Dave Blaney
Like many NASCAR drivers, Dave Blaney’s love for racing is somewhat inherited. His grandfather’s and father’s involvement with motorsports introduced Blaney to the fun world of fast cars. However, his racing roots literally grew from the dirt … on dirt tracks that is, as he raced sprint cars throughout Ohio and Pennsylvania and beyond.
Blaney’s professional racing career officially started shortly after he graduated from high school in 1981, when his dad offered him the opportunity to drive a sprint car. Although he was content simply working on the cars, he accepted his dad’s offer. Blaney struggled in the beginning, but quickly found his niche.
In less than five years, the Ohio native had accumulated Rookie of the Year honors in both the Sprint Car Circuit of Champions and United States Auto Club (USAC) Silver Crown Series. In early April 1985, he claimed his first World of Outlaws feature win at Tri-City Speedway in Granite City, Ill.
Blaney raced as much as he could, gaining track time through almost every opportunity that came his way. He became more deeply involved in the World of Outlaws in 1988, running as many races as possible east of the Mississippi.
In 1992, Stan Hover, who owned a speed shop near Blaney’s hometown of Hartford, Ohio, decided to attempt to compete in a few stock car races. He asked Blaney to join him in the effort. Their first couple of qualifying efforts didn’t result in their favor, but a successful trial lap got Hover and Blaney into NASCAR’s big show at (Rockingham) North Carolina Motor Speedway that October. A handling problem derailed the run and forced Blaney and crew to call it a day too early (started 36th, finished 31st).
With his heart and interest still focused on sprint cars, Blaney put most of his effort into The World of Outlaws circuit. He dominated the series for nearly five years and soon earned the nickname “The Buckeye Bullet.”
Blaney’s time and dedication paid off in 1995 when he claimed one of the greatest highlights of his career—the World of Outlaws Championship. In the two years prior and two years following his title, he finished second in the Championship standings.
In the midst of his World of Outlaws successes, Blaney still dabbled with stock cars by competing in a few Automobile Racing Club of America (ARCA) races when his busy and grueling sprint car schedule allowed. Running sprint cars was his priority since it kept a roof over his family’s head. However, stock cars had piqued Blaney’s curiosity.
Amoco supported Blaney in the Sprint car series in 1997 before deciding to go NASCAR racing. When Amoco began considering creating a motorsports sponsorship program, Blaney worked with a few of his folks to get Amoco to go sprint car racing. But one thing led to another, and Amoco decided to join the NASCAR ranks instead.
The gas company decided to partner with NASCAR team owner Bill Davis and field a NASCAR Busch Series team. Davis wasn’t afraid to take a gamble on new talent after his earlier success with the young, up-and-coming driver Jeff Gordon. The next thing Blaney knew, he was signed to race in the Busch Series for Amoco and Bill Davis Racing.
Being 36 years old at the time, Blaney thought he was too old to come into NASCAR, plus he didn’t want to give up his Sprint car career. However, Blaney was deeply interested in what opportunities NASCAR had to offer, so he uprooted his family and moved from Ohio to North Carolina. Once he decided to make the move, Blaney said he sold almost everything to make the move south because he didn’t want an easy way back home.
Blaney, Amoco and BDR ran a part-time Busch Series schedule in 1998 and a full season in 1999, accumulating five poles, five top-five finishes and 15 top-10 finishes. By the end of the 1999 season, Blaney and the team grabbed the seventh spot overall in the Busch Series Championship standings. The team remained successful in the Busch Series in 2000 despite running only part time in the series. It ran part time in that series, as it elected to compete full time in the NASCAR Cup Series.
Amoco, Blaney and BDR remained together for two years in Cup Series competition before changes within Amoco prompted the company’s departure from the sport. The sponsorship change and development of other opportunities led to Blaney’s first exit from Bill Davis Racing in 2002.
Blaney then began driving for Jasper Motorsports and notched his first career Cup Series pole at North Carolina Motor Speedway in February 2003—the same track where a fast qualifying lap gained him his first NASCAR start.
When Jasper Motorsports was sold to Penske Racing, it left Blaney with a contract and no car. Blaney returned to Davis’ High Point, N.C., operation in 2004 to drive part-time in the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series. The partnership was interrupted once more when Blaney received an offer to drive full-time for Richard Childress Racing. Blaney soon landed a full-time ride with RCR for the 2005 NEXTEL Cup season.
As the 2005 season came to a close, change was once again in the cards for Blaney. Just as RCR announced Blaney’s release, BDR was planning some changes. Rumors circulated in the NASCAR garage that Blaney was returning to BDR to drive the No. 22 Caterpillar car, but the rumors were not confirmed until early December 2005.
After a 2006 season that saw Blaney post his second-highest career finish (fourth) and his first career Busch Series victory at Lowe’s Motor Speedway in Concord, N.C., Blaney returned to Bill Davis Racing for the 2007 season, this time aboard a Toyota Camry. Blaney was the first driver in the Toyota Racing Cup Series stables to capture a pole position, doing so in the spring event at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. Blaney’s No. 22 Caterpillar team posted four top-10 efforts during the course of the season, including a third-place finish at Talladega in October. In addition to his driving duties in the Caterpillar entry, Blaney also piloted a Toyota for Braun Racing for the first half of the season and was the first Toyota driver to earn the top spot on the scoring pylon in the Busch Series as well.
Blaney and the Cat Racing team are together once again for the 2008 season and ready to tackle the challenges of running the Car of Tomorrow full time. Consistency and reliability will be the main goals for the team all year and with that top-five and top-10 finishes shouldn’t be far behind.
Blaney never planned to make a career out of racing, but more than 25 years after receiving the opportunity of a lifetime from his dad, he is still competing with the best. Blaney talks about how much of a difference there is between racing on the dirt compared to racing on asphalt, but he knows—and those who admire his racing talent know—sprint cars taught him how to be aggressive and how to take advantage of other competitor’s weaknesses. It is those skills he acquired while racing sprint cars that he utilizes today and every weekend for three main reasons—to be competitive, not give up and just win.
