Innovative Motorsports

Innovative Motorsports

Owner(s)	George DeBidart
Base	Charlotte, North Carolina
Series	Winston Cup, Busch Series, Craftsman Truck Series
Race drivers	Andy Santerre, Mike McLaughlin, Chad Little, Kenny Wallace, Shane Hmiel, Robert Huffman, Hank Parker Jr.
Sponsors	Little Trees, Gould Pumps, Mike's Hard Lemonade, Toyota Tundra
Manufacturer	Chevrolet, Toyota
Opened	1998
Closed	2005
Career
Drivers' Championships	0
Race victories	2

Innovative Motorsports (IMI) ^[1] is a former NASCAR team. It was owned by George DeBidart and began racing in the Busch North Series in the mid-1990s, before moving to the Busch Series in 1998.

Winston Cup

Innovative ran four Cup races during its tenure. Using the No. 98 Chevy purchased from Michael Waltrip Racing, Kenny Wallace ran the Pepsi 400, the Tropicana 400, the Brickyard 400, and the Sirius at the Glen. His best finish was 29th.

Car No. 98 results

Innovative Motorsports No. 98

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	31	32	33	34	35	36	NWCC	Pts
2002	Kenny Wallace	98	Chevy	DAY	CAR	LVS	ATL	DAR	BRI	TEX	MAR	TAL	CAL	RCH	CLT	DOV	POC	MCH	SON	DAY 42	CHI 29	NHA	POC	IND 32	GLN 36	MCH	BRI	DAR	RCH	NHA	DOV	KAN	TAL	CLT	MAR	ATL	CAR	PHO	HOM	54th	240

Busch Series

Car No. 47 history

Innovative debuted on the Busch Circuit at the 1998 NAPA Auto Parts 300. Andy Santerre was the driver of the car, the No. 47 Monro Muffler and Brake Chevrolet Monte Carlo, and finished 25th. Santerre was the driver for the whole season, grabbing two top-tens, a pole at Richmond, and NASCAR Busch Series Rookie of the Year honors. The next season, Santerre suffered a broken leg in a crash at Daytona, and missed half of the year. Elliott Sadler filled in for him, posting two top-ten finishes. Santerre returned and won his first career race at Pikes Peak International Raceway. Santerre struggled making the field, and was released. Hermie Sadler finished the year, his best finish a 22nd at Phoenix.

Sadler took over the car full-time in 2000, as it was renumbered the No. 30 and receiving sponsorship from Little Trees. Sadler struggled making races as well, and would soon be released. Chad Little replaced him, but when his performance didn't improve over Sadler's, Sadler came back to finish the year, and posted a seventh-place run at Pikes Peak.

After the team did not run in 2001, it returned in 2002 as the No. 47 with rookie Shane Hmiel driving with sponsorship from Mike's Hard Lemonade. Hmiel had two poles, eight top-tens and a sixteenth-place points finish, finishing behind Scott Riggs and Johnny Sauter for Rookie of the Year. The team closed after that.

Car No. 47 results

Innovative Motorsports No. 47

NASCAR Busch 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	31	32	33	34	Owners	Pts
1998	Andy Santerre	47	Chevy	DAY 25	CAR 25	LVS 26	NSV 16	DAR 37	BRI 11	TEX 19	HCY 29	TAL 38	NHA 17	NZH 34	CLT DNQ	DOV 37	RCH 43	PPR 22	GLN 12	MLW 23	MYB 13	CAL 34	SBO 15	IRP 29	MCH 36	BRI 16	DAR 20	RCH 10	DOV 38	CLT DNQ	GTY 4	CAR 23	ATL 21	HOM 40				26th	2609
1999				DAY 42														DOV DNQ	SBO DNQ	GLN 30	MLW 13	MYB DNQ	PPR 1	GTY 19	IRP 35		BRI 13	DAR DNQ										31st	2238
	Mike Swaim Jr.				CAR 40
	Elliott Sadler					LVS 7	ATL 42	DAR 35	TEX 42	NSV 16	BRI DNQ	TAL	CAL 5	NHA 15	RCH 35	NZH 12	CLT 28
	Ricky Craven																									MCH DNQ
	Ward Burton																												RCH 32
	Hermie Sadler																													DOV 42	CLT DNQ	CAR DNQ	MEM 23	PHO 22	HOM 30
2000		30		DAY 14	CAR 20	LVS DNQ	ATL DNQ	DAR 41	BRI DNQ												MLW 17	NZH 11	PPR 7	GTY 27	IRP 17	MCH 36		DAR 31		DOV 27		CAR 24	MEM 23	PHO 30	HOM 42			34th	2256
	Chad Little									TEX DNQ		TAL DNQ	CAL 12	RCH DNQ		CLT 31	DOV DNQ
	Philip Morris										NSV DNQ							SBO 28	MYB 36								BRI 40		RCH 42		CLT 32
	Mike Olsen														NHA 26
	Butch Leitzinger																			GLN 2
2002	Shane Hmiel	47	Pontiac	DAY 5							TAL 21										DAY 34																	21st	3416
			Chevy		CAR 36	LVS 42	DAR 19	BRI 10	TEX 26	NSH 19		CAL 23	RCH 21	NHA 4	NZH 19	CLT 31	DOV 33	NSH 9	KEN 19	MLW 6		CHI 23	GTY 26	PPR 24	IRP 39	MCH 25	BRI 24	DAR 29	RCH 28	DOV 10	KAN 14	CLT 10	MEM 11	ATL 20	CAR 8	PHO 41	HOM 16
2003	Regan Smith			DAY	CAR	LVS	DAR	BRI	TEX	TAL	NSH	CAL	RCH	GTY	NZH	CLT	DOV	NSH	KEN	MLW	DAY	CHI	NHA	PPR 40	IRP	MCH	BRI	DAR	RCH	DOV	KAN	CLT	MEM	ATL	PHO	CAR	HOM	121st	0

