Washington-Erving Motorsports is a defunct American stock car racing team. It was owned by former NFL running back Joe Washington and former NBA player Julius Erving. Washington and Erving fielded cars in the NASCAR Busch Series (now Xfinity Series) from 1998 to 2000.
Founding Washington first piqued his interest in NASCAR by attending the 1997 Daytona 500. He then convinced Erving to come on board, and they formed a team in the summer of 1997. The feelings were split about the new team, which at one time planned to field Winston Cup cars for Rich Bickle. Owner-driver Geoff Bodine was against the team, but others, like Washington's former coach Joe Gibbs and owner-driver Ricky Rudd were in support of the team. The team was only the third fully minority owned team, after Wendell Scott owned his own team and Thee Dixon owned Mansion Motorsports. Before the 1998 season started, the team secured number 50 in honor of that anniversary of Jackie Robinson breaking baseball's color barrier. WEM hired the first female team president in NASCAR, Kathy Thompson.
Busch Series
Car No. 50 History In 1998, the team failed to qualify for the first two races of the season with Jimmy Foster. Foster managed to qualify for four of the next five races, plus the Milwaukee race. The team then rotated through nine more drivers. Andy Houston, Dennis Setzer, Jimmy Kitchens, Nathan Buttke, and Joe Buford each made one start. Stanton Barrett made two starts for the team, while Jeff Green and Mike Wallace made three apiece. Dave Rezendes made five starts for the team. The team recorded no wins, top five or top ten finishes during that season.
In 1999, Mark Green drove the entire schedule for the team. He failed to qualify for two races. Green failed to finish seven races, two due to crashes and five due to mechanical mishaps. He recorded one top ten finish, a tenth at Atlanta Motor Speedway. Green and the team parted ways after the 1999 season.
In 2000, the team started out with plans to run the entire season with Tony Roper. However, the team disbanded after Dr Pepper pulled its sponsorship after Roper qualified for only three of the first twelve races.
Due to the amount of DNQs, Roper would quit and later raced for MB Motorsports in the Truck Series, where in October 13th, would crash at Texas Motor Speedway and pass away from his injuries the next day.
Car No. 50 History NASCAR Busch Series results Year Driver No. Make 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 Pts 1998 Jimmy Foster 50 Ford DAYDNQ CARDNQ LVS41 NSV25 DARDNQ BRI42 TEX37 MLW39 MYBDNQ 38th 1629 Andy Houston HCY20 Rick Wilson TALDNQ Stanton Barrett NHA34 HOM29 Jeff Green NZH13 CLT13 RCH28 Dennis Setzer DOV41 Jimmy Kitchens PPR32 Dave Rezendes GLN14 SBO30 IRP26 MCH35 BRI12 Mike Wallace CAL21 DAR35 CLT20 CARDNQ Casey Atwood RCHDNQ Nathan Buttke DOV39 Joe Buford GTY42 Ken Bouchard ATLDNQ 1999 Mark Green Chevy DAY24 CAR23 LVS32 ATL10 DAR33 TEX31 NSV30 BRI17 TAL37 CAL36 NHA27 RCH21 NZH22 CLT16 DOV29 SBO26 GLN37 MLW26 MYBDNQ PPR23 GTY32 IRP19 MCH41 BRI42 DAR33 RCH19 DOV22 CLT40 CAR28 MEM17 PHO31 HOMDNQ 25th 2466 2000 Tony Roper DAYDNQ CAR37 LVSDNQ ATLDNQ DARDNQ BRIDNQ TEXDNQ NSV31 TAL24 CALDNQ RCHDNQ NHADNQ 59th 370 Stanton Barrett CLTDNQ DOV SBO MYB GLN MLW NZH PPR GTY IRP MCH BRI DAR RCH DOV CLT CAR MEM PHO HOM
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