Team Menard was an auto racing team in the Indianapolis 500 and Indy Racing League owned by John Menard. From 1991 to 1996 they modified their own Buick V6 engines for racing. This combination won pole for the 500 with Scott Brayton in 1995 and 1996; Tony Stewart used this combination for the first part of his 1996-1997 IRL Championship. With more stringent regulations, the team continued to shine winning the 1999 Championship with Greg Ray. However, with the influx of former CART teams to the IRL in the early 2000's, Team Menard struggled to compete for wins and the team merged in 2004 with Panther Racing, although their car continued to carry Menard's colors and be driven first by Mark Taylor, who was then replaced by Townsend Bell. In 2005, Menard's was an associate sponsor for another team and the former Menard #2 car driven by Tomáš Enge carried no identification to its Menard lineage. For 2006, the #2 car was dropped by Panther and all vestiges of the once dominant Team Menard lineage disappeared until the spring of 2008 when Menards became a primary sponsor on the #20 Vision Racing Dallara driven by Ed Carpenter in the IndyCar Series.

The Menards sponsored cars in of Paul Menard and Matt Crafton (NASCAR) as well as Frank Kimmel (ARCA) currently use the "Team Menard" name in some sponsorship-related materials and TeamMenard.com is a portal to information on these drivers and their sponsor, however, Team Menard is not the name of any of their race teams and none of those cars are owned by John Menard.

Drivers who have driven for Team Menard[link]

• Townsend Bell (2004)
• Gary Bettenhausen (1990-1993)
• Raul Boesel (2002)
• Geoff Brabham (1993-1994)
• Scott Brayton (1994-1996)
• Robbie Buhl (1997-1998)
• Eddie Cheever (1993, 1994, 1996)
• Kevin Cogan (1991)
• Jim Crawford (1990)
• Wally Dallenbach, Jr. (1987)
• Mark Dismore (1996-1997)
• Robby Gordon (1999-2000, 2002)
• Richie Hearn (2003)
• Herm Johnson (1980-1982, 1984)
• Steve Kinser (1997)
• Buddy Lazier (1995)
• Jaques Lazier (2001-2003)
• Arie Luyendyk (1995)
• Vitor Meira (2002-2003)
• Danny Ongais (1996)
• Nelson Piquet (1993)
• Greg Ray (1999-2001)
• Tom Sneva (1991-1992)
• Tony Stewart (1996-1998)
• Mark Taylor (2004)
• Al Unser (1992)

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Luyendyk at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in May 2010.

Luyendyk's Lola-Chevrolet which won the 1990 Indianapolis 500 for Doug Shierson Racing.

Luyendyk in 1991, driving for Vince Granatelli.

Arie Luyendyk, anglicised form of Arie Luijendijk (born September 21, 1953 in Sommelsdijk) is a Dutch auto racing driver, twice winner of the Indianapolis 500.

Luyendyk started racing in the early 1970s, winning a number of Dutch national titles. In 1977, he won the European Super Vee championship, and switched to Formula Three. Success continued to elude him until he moved to the United States in 1984, where he immediately won the Super Vee championship.

With the help of sponsor Provimi Veal, Luyendyk ran his first full Champ Car season in 1985, winning the rookie of the year title both for the season and the Indianapolis 500. His first win in the series came five years later in 1990, but it was at the most important race of the series. With a record average speed of 185.981 mph (299.307 km/h) that still stands to this day, Luyendyk won the 1990 Indianapolis 500 for Doug Shierson Racing.

Luyendyk continued to perform well at Indianapolis, scoring pole positions in 1993, 1997 and 1999, and retiring from the race while leading on three occasions. In 1996, he set the qualifying lap record at 237.498 mph (382.216 km/h), although he did not start on the pole since he qualified on the second day of time trials. He won the 1997 Indianapolis 500 from the pole over Treadway Racing teammate Scott Goodyear. Luyendyk also was selected to participate in the 1992, 1993, and 1998 editions of the International Race of Champions.

He retired from racing after the 1999 season, and for a short time, joined ABC Sports as a color commentator. He returned to the Indy 500 in 2001 and 2002. In 2003, he entered at Indianapolis for the final time. He suffered a crash during practice, and did not make an attempt to qualify.

Other Luyendyk victories include the 24 Hours of Daytona and the 12 Hours of Sebring. His son, Arie Jr., was an Indy Lights racer.

The last corner of the Zandvoort track in the Netherlands carries his name. In 1999, he was presented with the Sagamore of the Wabash award, reflecting upon his Indy 500 career.

