Obaika Racing

Last updated
Obaika Racing
Obaika Racing.jpg
Owner(s)Victor Obaika
Base Mooresville, North Carolina
Series Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series
NASCAR Xfinity Series
NASCAR K&N Pro Series West
Race driversMonster Energy Cup Series:
97.
Xfinity Series:
97. TBA
K&N Pro Series West:
97. TBA
SponsorsMonster Energy Cup Series:
97. Vroom Brands, Space Grill, WAVE Sports, Elmer's Products
Manufacturer Toyota
Opened 2015
Closed2020
Career
Debut 2015 2015 Alert Today Florida 300 (Daytona)
Latest race 2017 My Bariatric Solutions 300 (Texas)
Races competed78
Drivers' Championships 0
Race victories0
Pole positions 0

Obaika Racing was an African professional stock car racing team. The team was owned by African entrepreneur Victor Obaika. [1] The team competed in the NASCAR Cup Series and NASCAR Xfinity Series.

Contents

The team formed in early 2015 and competed full-time in the Xfinity Series in 2015 and 2016. The team purchased some assets of BK Racing, a Monster Energy Cup Series team, in August 2018. [2]

The team was based in Mooresville, North Carolina, thirty minutes away from Charlotte Motor Speedway. It was the first African-owned team in NASCAR.

NASCAR Cup Series

In July 2018, Obaika obtained some equipment from the bankrupt NASCAR Cup Series team BK Racing for nearly $300,000. [3] Around September 3, 2018, Obaika Racing owner Victor Obaika announced plans to race at some point in the remainder of the 2018 season. [4]

Car No. 97 history

Tanner Berryhill in the No. 97 at Homestead-Miami Speedway in 2018 Tanner Berryhill Homestead 2018.jpg
Tanner Berryhill in the No. 97 at Homestead–Miami Speedway in 2018

On October 5, 2018, Obaika announced that they would attempt their first ever Cup Series race at Talladega Superspeedway, fielding the No. 97 Vroombrands Toyota Camry for the 2018 1000Bulbs.com 500 with David Starr. [5] [6] [7] He ultimately failed to qualify for the race. Obaika Racing later announced that they would attempt the last three races of the Cup Series season. [8] The team made its official Cup Series debut at the 2018 AAA Texas 500, with Starr finishing at 39th place. Tanner Berryhill drove the No. 97 car at the 2018 Can-Am 500 at ISM Raceway and finished 31st. Berryhill drove the No. 97 again at Homestead-Miami Speedway and finished 38th.

Obaika Racing planned to run a full-time Cup car in 2019 with Berryhill. [9] On February 8, 2019, Obaika Racing withdrew from the 2019 Daytona 500 qualifying due to various circumstances. [10] They were briefly on the entry list for the spring race in Texas, before withdrawing once again. [11] The team ultimately didn't compete in a Cup race in 2019, and eventually folded in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Car No. 97 Results

YearDriverNo.Make123456789101112131415161718192021222324252627282930313233343536MENCCPts
2018 David Starr 97 Toyota DAY ATL LVS PHO CAL MAR TEX BRI RCH TAL DOV KAN CLT POC MCH SON CHI DAY KEN NHA POC GLN MCH BRI DAR IND LVS RCH CLT DOV TAL
DNQ
KAN MAR TEX
39
46th8
Tanner Berryhill PHO
31
HOM
38

Xfinity Series

Car No. 77 history

Josh Bilicki at Road America in 2016. 77 Josh Bilicki 2016 Road America 180.jpg
Josh Bilicki at Road America in 2016.

On July 16, 2016, at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, Obaika Racing introduced a second Chevrolet, the No. 77, also sponsored by VroomBrands. At Iowa Speedway, Claire Decker attempted to make her Xfinity Series debut driving this second Obaika car while her sister Paige ran the No. 97, but Claire failed to qualify on time and did not have owner points to fall back on. The No. 77 ran for much of the season's remainder, piloted by Ryan Ellis, Josh Bilicki, Austin Theriault, Matt Waltz, Jordan Anderson, TJ Bell, and Spencer Boyd.

The No. 77 team was announced to be a full-time team along with the No. 97 team, having Stephen Leicht as the driver. However, the No. 77 team withdrew before the Daytona race as Leicht moved over the No. 97 team. The team entered in the next three races, but withdraw before the qualifying in all but one (Las Vegas), where Josh Bilicki failed to qualify. The team returned to the entry list after a four-month hiatus at Mid-Ohio with Ohio native Gregory Vandersluis as a late entry. The team withdrew two days later. They were on the entry list for the Road America Xfinity Race but withdrew again. The team was on the entry list for the Charlotte October race, once again withdrawing.

Car No. 77 results

NASCAR Xfinity Series results
YearDriverNo.Make123456789101112131415161718192021222324252627282930313233OwnersPts
2016 Claire Decker 77 Chevy DAY ATL LVS PHO CAL TEX BRI RCH TAL DOV CLT POC MCH IOW
DNQ
DAY KEN 46th62
T. J. Bell NHA
27
IND
DNQ
IOW
38
GLN
38
Jordan Anderson MOH
31
BRI
Josh Bilicki ROA
38
DAR
Austin Theriault RCH
DNQ
Spencer Boyd CHI
35
Matt Waltz KEN
36
DOV
35
TEX
34
Ryan Ellis CLT
DNQ
KAN
36
PHO
DNQ
HOM
DNQ
2017 Josh Bilicki DAY ATL LVS
DNQ
PHO CAL TEX BRI RCH TAL CLT DOV POC MCH IOW DAY KEN NHA IND IOW GLN 57th0
Gregory Vandersluis MOH
Wth
BRI ROA
Wth
DAR RCH CHI KEN DOV CLT KAN TEX PHO HOM

Car No. 97 history

Dylan Kwasniewski at Road America in 2015. 97 Dylan Kwasniewski 2015 Road America.jpg
Dylan Kwasniewski at Road America in 2015.