Car No. 48 history

The second Innovative car made its debut in 2000 at Daytona with Mike McLaughlin, sponsored by Goulds Pumps. He wrecked and finished 26th. McLaughlin struggled through the course of the season, and had six top-tens en route to a 24th-place points finish. Just before the 2001 season, McLaughlin quit the team for Joe Gibbs Racing, and was replaced by Kenny Wallace. Wallace had two poles as well as a victory in North Carolina Speedway, finishing 10th in points. After Stacker 2 came on as a sponsor, Wallace improved to seventh in points in 2002 and had thirteen top-tens, but did not win. After the No. 47 team closed its doors, Hmiel moved to the 48 and had ten top-tens and was in eighth in points, when he was suspended by NASCAR for violating its drug policy. Jeff Green, Todd Bodine, Carlos Contreras, Randy LaJoie, and Kerry Earnhardt finished out the year for the team.

Car No. 48 results

Innovative Motorsports No. 48

NASCAR Busch 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	31	32	33	34	Owners	Pts	Ref
2000	Mike McLaughlin	48	Chevy	DAY 26	CAR 15	LVS 43	ATL 21	DAR 33	BRI 42	TEX 40	NSV 2	TAL 14	CAL 41	RCH 25	NHA 33	CLT 32	DOV 10	SBO 24	MYB 30	GLN 5	MLW 28	NZH 34	PPR 8	GTY 36	IRP 34	MCH 5	BRI 28		RCH 30	DOV 34	CLT 39	CAR 16	MEM 24	PHO 15	HOM 31			23rd	2845
	Ward Burton																											DAR 5
2001	Kenny Wallace			DAY 8	CAR 4	LVS 24	ATL 19	DAR 4	BRI 5	TEX 43	NSH 36	TAL 10	CAL 38	RCH 8	NHA 5	NZH 32	CLT 30	DOV 12	KEN 35	MLW 16	GLN 11	CHI 14	GTY 6	PPR 9	IRP 11	MCH 22	BRI 3	DAR 18	RCH 23	DOV 2	KAN 25	CLT 32	MEM 21	PHO 10	CAR 1	HOM 25		12th	3799	[2]
2002				DAY 10	CAR 12	LVS 8	DAR 5	BRI 6	TEX 25	NSH 11		CAL 14	RCH 17	NHA 26	NZH 12	CLT 12	DOV 7	NSH 6	KEN 9	MLW 18		CHI 28	GTY 19	PPR 13	IRP 5	MCH 18	BRI 6	DAR 11	RCH 10	DOV 9	KAN 22	CLT 22	MEM 19	ATL 18	CAR 9	PHO 30	HOM 24	8th	4078	[3]
			Pontiac								TAL 9										DAY 35
2003	Shane Hmiel			DAY 17						TAL 3											DAY 10																	13th	3866	[4]
			Chevy		CAR 35	LVS 12	DAR 13	BRI 7	TEX 3		NSH 14	CAL 8	RCH 8	GTY 13	NZH 19	CLT 38	DOV 13	NSH 34	KEN 19	MLW 18		CHI 16	NHA 15	PPR 14	IRP 4*	MCH 9	BRI 4	DAR 28	RCH 10
	Jeff Green																													DOV 39		CLT 24
	Todd Bodine																														KAN 29			ATL 18		CAR 19
	Randy LaJoie																																MEM 30
	Kerry Earnhardt																																		PHO 25
	Carlos Contreras																																				HOM 17

Craftsman Truck Series

In 2004, Innovative closed its Busch teams, and signed with Toyota to field entries in the Craftsman Truck Series, the No. 12 driven by Robert Huffman and the No. 21 driven by Hank Parker Jr. Huffman, a rookie, had six top-tens, but failed to finish nine races and ended up twenty-third in points. Parker Jr. had four top-tens and finished 17th in points. Due to a lack of funding, Innovative closed up for good at the end of the season, with Huffman's team being sold to Darrell Waltrip Motorsports, and Parker's team to Capital Motorsports.

Truck No. 12 Results

Innovative Motorsports No. 12

NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series results
Year	Team	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	NCTS	Pts
2004	Robert Huffman	12	Toyota	DAY 36	ATL 29	MAR 34	MFD DNQ	CLT 16	DOV 11	TEX 28	MEM 16	MLW 36	KAN 24	KEN 10	GTW 27	MCH 9	IRP 23	NSH 8	BRI 32	RCH 6	NHA 32	LVS 31	CAL 17	TEX 29	MAR 10	PHO 31	DAR 9	HOM 35	25th	2363

Truck No. 21 Results

Innovative Motorsports No. 21

NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series results
Year	Team	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	NCTS	Pts
2004	Hank Parker, Jr.	21	Toyota	DAY 18	ATL 33	MAR 12	MFD 19	CLT 22	DOV 3	TEX 23	MEM 12	MLW 17	KAN 21	KEN 22	GTW 5	MCH 29	IRP 15	NSH 15	BRI 6	RCH 20	NHA 9	LVS 21	CAL 15	TEX 13	MAR 31	PHO 23	DAR 35	HOM 17	17th	2737

References

1. "Busch Series His Hmiel Ticket". Motor Racing Network . October 17, 2002. Archived from the original on 7 February 2016. Retrieved 7 February 2016.
2. "Kenny Wallace – 2001 NASCAR Busch Series Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved April 4, 2023.
3. "Kenny Wallace – 2002 NASCAR Busch Series Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved April 4, 2023.
4. "Shane Hmiel – 2003 NASCAR Busch Series Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved April 5, 2023.

External links

• George Debidart - NASCAR Owner