SEASON IN REVIEW
Greenville, South Carolina driver Randy Porter picked up his first LASTCAR Busch Series Grand National Division title in 1995, scoring three last-place finishes in twelve starts during a twenty-six race season.
Porter was competing in his fifth season on the tour. After just six Busch Series Grand National Division starts, Porter made two starts in the Cup Series in 1992, scoring a career-best 24th in his debut at Charlotte during the 1992 Coca-Cola 600. In 1994, the 30-year-old driver returned to the Busch Series Grand National Division and had the best season of his career, finishing 30th in points with a career-best 3rd-place finish in the Busch Light 300 at Atlanta.
In 1995, however, Porter struggled, scoring 7 DNFs in 12 starts during the first half of the season. After a season-best 10th at Richmond on March 4, Porter made just two more starts in his self-owned #48 Ford before he switched teams heading to the May 13 race at New Hampshire. There, Porter made the first of nine starts for Group III Racing as driver of the #18 Unifirst Uniforms Ford, which propelled him to all three of the season’s last-place finishes.
Porter’s first last-place finish of the year came on May 21 - just eight days after the Loudon race - when his #18 started 12th only to crash on the opening lap of the Meridian Advantage 200 at Nazareth. The other two finishes came after two more crashes in consecutive races: first after nine laps of the July 22 running of the Humminbird Fishfinder 500k at Talladega, and then after eighteen laps of the Ford Credit 300 at South Boston on July 29.
Porter returned to his team in 1996, taking the Unifirst Uniforms sponsorship with him for the final 38 races of his 73-race career. His final start came at Myrtle Beach on July 11, 1998, during the Myrtle Beach 250. Porter started 4th that day - equaling his best career start from his 3rd-place finish at Atlanta in 1994 - but finished next-to-last due to “equipment” problems after 34 laps. Finishing last for the first time that day was a young open-wheel star named Tony Stewart, out with a crash after 67 laps.
OTHER LASTCAR HEADLINES
Finishing 2nd in the LASTCAR standings in 1995 was defending NASCAR Busch Series Grand National Division champion David Green, who scored the first two last-place finishes of his career that season. The first came at Bristol on April 1, when Green’s #44 Slim Jim Chevrolet won the pole and led the first ten laps, only to lose the engine after 21 laps. Just one year earlier on April 9 1994, Green pulled off a bizarre win in the event after race leader Mark Martin accidentally pulled off the track a lap early when the race ended under caution. Green’s other finish in 1995 came in the Carolina Pride / Red Dog 250 at Myrtle Beach on June 10, where another engine stopped his 5th-fastest car after just 51 laps.
Fourth-year driver Hermie Sadler entered 1995 fresh off back-to-back seasons with one victory apiece, all capped by a 5th-place finish in the 1994 standings. However, 1995 saw Sadler finish just 13th in points with his first last-place finish coming at Richmond. In the Hardee’s 250 on March 4, Sadler’s #1 DeWalt Tools Chevrolet lost the engine after 35 laps.
With 21 Cup Series starts already under his belt, Jeremy Mayfield made his Busch Series Grand National Division debut in 1995 and scored his first last-place finish in the second of his seven starts that year. The finish came at Atlanta during the Busch Light 300 when his #50 UAW Ford lost the engine after just two laps. Mayfield ran just 13 Busch races the next year before he committed to running Cup full-time in 1997, scoring his first Cup win at Pocono the following year.
In the late 1990s, Robbie Reiser gained notoriety as crew chief for rising star Matt Kenseth, but in 1995, Reiser was a third-year driver in the Busch Series Grand National Division. He scored his only career top-ten finish at Nashville on March 19, but the very next week picked up his first last-place finish at Darlington during the Mark III Vans 200 when his #17 FDP Brakes Chevrolet lost the engine after 29 laps.
The 1990 Daytona 500 Champion Derrike Cope competed in his third season of Busch Series Grand National Division competition in 1995, coming off his first series victory during the NE Chevy 250 at New Hampshire on May 7, 1994. In 1995, Cope made just five starts in the series, including at Darlington on September 2, where his first last-place finish took place after his #50 Ford failed to start the Gatorade 200. The finish narrowly kept Roy “Buckshot” Jones from scoring the only last-place finish of his Busch Series Grand National Division career - Jones lost the engine on his #00 Longhorn Steakhouse Pontiac after the opening lap.
As indicated earlier, Dale Jarrett finished last in the Detroit Gasket 200 at Michigan on August 19 when his #32 Mac Tools Ford won the pole, led 89 of the race’s 100 laps, and won the race, only to be disqualified two hours later for an illegal carburetor.
CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS
1st) Randy Porter (3)
2nd) David Green (2)
3rd) Troy Beebe, David Bonnett, Chuck Bown, Larry Carroll, Derrike Cope, Chris Diamond, Brian Donley, Doug Heveron, Dale Jarrett, Tracy Leslie, Scott Kilby, Jeremy Mayfield, L.W. Miller, Kelly Moore, Larry Pearson, Robbie Reiser, Greg Sacks, Hermie Sadler, Glenn Sullivan, Doug Taylor, Rick Wilson (1)
