Jet's Racing Designs' Fictional Racing Universe and More! - Carsets Showroom

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In an era where the owner driver was finally going away outside occassions of drivers racing again for the heck of it, Joe Lutz, known as Lightning Lutz, was a big outlier, and captured two championships for his own team, Lightning Racing. The native of Watertown, Tennessee held on owner drivers went practically extinct, and while he ran the whole 1990's without another championship, he remained a threat for wins and established that owner drivers had more potential than many thought they still had. Would he be in the conversation for the greatest ever if he'd sold off his team earlier? It's possible, but he still remains in the upper echelons of the series with a multi-championship career.

 

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One of the most recent NAPARL Hall of Fame entries is Adam Moskovitz, the most acclaimed driver of the 21st Century so far. His 2000's were spent getting plenty of wins but never really achieving championship contender status thanks to his inconsistancy, but then in the 2010s he came alive and ended his career with three titles, including hanging up his helmet after winning two in a row to end his career. The native of Newark also carried a legacy at his home track of New Jersey Motor Speedway, where he seemed to have one of the greatest home tracks advantage in NAPARL history.

 

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Matt Jenson is another driver from New Jersey who had a championship winning career, though he was arguably a bigger influence on the corporate side than the racing side, thanks to his long time team, Small Apple Motorsports. Being the first NAPARL team based in the New York City area, though on the New Jersey side of the river, they opened the gateway to big sponsorship deals for themselves and competitors, which makes it ironic that their most loyal sponsor was Motorola, a Chicago company. Jenson captured his one championship for the team in 1996, and had a prolific, consistant career from the early 90s all the way to the mid 2000s, where he wasn't a championship force often, but was always in the hunt for wins, ready to strike and steal one at any moment.

 

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Roger Johnson is a native of Indiana, more known for their open wheel racing, but was a very successful driver in the 1960s, and perhaps could have been one of the best of all time if his career hadn't ended from an injury in 1969. His self-owned Getty Oil machine made a big impact on the series during his brief career, especially as one of the first drivers to have his car completely decked out by a gas company.

 

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Pat Davis, a native of Palos Heights, Illinois had a career that peaked relatively early, but he never gave in to the pressure of those around him, having one of the longest careers in NAPARL Division 1 history of twenty-five years from 1976 to 2000. Wendy's was a loyal sponsor of his for most of the way, and his best years came in the 80s for Redeye Motorsports, driving the #24 that became an icon of the decade. Even though he was only a two time champion, he remains among the series' all time wins leaders thanks to his longevity and consistancy in the series, even as he moved from team to team in the second half of his career for a third championship he never got.

 

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Dimitri Francis is a driver not many people seem to talk about among stars of the sport, but he has more talking points than many like to give credit for. The Colorado native's most notable accomplishment was his 1996 Southeastern 400 win, which was the first ever series win for the new BMW program in a big upset. This support allowed him and Crowe Motorsports to go from a midpack team to a wins contender overnight, and while he was one of the last drivers to crack the top 50 of all time, a string of successful seasons in the late 90s helped put him among the best drivers to never win the championship.

 

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In an era where another Canadian driver was easily the best driver from the country in the series, Ontario's Hamilton Sands held his own in the 1960s and 1970s, including a championship in 1970. While he often gets overshadowed, he amassed a strong amount of wins for the era and held every aspect of what it meant to be an owner driver in the early days of the series: gritty, aggressive, and a leader.

 

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Tayler Madden had an interesting NAPARL career, being one of the last strong drivers for Howie's Racing, a historic team with an old school management strategy that hasn't translated to much success in the 2020s so far. Having captured their most recent Southeastern 400 win in 2006, Madden was seen as the end of an era for the team, though he continued to lead them to wins and a few top 5's in the championship until his retirement in 2011. He was on the bubble of the Top 50 of all time, but was barely voted in. Would success in the simulation give him a chance to solidify his place?

 

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The next driver who's still running today, though he recently announced that 2023 will be his final season, is Michael Gilmore. Having spent his entire career in the #5 DiscoverCard Nissan for Callahan International Motorsports, it's hard to think of a more iconic car on track today. With two championships in 2009 and 2014, it may not feel like he left as big of an impact as he did, especially with the amount of times he came close to another championship or two to chase the record. Regardless of what could have been, the Nevada native is one of the defining drivers of the 2000s and 2010s, and is looking for a strong farewell tour in 2023 after his induction to the exhibit.

 

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The 1980's were the rise of multi-car teams at all levels of NAPARL racing, where they were led by Jeff Sand Motorsports, a team home to two of the greatest drivers at the same time. The lesser is Maldrum Forbes, a native of Ontario who's another driver in contention for the greatest ever without a championship. Having won three Southeastern 400s in five years, he has a very high reputation in the history of the event, but never quite put a championship run together like his longtime teammate did multiple times. While he may be in the shadow of his teammate and rival, he's still regarded among the best in the sport and can take pride in being one half of one of the most dominant team stretches of the 20th century.

 

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Another Canadian to be introduced, Sebastien Jamison is the likely pick for the most successful driver from the country in the 21st century so far. The Laval, Quebec native is known for bringing Scott Racing, a team that still exists in the midpack today, to championship contention almost overnight, where he brought on a major sponsor in Microsoft and two championships to go with it. His 2004 run was particularly dominant, giving him an edge over some of the other two time champions. While his team couldn't hold their dominance for long, he still competed for wins regularly until his retirement in 2012, at which point he very much earned a spot with the top drivers of the sport's history.

