Morgan-McClure had a nice run, but it's officially done

Ward Burton was Morgan-McClure Motorsports prominent driver in 2007, but the team replaced him later that year. Getty Images

Morgan-McClure Motorsports is a great chapter in NASCAR lore. Unfortunately, that's just what is is: history.

Instead of heading to Daytona, it laid off most of its employees and shut its garage doors. It's phone may still be on the hook and someone may still answer incoming calls, but the team now exists as a skeleton marketing operation -- one with faint hopes of landing a sponsorship deal that would send it to Florida.

Morgan-McClure has won the Daytona 500 three times and definitely has a shot at making another run for it at any moment. Even until the 2008 Cars of Tomorrow, 25 race-ready engines and millions of dollars of equipment are sold off -- likely at pennies on the dollar.

Sure, it could make a run for it, but I wouldn't count on it. Morgan-McClure is part of NASCAR legend in two real categories, neither of which, for all practical purposes, still exist today. First, the team fielded just one car and, second, it was based somewhere else other than North Carolina.

Morgan-McClure's history set it up for greatness, starting back in 1983. Founded by McClure brothers Larry, Ed, Jerry, Teddy and business partner Tim Morgan, the team hired a handful of employees, bought a second-hand car and opened a small garage in Abingdon, Va. near the owners' homes.

Its first race was under the grip of Connie Saylor, who led his team to a 40th-place finish at Talladega Superspeedway. But a more widely known Morgan-McClure driver of the past was Saylor's successor, Mark Martin, who drove the team's entry in six other races that first season and turned heads enough for Folgers to sign on as sponsor the next year and Eastman Kodak taking over the paint scheme in 1986.

The team had its first real success right after switched to Chevrolet power in 1990, as the brash youngster Ernie Irvan won at Bristol. Irvan won the Daytona 500 to start off the 1991 season and the pairing had a nice run over the next four seasons as he would win eight races for MMM and finish as high as fifth in the points.

Irvan left the team in 1994 but Morgan-McClure found a solid replacement in Sterling Marlin. Marlin became just the third driver in history to win back-to-back Daytona 500s, taking the prize in 1994 and '95. The core of the team's success during that decade, though, was long-time crew chief Tony Glover, who spent 13 years with the team.

Marlin and Morgan-McClure finished third in the 1995 standings -- about as close to being on top of the stock-car world as possible for a one-car team. Only legends Jeff Gordon and Dale Earnhardt finished higher.

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