Dan Pardus

Last updated
Dan Pardus
BornDaniel Joseph Pardus
(1963-04-02) April 2, 1963 (age 60)
Port Orange, Florida, U.S.
NASCAR Cup Series career
1 race run over 1 year
Best finish68th (1998)
First race 1998 Pepsi 400 (Daytona)
WinsTop tens Poles
000
NASCAR Xfinity Series career
18 races run over 2 years
Best finish49th (2002)
First race 2001 Pepsi 300 (Nashville)
Last race 2002 Little Trees 300 (Charlotte)
WinsTop tens Poles
000

Daniel Joseph Pardus (born April 2, 1963) is an American former stock car racing driver. He was a regular on the NASCAR Goody's Dash Series, and also competed in events in the Busch and Winston Cup Series, as well as the ARCA Re/Max Series.

Contents

Racing career

A native of Port Orange, Florida, a suburb of Daytona Beach, Pardus, a graduate of Mainland High School, [1] won back to back track championships at New Smyrna Speedway in 1980 and 1981. [2] Pardus began racing in NASCAR's touring series in 1992, competing in the Goody's Dash Series, a series for four-cylinder subcompact cars. [2] He ran in the series for several years, running a Chevrolet Cavalier and, later, a Pontiac Grand Am; he joined Jim & Judie Motorsports, the team he would run the majority of the remainder of his racing career for, before the 1995 season. [3]

Pardus moved to the ARCA Re/MAX Series, a full-size stock car series, in 1997; running approximately half the series schedule, he placed third in the series' Rookie of the Year award standings and 12th overall. [4] He ran only five races in the series in 1998, as he attempted to make his debut at the top level of NASCAR competition, the Winston Cup Series; [5] he failed to qualify for a number of races through the season, [6] and was injured early in the season in a practice crash at Texas Motor Speedway. [7] In October he successfully made his debut, in what would prove to be his only start in the series, in the Pepsi 400 in October. [8] Pardus finished 36th in the event, [9] which had been delayed from July by extensive wildfires in central Florida. [10]

Pardus entered the 1999 season intending to run the full 1999 Winston Cup Series schedule, competing for Rookie of the Year driving the No. 50 for Midwest Transit Racing. [9] The team ran a limited schedule due to limited sponsorship; following his third failure to qualify in three attempts, at Charlotte Motor Speedway in May, Pardus was released as the team's driver, moving to a management position. [11]

In 2000, driving for the Gardners, Pardus failed to qualify for the Daytona 500; [12] after running a limited ARCA schedule in 2000, Pardus and the team moved to the NASCAR Busch Series in 2001, with sponsorship from The Outdoor Channel; he made his debut in the series at Nashville Superspeedway. [13] In his second Busch Series race, at Chicagoland Speedway, Pardus was involved in a hard crash with David Donohue, suffering a broken back; [14] he returned to competition later in the year, and ran a partial schedule in 2002, competing in twelve races, all but one for Jim & Judie Motorsports; the exception being a drive for Jay Robinson Racing in the GNC Live Well 250 at Daytona International Speedway; [1] he also failed to qualify for six other races. Pardus' team hired pit crews from Winston Cup Series teams to pit their cars; at Nashville, due to a scheduling conflict, the crew for ML Motorsports pitted the car. [15]

Following the 2002 season, The Outdoor Channel ended their sponsorship of Jim & Judie Motorsports; [16] Pardus attempted to qualify for two races in 2003, at Daytona International Speedway and Darlington Raceway failing to qualify for both. [17] Pardus would make one more attempt at a NASCAR start, in 2005 at Daytona, driving the No. 73 Chevrolet for Raabe Racing Enterprises in qualifying for the Pepsi 400; he failed to qualify for the event. [18]

Personal life

Pardus is married, to Alice. [2] He has two children, Danielle and Preston Pardus, both of whom also race cars; Preston won the Sports Car Club of America Spec Miata national championship in 2017. [19] [20]

He currently works as a utilities contractor, and worked as a part-time commentator for radio and TV broadcasts of racing events on SPEED Channel and HD Net, which he joined following his racing career. [21]

