 8 3
  Robby Gordon 31 8
2003 HMS PHX MOT INDY TXS PPIR RIR KAN NSH MCH GAT KTY NAZ CHI FON TXS
Dallara IR-03 Chevrolet Indy V8 F   Jaques Lazier 2 20 6 12 29 DNS
  Richie Hearn 14
  Vítor Meira 12 16 22 20 19 21 9 DNS 11 4
22 12
Sources:[1][2]
  1. ^ The 1999 VisionAire 500K at Charlotte was cancelled after 79 laps due to spectator fatalities.[3]

References

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  1. ^ a b "Team Menard". Motor Sport. Retrieved April 11, 2024.
  2. ^ "Team Menard Results". Motorsport Stats. Retrieved April 11, 2024.
  3. ^ Macenka, Joe (May 2, 1999). "Car Crash Debris Kills Three Spectators". The Washington Post. Retrieved April 11, 2024.
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