Obaika Racing entered competition in 2015. The team signed driver Josh Reaume, who met team owner Victor Obaika while on humanitarian missions in Africa as a child. [12] [13] The 97 team debuted at the Daytona International Speedway in the Xfinity Series season-opening Alert Today Florida 300, with Reaume finishing 23rd. [12] [14] After three races, with one DNQ, Peyton Sellers replaced Reaume. [15] [16] In April 2015, the team secured their first sponsor vacation provider VroomBrands, which is owned by Obaika. [15] VroomBrands wrapped the No. 97 in designs such as a Zebra representing their African safari package (debuted at Richmond International Raceway) and the Cheetah print representing their tours in Asia (debuted at Talladega Superspeedway). [15] At the Winn-Dixie 300 at Talladega, Sellers scored the team's first top-20 finish, finishing 18th despite being involved in a ten-car wreck that sent cars spinning down pit road. Johanna Long replaced Sellers for the U.S. Cellular 250 at Iowa Speedway. [17] [18] [19] After one more start for Sellers at Watkins Glen, the team introduced various drivers for the rest of the season. [18] Dylan Kwasniewski debuted with the team in the Nationwide Children's Hospital at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, [18] finishing 34th due to mechanical problems after running in the top 10. [20] Kwasniewski would run the next two races for the team. [20] Parker Kligerman drove the car in the VFW Sport Clips Help a Hero 200 at Darlington Raceway, Mason Mingus in the Furious 7 300 at Chicagoland Speedway, and Ryan Ellis in the Hisense 200 at the Dover International Speedway. [21]

Magic Creeper appeared as the primary sponsor for the DAV 200 at the Phoenix International Raceway, with Kwasniewski as the driver. [22] Obaika Racing completed the season in the top 30 in owner points.

On January 29, 2016, it was announced that Harrison Rhodes had been signed to drive the No. 97. Ryan Ellis, Alex Guenette, TJ Bell, Paige Decker, Matt Waltz, Josh Berry, Alli Owens, Jordan Anderson and Josh Bilicki all also raced for the team. [23] [24] [25] The team also planned to expand to two cars. [23]

In 2017, the team returned with Stephen Leicht driving in the early portion of the season but did not attempt a race after Bristol Motor Speedway in spring. Despite that, they were still shown in the game NASCAR Heat 2.

On September 21, 2018, it was announced that Obaika would attempt the Charlotte Roval race, with Tanner Berryhill driving the 97 car. [26] The team, however, failed to make the race.

Obaika had planned to run a full-time Xfinity car in 2019, but nothing ever materialized. [9] [27]

Car No. 97 results

NASCAR Xfinity Series results
YearDriverNo.Make123456789101112131415161718192021222324252627282930313233OwnersPts
2015 Josh Reaume 97 Chevy DAY
23
ATL
38
LVS
DNQ
30th511
Peyton Sellers PHO
36
CAL
29
TEX
30
BRI
32
RCH
32
TAL
18
IOW
28
CLT
28
DOV
25
MCH
24
CHI
27
DAY
16
KEN
31
NHA
26
IND
35
GLN
34
Johanna Long IOW
27
Dylan Kwasniewski MOH
34
BRI
32
ROA
33
RCH
25
KEN
17
PHO
34
Parker Kligerman DAR
21
Mason Mingus CHI
24
KAN
24
TEX
24
HOM
26
Ryan Ellis DOV
26
CLT
23
2016 Harrison Rhodes DAY
DNQ
ATL
35
LVS
32
PHO
30
CAL
35
CLT
24
34th318
Ryan Ellis TEX
30
BRI
35
RCH
29
TAL
35
IND
30
GLN
30
KEN
22
TEX
33
Alex Guenette DOV
27
POC
24
DAY
38
T. J. Bell MCH
28
KEN
28
MOH
32
BRI
31
Paige Decker IOW
31
ROA
31
Matt Waltz NHA
28
IOW
35
KAN
37
Josh Berry DAR
27
Alli Owens RCH
36
Jordan Anderson CHI
29
DOV
37
CLT
33
Josh Bilicki PHO
28
HOM
34
2017 Stephen Leicht DAY
DNQ
ATL
38
LVS
39
PHO
37
CAL
39
TEX
DNQ
BRI
Wth
RCH TAL CLT DOV POC MCH IOW DAY KEN NHA IND IOW GLN MOH BRI ROA DAR RCH CHI KEN DOV CLT KAN TEX PHO HOM 53rd4
2018 Tanner Berryhill DAY ATL LVS PHO CAL TEX BRI RCH TAL DOV CLT POC MCH IOW CHI DAY KEN NHA IOW GLN MOH BRI ROA DAR IND LVS RCH CLT
DNQ
DOV KAN TEX PHO HOM 58th0

K&N Pro Series West

Obaika entered the 2018 race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway Dirt Track with South African driver Arnout Kok, marking the first K&N Pro Series West foray for both driver and team. [28] However, the team withdrew from the race. Obaika paid another team to prepare a car for the race, but the car that was provided failed to pass inspection. [29]

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