Pacific Coast Racing (Start Your Engines!)

Pacific Coast Racing (often shortened to PCR) is an American motorsports racing team based in San Jose, CA. Owned by former driver Sheldon Johnson, Jr., the team currently fields the #60 Makita car for Katie Johnson, the #69 Dickies car for Kelly Walker, the #80 Nintendo/Fanta car for Andy Johnson, and the #85 Sprite car for Suki Honda in the NASCAR Cup Series; associate sponsors include Coca-Cola, Nestle, Sonic Drive-In, and Hasbro. It also fields the #80 Pibb Xtra car for Ace Johnson in the NASCAR Xfinity Series (Ace also fields the #70 Pibb Xtra Challenger in the Cup Series on a limited basis at plate tracks and road courses, having done so since 2001), and other teams in the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour. The team fields the Dodge Challenger.

PCR has the distinction of being the oldest team in NASCAR, operating since its 1948 inception and the first Modified Division race on February 15, 1948. It has also fielded exclusively Chrysler products, and has a reputation for its ingenuity, always exploiting loopholes in the NASCAR rulebook rather than resorting to outright Smokey Yunick-style cheating, as well as giving each car a unique nickname.

Beginnings (1948-1952)
From its inception in 1948 until 1988, Pacific Coast Racing was a one-car operation. For the first race of the Modified Division on February 15, 1948, Pacific Coast Racing entered a heavily-modified 1946 Chrysler New Yorker, numbered 80 and driven by 30-year-old Sheldon Johnson of San Jose, CA. The team finished 4th in the race, and ran well during the season, winning four races en route to a respectable 6th-place finish in the final season standings.

Johnson then moved up to the new Strictly Stock Division in 1949, driving a 1948 Chrysler Saratoga also numbered 80; the team continued in the Modified Division with the same Chrysler New Yorker, now driven by Nicholas Malone, who drove in the Modified Division until 1975, at which point his son, Dennis Malone, took over.

Throughout the inaugural Strictly Stock Season, PCR ran well, collecting 13 wins, ending up second in points behind champion Red Byron. Somehow, Johnson had managed not to wreck or even damage the car at all, and any bumps or scrapes the car got into didn't even inflict cosmetic damage. For this, the car was nicknamed the "Bulletproof Bomber", and a tradition of giving the team's cars colorful monikers was born.

"Bulletproof Bomber" was used again in 1950, netting 12 wins en route to another runner-up finish in points. For 1951, the team switched to a different car to remain competitive; "Bulletproof Bomber" is currently on display in the lobby of Pacific Coast Racing's headquarters in San Jose, next to PCR's museum, which opened in 1962 in celebration of the team's fifteenth season in the sport. The new car was a Plymouth Cambridge, painted all-blue and named the "Blue Bonnet", since its color scheme made it stand out in a field mainly made up of black or white cars. 1951 was a watershed year for the organization, as Johnson won 19 of 41 races en route to the 1951 NASCAR Grand National championship. "Blue Bonnet" was run again in 1952, finishing 8th in points standings due to the dominance of the Hudson Hornets.

Rise of PCR (1953-1964)
Seeking to get their own against the Hornets, PCR switched to a factory-supported Dodge Coronet in 1953, and gained sponsorship from numerous tobacco companies, earning the car the name "Maximum Lung Cancer". 1953 saw Sheldon Johnson win 5 of 37 events en route to a 5th place points finish, again hindered by the dominant Hornets. In 1954, Hudson's dominance slipped, and the true power of Ford, General Motors, and Chrysler was on full-display, with Johnson finishing second in points to champion Lee Petty, though Hudson still won the manufacturer's championship.

1955 was another banner year for PCR, as Sheldon Johnson brought "Maximum Lung Cancer" to victory lane 18 times (out of 45 races) for his second championship, also netting Dodge the manufacturers' championship. The next year was a slump for the entire organization, only winning 3 of 56 races, but still rallying for 8th in points. 1957 saw a 4th place points finish for Johnson, winning 13 of 53 races.