Motorsports career results[link]

American Open-Wheel[link]

CART results[link]

Year	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	Rank	Points
1984	Bettenhausen	LBH	PHX1	INDY	MIL	POR	MEA	CLE	MIS1	ROA 8	POC	MDO	SAN	MIS2	PHX2	LS	LVG		32nd	5
1985	Bettenhausen	LBG Ret	INDY 7	MIL 17	POR Ret	MEA 10	CLE 5	MCH	ROA 6	POC	MDO	SAN Ret	MIS 15	LAG Ret	PHO Ret	MIA 7			18th	33
1986	Bettenhausen	PHX 6	LBG Ret	INDY Ret	MIL 9	POR	MEA Ret	CLE Ret	TOR 6	MIS Rer	POC Ret	MDO Ret	SAN	MIS 13	ROA 7	LAG 10	PHO Ret	MIA Ret	17th	29
1987	Hemelgarn	LBG 14	PHX 3	INDY Ret	MIL 4	POR Ret	MEA 6	CLE Ret	TOR 7	MIS 5	POC 4	ROA 4	MDO 11	NAZ 4	LAG 6	MIA 11			7th	98
1988	Dick Simon Racing	PHX 9	LBH 10	INDY 10	MIL Ret	POR 2	CLE Ret	TOR Ret	MEA Ret	MIS Ret	POC Ret	MDO Ret	ROA Ret	NAZ 9	LS Ret	MIA Ret			14th	31
1989	Dick Simon Racing	PHX Ret	LBH 7	INDY Ret	MIL Ret	DET 6	POR 3	CLE 9	MEA 7	TOR Ret	MIS 6	POC Ret	MDO 8	ROA 4	NAZ 13	LS 9			10th	75
1990	Shierson Racing	PHX 9	LBH 7	INDY 1	MIL Ret	DET 5	POR 6	CLE 6	MEA 4	TOR 5	MIS Ret	DEN 13	VAN Ret	MDO Ret	ROA 6	NAZ Ret	LS 9		8th	90
1991	Granatelli Racing Team	SRF 9	LBH 5	PHX 1	INDY 3	MIL Ret	DET 3	POR 7	CLE 5	MEA Ret	TOR Ret	MIS 2	DEN Ret	VAN Ret	MDO 9	ROA 5	NAZ 1	LS 8	6th	134
1992	Chip Ganassi Racing	SRF	PHX	LBH	INDY Ret	DET	POR	MIL	NHA	TOR	MIS Ret	CLE	ROA	VAN	MDO	NAZ	LS		41st	0
1993	Chip Ganassi Racing	SRF 5	PHX 6	LBH 11	INDY 2	MIL Ret	DET Ret	POR 10	CLE 10	TOR Ret	MIS 3	NHA Ret	ROA 9	VAN Ret	MDO 5	NAZ 8	LS 3		8th	90
1994	Indy Regency Racing	SRF Ret	PHX Ret	LBH 11	INDY Ret	MIL 21	DET 19	POR 14	CLE Ret	TOR Ret	MIC 2	MDO 13	NHA Ret	VAN 6	ROA Ret	NAZ Ret	LS 6		17th	34
1995	Team Menard	MIA	SRF	PHX Ret	LBH	NAZ	INDY 7	MIL	DET	POR	ROA	TOR	CLE	MIC	MDO	NHA	VAN	LS	26th	6
1997	Target Chip Ganassi	MIA	SRF	LBH	NZR	RIO	STL	MIL	DET	POR	CLE	TOR	MIS	MDO	ROA	VAN	LS	FON Ret	34th	0

IndyCar Series[link]

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position)

¹ Luyendyk was listed as the primary entry and participated in practice; during practice, Luyendyk crashed, and decided to sit out the race due to injuries. Alex Barron replaced him in the car.

Indy 500 results[link]

External links[link]

• Official Website website is inactive
• The Greatest 33

Paul Menard
Born	(1980-08-21) August 21, 1980 (age 31) Eau Claire, Wisconsin, United States
Achievements	2011 Brickyard 400 Winner
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series career
195 race(s) run over 9 year(s)
Car no., team	No. 27 (Richard Childress Racing)
2011 position	17th
Best finish	17th - 2011
First race	2003 Sirius Satellite Radio at the Glen (Watkins Glen)
Last race	2012 Coca-Cola 600 (Charlotte)
First win	2011 Brickyard 400 (Indianapolis)
Wins Top tens Poles 1 19 1
NASCAR Nationwide Series career
173 race(s) run over 9 year(s)
Car no., team	No. 33 (Richard Childress Racing)
2011 position	102nd
Best finish	5th - 2010
First race	2003 Trace Adkins Chrome 300 (Nashville)
Last race	2012 O'Reilly Auto Parts 300 (Texas)
First win	2006 AT&T 250 (Milwaukee)
Wins Top tens Poles 1 68 5
NASCAR Camping World Truck Series career
6 race(s) run over 2 year(s)
Best finish	42nd - 2003
First race	2003 GNC 200 (Milwaukee)
Last race	2007 Kroger 250 (Martinsville)
Wins Top tens Poles 0 1 0
Statistics current as of May 24, 2012.

