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| Whitaker (far right) after a 1983 win with driver Morgan Shepherd at Bristol Motor Speedway. |
Longtime
NASCAR team owner Ed Whitaker passed away Friday morning in Bristol, Tennessee.
During a 20-year career in what is now the NASCAR Nationwide Series, Whitaker’s familiar No. 7 entries earned 28 victories in 246 starts – a winning percentage of more than 11 percent -- with a veritable who’s-who of NASCAR greats at the wheel. Dale Earnhardt, Sr., Butch Lindley, Tim Richmond, Morgan Shepherd, Mark Martin, Harry Gant, Davey Allison and Jimmy Hensley all drove for Whitaker, many of them in the formative years of their career. He also fielded cars for John A. Utsman in six NASCAR Winston Cup Series races in 1978, `79 and `80.
During a 20-year career in what is now the NASCAR Nationwide Series, Whitaker’s familiar No. 7 entries earned 28 victories in 246 starts – a winning percentage of more than 11 percent -- with a veritable who’s-who of NASCAR greats at the wheel. Dale Earnhardt, Sr., Butch Lindley, Tim Richmond, Morgan Shepherd, Mark Martin, Harry Gant, Davey Allison and Jimmy Hensley all drove for Whitaker, many of them in the formative years of their career. He also fielded cars for John A. Utsman in six NASCAR Winston Cup Series races in 1978, `79 and `80.
His
final start as a NASCAR owner came in the Sam's Town 250 at Memphis
Motorsports Park in October of 2002; a 39th-place finish with driver
Regan Smith.
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