Before the end of the 1957 season, PCR decided to retire "Maximum Lung Cancer", as the car was, by now, five years old and starting to be outpaced by newer models. In 1958, the team switched its Grand National car to the Plymouth Savoy. Despite only winning 8 of 51 races that season, consistent top-ten performances ensured a 5th-place points finish for Sheldon Johnson and a manufacturers' championship for Plymouth in a down-to-the-wire fight with Chevrolet. Like the Chrysler Saratoga the team had fielded in the first two years of the Grand National Division's existence, the Savoy shrugged off any hits it took with not even a tiny scratch, earning it the name "Bulletproof Bomber II".

When NASCAR began racing at Daytona International Speedway in 1959, PCR knew that a chaotic high-speed race like this was up the alley of "Bulletproof Bomber II", but still applied extra reinforcement once it became clear speeds would be higher than ever. In the inaugural Daytona 500, Sheldon Johnson brought "Bulletproof Bomber II" to a 4th-place finish. The rest of the season was another round of not quite being able to win, but still taking home 9 wins and finishing 5th in standings for the second year in a row thanks to consistent top-ten finishes. It was because of PCR that teams began realizing that sometimes, consistency was just as important as winning.

PCR had decided before the end of 1959 to switch to another model, electing to run the Plymouth Belvedere. This proved to be just what PCR needed, as Sheldon Johnson defeated Junior Johnson (no relation) in the second Daytona 500 on a last-lap pass, going on to win his third (and final) Grand National championship in 1960. The car's dominant performance, especially over the Fords, earned it the name "Ford-Buster".

1961 was another dominant year for PCR, finishing second in points below Ned Jarrett while winning 13 of 53 races (including a sweep of North Wikesboro). 1962 was much of the same, this time finishing third in points, and in 1963, finishing second in points again.

1964 was a black year for PCR. Not only did the team go winless for the first time since its inception, but at the season finale at Jacksonville, Sheldon Johnson was involved in a life-threatening crash when he was t-boned by Larry Manning. He survived, but his career was over, and "Ford-Buster" was destroyed.

A new era (1965-1980)
For 1965, PCR was determined to put the previous year behind them. Sheldon Johnson's son, 19-year-old Sheldon Johnson Jr., was named the new driver for the famed #80, and, rather than rebuild "Ford-Buster", which was retired to the PCR museum, switched to a new car, or rather, an old car that had just been reintroduced, the Dodge Coronet. Now a more aero-friendly car, the new car received sponsorship from multiple hard liquor companies, earning it the name "Rolling Liquor Store".

For Sheldon Jr.'s first season, he silenced his critics by winning 18 of 55 races en route to a fourth-place finish in points, easily winning Rookie of the Year and netting Dodge the manufacturers' championship. He showed absolutely no signs of a sophomore slump in 1966, winning 24 of 49 races (including the Daytona 500) to win the driver's championship, and getting Dodge another manufacturers' championship.

The hot streak continued in 1967, as Sheldon Jr. finished fifth in standings, then fourth in 1968. 1969 was an interesting year for the team. They switched to the Dodge Charger (nicknamed the "Yellowjacket" due to its yellow-and-black paint scheme), and at the inaugural Talladega 500 at Alabama International Motor Speedway (now Talladega Superspeedway), was one of five NASCAR entries in the ill-fated race alongside Richard Brickhouse, Jim Vandiver, Ramo Scott, and Bobby Isaac, at which the winged Dodge Charger Daytona debuted (PCR's Charger Daytona wore an identical paint scheme to "Yellowjacket", but because of its shape, it was named "Flying Wedge"). Sheldon Jr. won the inaugural Talladega 500 en route to his second championship.