Paul Menard (born August 21, 1980) is a NASCAR driver. He currently drives the #27 Menards/NIBCO Chevrolet in the Sprint Cup Series for Richard Childress Racing. He is the son of Menards founder John Menard, Jr., whose company is his sponsor. Menard was born in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, and he attended the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire.^[1]

Early career[link]

#15 Menards Chevrolet in 2006

Menard leads at Talladega in 2006

Menard's racing career began at the age of eight when he won the Briggs Junior Karting Class Championship in his native Eau Claire, Wisconsin. He later won the Briggs Medium Class Champion before working his way up to higher level racing. He began ice racing at the age of 15 and won 10 International Ice Racing Association events in his career. He continues to compete in IIRA events in and around Wisconsin. In the summers he raced legends cars on short tracks in Wisconsin.^[2] He borrowed Bryan Reffner's Late Model for a week winning his heat race and placing around fourth in the feature.^[2] He decided to build his own late model and raced the car three to four times per week.^[2] In an interview with Motorsports Minute, Menard said he chose stock cars over Indy Cars because there was no feeder series for Indy Car in his native Wisconsin.^[2]

In 2000, he began racing a limited schedule in the NASCAR Re/Max Challenge Series, finishing 13th in points. During his rookie season in 2001, he earned a pole and victory at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin, finishing ninth in points. The 2002 season saw Menard compete in ReMax Challenge (two poles, seventh in points), SCCA Trans-Am (one front-row start, four top-10 finishes), Grand Am Cup (victories at Fontana and Phoenix) and the NASCAR Southwest Tour. He capped his season in the latter series with a last-lap pass of veteran Ken Schrader for the Phoenix victory.

In 2003, Menard joined Andy Petree Racing to compete in NASCAR Winston Cup, Busch and Craftsman Truck Series events while still competing in ARCA. In his first ARCA start at Salem Speedway, he qualified second and finished fourth. Later that year, he started on the pole at Winchester, Indiana, and then scored his first ARCA victory at Talladega Superspeedway. He also had top finishes of ninth in the Busch race at Indianapolis Raceway Park and eighth in the Truck race at the Kansas Speedway.

2004-2008[link]

2008 racecar

In 2004, Menard began the NASCAR Busch Series season driving the No. 33 Menards Chevrolet. Midway through the season, he moved to Dale Earnhardt, Inc. in the #1 Chevy. 10 races later, Menard won his first career pole position at Kansas Speedway and finished 23rd in points despite no top-tens and missing seven races. With Dan Stillman as crew chief beginning in 2005, they started out by leading 57 laps at Daytona. Winning the Bud Pole Award at Talladega also had them running up front until getting caught up in a wreck. He got his first top-10 and top-five by placing fifth at the Kentucky Speedway. From there, the team went from 20th to the top-10 in points before finishing sixth on the season.

In 2006, driving the #15 car part-time for DEI, Menard scored his first top-10 finish in the NEXTEL Cup Series by coming in seventh place at the Golden Corral 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway. Menard also won his first Busch Series race on June 24 at his home track of the Milwaukee Mile by holding off a late race charge and bump from NEXTEL Cup regular Kevin Harvick. Harvick eventually caused a multi-car wreck attempting to bump him out of the way.^{[citation needed]} Menard finished off 2006 with a sixth place finish in the standings, tying his best finish in the standings last year (2005). He scored 16 top-10 finishes and 7 top-5 finishes in the Busch Series.

In 2007, Menard ran his first full-time Cup season. He failed to qualify for six races that season, but after DEI's merger with Ginn Racing, the owner's points were transferred from Sterling Marlin's #14 car to Menard, who was then locked in to the rest of the races. His best finish of 2007 was in the Citizens Bank 400 where he finished 12th. In the Busch Series, he picked up 5 top-5 finishes. After the fall race at Charlotte, in which Menard and Tony Stewart made contact on pit road, a feud between the drivers ensued, with Tony Stewart (who drove for Menard's father John Menard in the Indy Racing League's early years) criticizing Menard's career, saying,

"You can have your father buy your ride and write DEI a big check, but you can't buy talent. And that's what John Menard's been good at his whole life, is just buying success. He's bought his son a Nextel Cup ride and he's just got enough talent to just be in the way most of the time."