 

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We began this collection by looking at the series' first champion. With that, it's only right for the second half to begin with the second champion, William Oaks. From humble beginnings in Austin, Texas to a force for wins for the full first decade of the series, the owner driver brought his #18 to a championship in 1956, spoiling Bob Carpenter's bid to win the first two back to back in a championship down to the final race. While a few other drivers from the innagural NAPARL season had longer careers with multiple championships, Oaks's title remains one of the most impressive of the early era.

 

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Tristan Creach, better known as his nickname 'Rags,' remains not only one of the greatest stories in NAPARL history, but also one of the most influential drivers. The first star driver of the Northeastern U.S., Rags earned is name from moving from Massachusetts to Georgia with little else but his first race car to chase his dreams. A few star showings and a deal with a Harley-Davidson dealership owner, and the rest is history, as he went on to become a two time champion with Bergman Racing. Some people also believe that Harley's bold orange paint scheme with stripes, one of the first to have a more elaborate design, led to the standard of sponsors decking out their full car for years to come. A remarkable pair of accomplishments for a truly one of a kind driver.

 

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Jeffery Goebel, a native of Kansas City, is another driver notable for a bold and iconic scheme from his era. The short lived STAKE Motorsports and their sponsorship from Proctor and Gamble, highlighted by their primary Hawaiian Punch scheme of the time, was one of the first cars ever to use neon colors across the whole design, and it's no secret that it found its success in the 90s. Goebel was a bit of a late bloomer, with his best years coming from his lone championship in 1990 until his retirement in 1996, where he picked up a pair of Southeastern 400 wins along the way as well. STAKE's ownership ran into some financial trouble soonafter, and sold the team despite being one of the best single car teams of the decade.

 

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Flashing back to near present day, Timothy Chen is one of the most recently retired superstars of NAPARL racing, having called a somewhat early retirement after winning his second championship in 2016. As one of many exceptional drivers for Callahan International Motorsport so far, he and Michael Gilmore were the two drivers who put the team on the map and brought it their first championships. The California native could also be considered the leader of the 'dotcom' generation behind the scenes, with a loyal sponsor in Yahoo for most of his career, even after they had clearly lost the search engine war. A late bloomer who went out on top, Chen remains involved with Callahan to this day as an ambassador and driver coach.

 

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Kenn Gumm, a native of Topeka, Kansas, was a one time champion in 1977 near the end of a rather strange, but consistent career. A driver who seemed to be a 'one win a year' guy, he's one of the lowest in career wins among the top 50 drivers ever, but in 1977, he put it all together. The old school team her drove for, Robin Hood Racing, found speed for the U.S. Steel Machine, a car that had been in the field consistently since the early days of NAPARL racing, but was rarely a title contender. Gumm is a driver who changed that, and perhaps he could have been even higher up the list with a better opportunity.

 

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Our third driver to the stage who raced in the inaugural NAPARL season is Gregory Robinson, most known for being one of the first drivers ever to have full manufacturer support in the series, being sponsored by the Ford Motor Company itself. This led to not only improvement to his car, to become easily the best of the field at the time for a couple seasons, but also the advent of fully painted cars in the series, a staple for the entire history of the series to come. As a native of Dearborn, Michigan, it was no wonder Ford wanted him to represent their brand in the series, and while Ford's involvement in the series ended in the 1980s, they'll always be synonymous with the early days of the sport, and for helping Robinson be the originator of fully colored paint schemes.

 

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A smaller town racer with big success, Bethany, Oklahoma's Bobby Swarey had a long NAPARL career throughout the 80s and 90s, highlighted by his 1985 championship with CJC Motorsports. With Holiday Inn on board for much of his career, he had a bit of an influence on the hospitality side of helping the NAPARL series grow. While he ran another decade and a half after his championship without winning another, he's still very proud and humble of his own accomplishments. Swarey remains involved in racing to this day, helping manage smaller events in in the central parts of the U.S.

 

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The next driver still racing today to join the list is Tupac Badillo, undeniably the best current driver out of Mexico in the series. With a championship in the turbulent 2020 season, he made the list and continues to climb up with top three points finish in 2022. Perhaps in another decade, he could be in the top echelons of this list. Badillo has spent his whole Division 1 career with BMW so far in their #14 car, bringing along sponsorship from Cheetos and Sabritas. He's hot right now, but just how far can he climb the ladder?

 

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James Varney is undoubtably the greatest of the two time champions, and it's kind of a miracle that it turned out that way given decent, but not great start to his career. Upon surging after a surprise Southeastern 400 win in the early 90s, he was selected to lead the emerging Nissan program, having been led by a factory team at the time, similar to BMW. He went on a tear in the late 90s, earning his first championship in 1995, and winning three more Southeastern 400s, giving him 4, tied for the most all time. This was even more stunning given it all happened in the same decade. While he was a star at Atlanta, he still needed more to be a consistent champion, and captured enough greatness to earn a second championship at the end of his career in 2003. He may have become a superstar through unconventional means, but he still emerged to be one of the greatest in modern history.