1970 is commonly called the "Dual-Car Campaign" in PCR lore, as the team fielded "Flying Wedge" on speedways and road courses, and "Yellowjacket" on short tracks. That year, Sheldon Jr. finished fifth in points. 1971 saw "Flying Wedge" completely retired as NASCAR came down hard on the "Aero Warriors", leaving "Yellowjacket" the sole car used by PCR in the newly-renamed Winston Cup Series. Sheldon Jr. won his second Daytona 500 that year en route to another strong points finish, this time in seventh. This momentum continued in 1972, with a win in the World 600 and a fifth-place points finish. 1973 saw Sheldon Jr. complete the so-called "Triple Crown" by winning the Southern 500, as well as sweeping Riverside en route to his third championship. He would win a fourth championship in 1974, proving once and for all that PCR was one of the great teams. Through it all, the team had run four different Chargers called "Yellowjacket", in keeping with NASCAR's "three-year rule".

1975 was a slump for PCR, but Sheldon Jr. still managed to finish 8th in points. In 1976, the team refreshed its look by trading the blacks on "Yellowjacket" with reds. The new car was named "Ronald McDonald" for obvious reasons. 1976 saw Sheldon Jr. win his Southern 500 en route to his fourth and final championship. 1977, the last year the Charger would be run in the Winston Cup Series until 2005, was another good year, with Sheldon Jr. finishing 6th in points with a Talladega sweep.

1978 was the first year PCR faced real adversity. Chrysler had switched its car from the Dodge Charger to the new Dodge Magnum. Immediately, the car was met with derision. Not only did it have a boxy body that was conducive to aerodynamics, but its small-block Chrysler 360 V8 had absolutely no factory support. By the Daytona 500, two of Dodge's top drivers, Richard Petty and Neil Bonnett, had defected to GM, Petty, in particular, calling the Magnum "undrivable at 190 miles per hour". PCR was the only major team Dodge had left, and they, too, were leery of the car. Not expecting to do anything with the car, they renumbered it to 02 and called it "Runt of the Litter". 1978, however, was also the year PCR started thinking outside the box not by cheating, but by exploiting loopholes in the NASCAR rulebook. Come the Daytona 500, Sheldon Jr. took "Runt of the Litter" to a 3rd-place finish, and then-team owner Manny Brown rechristened the #02 to "Clifford the Big Red Car", named so for its all-red paint scheme and the fact that a car they had written off could be made viable with the right loopholes. Throughout 1978, "Clifford the Big Red Car" visited victory lane four times, with Sheldon Jr. finishing 6th in final standings. The performance of the car made Richard Petty turn his head, but not enough to turn his back on Chevrolet.

At the 1979 Daytona 500, PCR carried one of two in-car cameras for CBS, the other being carried by Benny Parsons. Sheldon Jr. finished 3rd in the historic race, and won 5 races for a third-place points finish. At the beginning of Speedweeks in 1980, Sheldon Jr. announced it would be his final year before retiring to focus on the careers of his children, as well as his satisfaction with how his career had turned out, but that it would be at least eight years until his son, Tim, could succeed him. That year saw Sheldon Jr. go out on a high note with a win in the Winston 500 to complete a career Grand Slam, and a sixth-place points finish.

Dennis Malone era (1981-1987)
As Tim Johnson was too young, PCR called up Malone from the Modified Division to run as an interim driver until Tim came of age. Until then, PCR groomed him in various local and regional karting championship series, and by 1983, had him racing in the Winston Racing Series. Malone, meanwhile, had inherited what he described as a "hot mess". 1981 had seen NASCAR switch to smaller cars with a wheelbase of 110-inches, and Chrysler had brought two car models to the table: the Chrysler Imperial, and the Dodge Mirada; PCR elected to run the Mirada, a car they named the "Mean Green Machine" due to its primarily-green paint job; sponsorship came directly from Dodge itself. Although the Mirada had a very high coefficient of drag that made it incapable of speeds over 185 mph, PCR again exploited loopholes in the NASCAR rulebook to make their Miradas competitive; it also helped that Manny Brown owned a Mopar dealership from which he scrounged for parts to use in the "Mean Green Machine". For his rookie season in the NASCAR Winston Cup Series, Dennis Malone managed to win three races and finish 8th in standings, winning Rookie of the Year over Ron Bouchard. 1982 saw Malone win a further two races and perform consistently enough for 5th in points.