In 2008, Menard won his first Sprint Cup Series pole at Daytona International Speedway in early July and remained in the top 35 in owner's points for the entire season. At Talladega in the fall, Menard had the best run of his career leading laps and coming home with a strong second place finish. He also was up front for a good part of the day in the other. He finished up the season with $3,559,130 in earnings and finished 26th in points standings, a career high. He has qualified for every race

2009-Present[link]

For the 2009 season Paul Menard and his sponsorship (Johns Manville, Moen, Richmond Water Heaters, Turtle Wax, Energizer, Pittsburgh Paints, NIBCO, Zecol, Peak, Vertus, Sylvania, Quaker State and Menards) moved over to the number 98 Ford Fusion operated by Yates Racing. Paul Menard showed limited improvement in 2009, running in the top 10 many times, only to later have problems. For example, he crashed at Las Vegas Motor Speedway while running very well, and was involved in a wreck with only 40 laps to go, while running 7th. These issues lead to the team being in danger of falling out of the top 35 in points standings for much of the year. Paul's best finishes include two 13th place finishes in the Aarons 499 at Talladega Superspeedway as well as the Samsung 500 at Texas Motor Speedway, and a 15th place finish in the Southern 500. At the second Dover race, Paul showed his skills by starting 10th and running in the top 10 for most of the day, only to find his car tighten up near the end of the race and come home 19th. At the end of the 2009 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, Menard was the only driver to not score a top 10 finish who ran all of the races. Paul ended up finishing 31st in the final point standings.

For the 2010 season his #98 Menard's team moved over to Richard Petty Motorsports, due to its merger with Yates Racing. In his first start with RPM he finished 13th in the 2010 Daytona 500. He then went on to have Top 20's at Las Vegas and Fontana. The following race at Atlanta Motor Speedway Paul posted his second highest career Cup series finish with a fifth place showing followed by a few more top 20's. After that he fell from the Top 12 in points. At Charlotte, he finished eighth after running in the top 10 all race long. Menard also posted another top 10 in the circuit's 19th race at Chicagoland Speedway. At Dover International Speedway in September he ended up with a 7th place place finish. The following week he started from the second position at Kansas. He finished a mildly surprising 23rd in points. Many publications rated him around 30th in the 2010 preseason.

Paul Menard is to drive the fourth entry for Richard Childress Racing in 2011. RCR shut down its fourth team after lack of funding after the 2009 season. Presumably the Menard sponsorship makes up for that lack of funding. He will use the #27. Menard has opted to run for the 2011 Sprint Cup Championship, choosing not to earn drivers points in the NASCAR Nationwide Series (which he will drive a part-time schedule in the Kevin Harvick Inc. #33 Chevy). In early 2010, Menard drove in the number 90 Daytona Prototype for Spirit of Daytona Racing in the Rolex 24 hours at Daytona International Speedway. So far throughout 2011 with Richard Childress Racing in the #27 Menards Chevrolet Impala, Menard has broken the top 10 in the Sprint Cup points standings, the highest in his Cup career.

On July 31, 2011, Menard won his first Sprint Cup race in his 167th start, in the Brickyard 400 at the prestigious Indianapolis Motor Speedway. He did so by making his last pit stop with 36 laps to go. He led late, but with nine laps to go he was passed by Jamie McMurray. With four to go he regained the lead and held off Jeff Gordon, the winner of the inaugural Brickyard 400 in the final laps, having enough fuel to do so. He is the first member of the Menard family, or the first person driving sponsored by Menards to win at Indianapolis, in any event held at the track. He also joins Trevor Bayne, Regan Smith, David Ragan, and Marcos Ambrose as first-time winners in the 2011 season.

Later at Richmond in the Wonderful Pistachio 400, his teammate Kevin Harvick, led most of the race and won after Paul Menard accidentally spun out as Jeff Gordon took the lead from Harvick; it brought a caution out. It was speculated by Gordon that Paul Menard spun his car on purpose so that the caution would come out for Harvick to win, but NASCAR officials said that there was nothing to be suspicious about and awarded Harvick the victory.

Images[link]

• 

  2010 Nationwide car at Road America

References[link]

• Drivers statistics at racing-reference.info

External links[link]

• Official website
• Paul Menard at Racing Reference
• Menarch Madness