:Jimmy Spencer (born February 15, 1957 in Berwick, Pennsylvania) is a NASCAR race car driver and commentator.
Biography
Jimmy Spencer is one of the few drivers to have won a race in all three of NASCAR's top series: Sprint Cup, the Nationwide Series , and the Craftsman Truck Series.
Jimmy Spencer followed his father, Ed Spencer Sr., in racing. Jimmy started in Late Models in Pennsylvania. He captured his first racing win in the Late Model division at Port Royal (Pennsylvania) Speedway in 1976. He moved to NASCAR Modifieds at Shangri-La Speedway (Owego, New York), then branched out to bigger events throughout the Northeast.
In 1984, Spencer was one of the top contenders for NASCAR's National Modified Championship, at a time when all sanctioned races counted toward that title; after running over sixty races, he was second to Richie Evans in the final standings. When NASCAR changed the National Modified Championship into the smaller-schedule Winston Modified Tour (now Whelen Modified Tour) in 1985, Spencer chased it, and won the title in 1986 and 1987.
Spencer debuted in the Busch Series in 1985, driving one Rockingham race in the #67 Pontiac for Frank Cicci Racing, which was also his Modified car owner. The team ran twice in 1987, then ran the full season in 1988, finishing seventh in the point standings. Spencer won three Busch Series races in 1989 with that team. In 1989 he moved to the Winston Cup Series, driving for Buddy Baker's team in 17 of the 29 races, then ran full-time in 1990 for Rod Osterlund Racing. Except for 1992 when he ran only 12 Cup races, Spencer remained a full-time Winston Cup, then Nextel Cup, competitor until partial seasons in 2004 and 2005. He has also run partial schedules in the Busch Series each year since 1987 (except the 1988 full season).
Spencer won two Winston Cup races while driving for Junior Johnson in 1994. These two victories, both scored in July 1994, remain his only Cup wins.
Nicknamed "Mr. Excitement" since his Modified years for his aggressive driving style, Spencer is probably best known in recent years for an on-going feud with Kurt Busch, including a 2003 post-race incident at Michigan International Speedway brought on when Busch rammed Spencer's car on the track, trying to wreck him. After Busch stopped near Spencer's hauler, Spencer punched Busch who was still strapped into his cockpit. Spencer was suspended for the next week's race at Bristol. Busch won the race, but was loudly booed by the fans, many carrying "Free Jimmy Spencer" signs.
During the 2005 Craftsman Truck Series season, Jimmy Spencer had a full-time ride in the Ultra Motorsports #2 truck owned by Jim Smith. That ended with the closure of Ultra Motorsports in early January, 2006. In March 2006 Spencer was hired by BAM Racing being tabbed to race at Martinsville Speedway in place of rookie Brent Sherman. Spencer will also be an advisor for BAM and will mentor for Sherman, and could possibly appear in more races, most likely on short tracks.
Speed TV
Spencer is currently a co-host with John Roberts and Kenny Wallace on the Speed Channel's prerace and postrace NASCAR shows NASCAR RaceDay and NASCAR Victory Lane. Spencer was recently hired to promote Holiday Inn Hotels and Resorts.
Teams
A list of the teams and primary sponsors for which Jimmy Spencer has driven at the Winston/Nextel Cup level, and the years he raced for them.
NASCAR Statistics
- Cup (Years) 17 (Starts) 476 (Wins) 2 (Top-5s) 28 (Top-10s) 80 (Poles) 3
- Busch (Years) 20 (Starts) 212 (Wins) 12 (Top-5s) 44 (Top-10s) 93 (Poles) 3
- Truck (Years) 3 (Starts) 31 (Wins) 1 (Top-5s) 4 (Top-10s) 11 (Poles) 1
External links
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