Morgan-McClure Motorsports could not keep up with the growing sport of NASCAR.
Morgan-McClure Motorsports captured the 1991 Daytona 500 with the brash, rising star Ernie Irvan behind the wheel. Kodak was the sponsor, and the team was right up there with the Richard Childress Racing's, Rick Hendrick Motorsports', Roush Racing's, and Robert Yates Racing's of the sport. They were a bona fied superspeedway powerhouse.
When Irvan left for Robert Yates Racing, no problem, they signed Sterling Marlin, and he went on to win the Daytona 500 in 1994 and 1995. In fact, Marlin and the Morgan-McClure Motorsports operation finished third in the 1995 Winston Cup championship standings behind only Jeff Gordon and Dale Earnhardt.
This would have been a great time to expand the organization, maybe move down to the Charlotte, North Carolina region. Instead, the gold and red #4 team began to fade just a bit. Following Marlin's departure in 1997, Morgan-McClure Motorsports won only one more race, at Martinsville in April of 1998, with the late Bobby Hamilton, Sr. behind the wheel.
The team became a revolving door for veteran drivers and numerous sponsors. Robby Gordon, Mike Skinner, Kevin Lepage, Stacy Compton, P.J. Jones, Johnny Sauter, Mike Wallace, Jimmy Spencer, Scott Wimmer, Todd Bodine, and Ward Burton have all attempted to help right the ship for the underfunded Virginia-based team.
In the end, the small-town team could not keep up with the powerhouse teams that grew along with the sport. Sadly, for the first time in 25 years, Morgan-McClure Motorsports will not have the #4 appearing in Daytona SpeedWeeks.
"I would like to say thanks to all our fans who have remained loyal through all these years and to thank everyone who has ever supported us in any way, whether it be through this race team or our dealerships," said owner Larry McClure.
McClure still hopes to secure sponsorship so the team can compete in 2008. Is it too late for a team like Morgan-McClure to resurrect itself? Unfortunately, only a merger would even give them hope. Who's next? As much as a traditionalist such as myself hates to admit it, once formidable programs Yates Racing and Wood Brothers Racing may not be that far from extinction.
We have seen this unsettling trend recently swallow up Cal Wells' PPI Motorsports, Jim Smith's Ultra Motorsports, Andy Petree Racing, A.J. Foyt Racing, Melling Racing, Junie Donlavey, Travis Carter, Brett Bodine, and Bud Moore just to name a few.
However, McClure is not giving up hope. "We will continue to search for sponsorship and if something becomes available, we have the cars ready to go to Daytona. This is a very hard day for me. I've had a lot of fun racing and it's just hard to believe it might come to this. I would like to say thanks to all our fans who have remained loyal through all these years and to thank everyone who has ever supported us in any way, whether it be through this race team or our dealerships. We are still the best bargain in NASCAR if we could just find the right sponsor."