By this point, Chrysler had basically given up on NASCAR, as, aside from PCR, the only drivers running Miradas and Imperials were small-time teams such as Buddy Arrington and country star Marty Robbins. It was also clear to Chrysler that Dennis Malone just didn't have the Johnson pedigree, even though he finished 9th in points in 1983. After a disastrous campaign for PCR in 1984 that saw them finish outside the top-ten in points for the first time since 1948, finishing in 17th after going winless and seeing two "Mean Green Machines" totalled, Chrysler abandoned NASCAR and cut all support.

But PCR wouldn't give up. Having tasted bitter defeat for once, they redoubled for 1985. Still using a Dodge Mirada, the team renamed it to the "Mean Green Dodge Machine" to reinforce that it was a Dodge and nothing else. Using the sheetmetal of cars from other manufacturers, PCR shaped it (or in some cases, literally beat it with a hammer) to look like a 1983 Mirada. That season, Dennis Malone silenced his critics in "Mean Green Dodge Machine III" by winning eight races en route to the championship. Everyone was stunned. A team with no factory support that had been reduced to scavenging parts from other manufacturers to create so-called "Frankenstein's cars" like in the Modified Division had slayed the goliaths of GM and Ford. This earned the team as a whole the nickname "The Junkrats".

Every other team still running the Mirada and Imperial switched to other manufacturers in 1986, donating their sheetmetal and parts to PCR. For their 1986 campaign, PCR was supported by Mopar dealerships around the country en route to a third-place points finish. 1986 also saw Tim Johnson debut in the NASCAR Winston Modified Series driving the #192 car (nicknamed "Sourdough Sam" due to its red-and-gold paint scheme meant to evoke Bobby Allison's 1969-70 Dodge Charger Daytona; the name was a reference to PCR's hometown NFL team, the San Francisco 49ers, whose mascot is named Sourdough Sam), where he cleaned house and easily won the championship.

1987 was ultimately the final year the team used a Mirada, as after several Chrysler executives witnessed Malone's dominant performance in the First Union 400, Chrysler as a whole realized that PCR had merely hit a rough patch, and was stronger than ever. Starting with the Valleydale Meats 500, Chrysler gave limited factory support to PCR, as well as full support for the organization's now-two-car operation in the Winston Modified Series, where Tim once again ran "Sourdough Sam", now joined by his twin sister Chloe in the #191 car "Red Streak". Chrysler also announced they would be returning full-time in 1988 with the Chrysler LeBaron (it should be noted that by 1987, PCR was referring to the "Mean Green Dodge Machine" as a Dodge 600 to keep it legal under the "three-year rule").

Tim's debut and team expansion (1988-1996)
Tim Johnson finally made his Winston Cup debut in 1988, driving the new LeBaron. For Tim's debut, the team went back to his father and grandfather's number 80, and the team secured sponsorship from Nintendo and Mopar. Tim himself christened the car "Mopar Magic". Chloe Johnson ran the "Mean Green Dodge Machine" for PCR in the Busch Grand National Series, where she became the first woman to win a NASCAR race at the national level. Chloe moved up to the Winston Cup Series in 1989, as PCR, for the first time in its storied history, expanded to a two-car operation in the Winston Cup Series. Chloe ran the #60 Capcom LeBaron, named "Blue Bomber" due to prominently displaying Mega Man and Dr. Wily. Chloe made history by becoming the first woman to win in the Winston Cup Series.

In 1990, Tim's car was rechristened "Split Personality", as the car now had a distinct dual-color scheme consisting of red on the right side, and green on the left side; these colors signify Mario and Luigi. 1991 saw PCR start a third team, as Tim's wife Belle Armstrong entered in the #85 Sprite LeBaron, named "Lymon Blast". In 1992, Tim's car changed again, now nicknamed "El Diablo". 1993 saw Chloe's longtime best friend (and later wife) Jenny Smith join in the #69 Dickies LeBaron, named "Supergirl"; Chloe and Jenny's 1995 marriage was historic, in that it not only paved the way for Proposition 8 in California, it also made them the first openly-gay drivers in all of motorsports. The four drivers, along with Jeff Gordon and Ernie Irvan, formed the unofficial successor to the Alabama Gang, known as the California Crew. Tim and Chloe ran in the inaugural SuperTruck Series race at Phoenix on February 5, 1995, driving Dodge trucks that had the same numbers and paint schemes as their Cup Series rides; from 1996 to his 2009 retirement, Dennis Malone ran the #80 Dasani Dodge Ram, nicknamed "Poseidon's Fury"; the team was shut down after Malone's retirement. In 1996, Manny Brown, who had owned the team since its inception, retired, and handed the team to Sheldon Johnson, Jr., who kept the Pacific Coast Racing name after debating renaming it to Johnson Motorsports.