Motorsports career results

NASCAR

(key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

Winston Cup Series

NASCAR Winston Cup Series results
YearTeamNo.Make12345678910111213141516171819202122232425262728293031323334NWCCPtsRef
1998 Midwest Transit Racing 07 Chevy DAY
DNQ
CAR LVS ATL DAR BRI TEX MAR TAL
DNQ
CAL CLT
DNQ
DOV RCH MCH POC SON NHA POC IND
DNQ
GLN MCH BRI NHA
DNQ
DAR RCH DOV MAR CLT TAL
DNQ
DAY
36
PHO CAR ATL 68th55 [22]
1999 50 DAY
DNQ
CAR
Wth
LVS ATL DAR TEX BRI MAR TAL
DNQ
CAL RCH CLT
DNQ
DOV MCH POC SON DAY NHA POC IND GLN MCH BRI DAR RCH NHA DOV MAR CLT TAL CAR PHO HOM ATL N/A [23]
2000 Jim & Judie Motorsports 65 Chevy DAY
DNQ
CAR LVS ATL DAR BRI TEX MAR TAL CAL RCH CLT DOV MCH POC SON DAY NHA POC IND GLN MCH BRI DAR RCH NHA DOV MAR CLT TAL CAR PHO HOM ATL N/A [24]
- Replaced after first round qualifying by Billy Standridge
Daytona 500
YearTeamManufacturerStartFinish
1998 Midwest Transit Racing Chevrolet DNQ
1999 DNQ
2000 Jim & Judie Motorsports Chevrolet DNQ

Busch Series

NASCAR Busch Series results
YearTeamNo.Make12345678910111213141516171819202122232425262728293031323334NBSCPtsRef
2001 Jim & Judie Motorsports 32 Chevy DAY CAR LVS ATL DAR BRI TEX NSH
35
TAL CAL RCH NHA NZH CLT
DNQ
DOV KEN
DNQ
MLW GLN CHI
36
GTY PPR IRP MCH BRI DAR
31
RCH DOV KAN CLT
36
MEM PHO
29
CAR
31
HOM
DNQ
61st384 [25]
2002 DAY
DNQ
CAR
34
LVS
33
DAR
23
BRI TEX
DNQ
NSH
32
TAL CAL RCH
34
NHA NZH CLT
25
DOV NSH
35
KEN
27
MLW CHI
DNQ
GTY PPR IRP MCH
27
BRI DAR
39
RCH
DNQ
DOV KAN CLT
42
MEM
DNQ
ATL CAR
DNQ
PHO HOM 49th780 [26]
Jay Robinson Racing 49 Ford DAY
41
2003 39 DAY CAR LVS DAR BRI TEX TAL NSH CAL RCH GTY NZH CLT DOV NSH KEN MLW DAY
DNQ
CHI NHA PPR IRP MCH BRI N/A [27]
Red Racing 91 Chevy DAR
DNQ
RCH DOV KAN CLT MEM ATL PHO CAR HOM

ARCA Re/Max Series

(key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

ARCA Re/Max Series results
YearTeamNo.Make12345678910111213141516171819202122232425ARMCPtsRef
1997 Jim & Judie Motorsports 42 Chevy DAY
9
ATL
8
SLM
25
CLT
31
CLT
19
POC MCH
23
SBS TOL KIL FRS MIN
16
POC MCH
11
DSF
32
GTW
28
SLM WIN CLT
16
TAL
8
ISF ATL
24
12th [28]
1998 DAY
18
ATL SLM
4
CLT MEM MCH
29
POC SBS TOL PPR POC KIL FRS ISF ATL DSF SLM
32
TEX WIN CLT TAL
3
ATL N/A [29]
1999 DAY
38
ATL
40
SLM
15
AND CLT
9
MCH
29
POC TOL
16
SBS BLN POC
27
KIL FRS FLM ISF WIN DSF SLM CLT
40
TAL
25
ATL
22
32nd1000 [30]
2000 DAY
7
SLM AND CLT
14
KIL FRS MCH
12
POC
3
TOL KEN
4
BLN POC
22
WIN ISF KEN
35
DSF SLM CLT
DNQ
TAL
18
ATL
11
22nd1530 [31]
2001 DAY
24
NSH WIN SLM GTY KEN CLT KAN MCH POC MEM GLN KEN MCH POC NSH ISF CHI DSF SLM TOL BLN CLT TAL ATL 151st115 [32]

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References

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