Return to Dodge (1997-2004)
In 1997, with the advent of the SAFER Car, Chrysler retired the LeBaron (though it continued running in ARCA until 1998), as the LeBaron had been retired in 1994 (between then and 1997, the model run by Chrysler was officially listed as the Chrysler Cirrus, which was not reflected on the cars due to still saying "LeBaron" on the B pillar) and revived the Dodge marquee in NASCAR with the Dodge Avenger. At that time, Mopar left Tim's #80 and Fanta took over; the car was renamed "Split Personality II". Capcom also left Chloe's #60 and Makita replaced them; the car was rechristened "Cherry Bomb" for its red color. In 1999, faced with the Ford Taurus' dominance the previous year, Dodge switched to the Intrepid, which it continued running until 2004; Belle skipped much of the 2000 season due to her pregnancy, and PCR hired Tim and Chloe's cousin Ace Johnson to drive the #85 for the year, though Belle did drive the car at the Winston 500; Ace's performance was satisfactory enough that PCR reopened its Busch Series team in 2001 after a nine-season dormancy, running the #80 Mr. Pibb car, as well as making limited appearances in the Winston Cup Series at Daytona, Talladega, Coca-Cola, San Jose, and all road courses (including midweek road course races), the car carrying the nickname "Mrs. Pibb" in reference to the then-current Mr. Pibb branding.

Dodge had wanted to switch to the revived Charger in 2004, but it wasn't in production yet and was therefore considered ineligible under NASCAR's homologation rule. In the interim, Dodge ran a new nose on the existing Intrepid body; the identity of this car is still being debated, as Dodge referred to it as the "Dodge R/T", Dodge dealerships continued calling it the Intrepid, and Pacific Coast Racing elected to replace the "Dodge R/T" decals with Dodge Stratus lettering, as Tim correctly identified the nose as belonging to that year's Stratus; PCR nomenclature throughout 2004 referred to it as the Stratus, but NASCAR continued calling it the Intrepid, and Dodge still wouldn't give it an exact model name; still, the Stratus name was eventually adopted by Penske and Evernham. Starting in 2000, Tim ran a special paint scheme (in support of the Democratic candidate due to PCR's left-leaning views) for one race, the closest to the election date. The endorsed candidates include Al Gore and Joe Lieberman in 2000, John Kerry and John Edwards in 2004, Barack Obama and Joe Biden in 2008 and 2012, Hillary Clinton and Tim Kaine in 2016, and will endorse Biden and an undetermined running mate in 2020.

PCR's continued success (2005-2018)
The Charger made its return to NASCAR in 2005, staying until switching to the Challenger in 2019; this was also the year all four PCR cars saw new faces, these being Tim and Belle's twin son and daughter Andy and Katie, Andy's girlfriend Suki Honda (the first Japanese-American woman to compete in NASCAR), and Katie's girlfriend Kelly Walker; Tim, Chloe, Belle, and Jenny had retired at the end of 2018 after long and illustrious careers that left no doubt in anyone's mind that Pacific Coast Racing would forever be one of the greatest organizations in all of NASCAR.

The new generation (2019-present)
The current cars run by PCR are "Time Waster" (Andy, named in reference to prominently displaying characters from Animal Crossing: New Horizon), "Toolbox" (Katie), "Thirst Quencher" (Suki), "Big Red" (Kelly, named for its all-red paint job), and "Mrs. Pibb" (Ace).

INFORMATION ON SEASONS WILL BE ADDED AS THEY ARE RUN