The Driver Suit Blog

By David G. Firestone

In NASCAR, there are usually two kinds of teams: big and small. The big teams include Stewart-Haas Racing, Hendrick Motorsports, Team Penske, Chip Ganassi Racing, Joe Gibbs Racing, and Furniture Row Racing. Big teams are multi-car teams that are championship caliber, and have little if any trouble with sponsorship issues. Small teams are teams like Tommy Baldwin, Germain Racing, Premium Motorsports, BK Racing, The Wood Brothers, Go FAS Racing, Circle Sport/TMG, Rick Ware Racing, and Leavine Family Racing. These teams, while they may have more than one team, are often underfunded, have mediocre drivers and on track results.

Interestingly, there is a third group, which could really either be considered big or small, depending how one looks at them. These teams include Richard Childress Racing, JTG Daugherty, Richard Petty Motorsports, Roush-Fenway Racing, and Front Row Motorsports. These are all teams that while they have multiple teams and decent sponsorship, they aren’t championship caliber, even though they do often make the playoffs and win races. The have a decent driver or two, and have decent fan bases. One of the most well-known and least appreciated of these teams is Front Row Motorsports.

Founded by Bob Jenkins and Jimmy Means in 2005 as a single-car team, the original team merged will Mach 1, and began a two-car operation. Eventually, the team shad as many as three teams, with two full time. Since team owner Bob Jenkins owns over 150 franchises from Yum! Brands, including Taco Bell and Long John Silver’s, as well as Morristown Driver’s Services or MDS, those sponsors frequently appear on the sides of his cars. While the team hasn’t shown much strength on many tracks, they show strength on superspeedways.

Founded some time in the early 2010’s, Maxim Racewear was a small-time operation that provided crew uniforms to lower-end teams, and eventually was found by some teams in the upper echelons of NASCAR, including Front Row Motorsports. The company went out of business around 2015, so information on them is difficult to get. One team they made pit crew uniforms for is Front Row Motorsports, as evidenced by this 2013-2014 example. This mismatched suit shows decent use, with scuff marks and stains.The blue collar has silver accents, and is unadorned.The name NOVAK is written in Sharpie in the cowl.The right chest has NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES,FORD,CSX PLAY IT SAFE, and GOODYEAR logos embroidered into it.The left chest features LOVE’S TRUCK STOPS, FARM RICH, SAFECAR.GOV, DR PEPPER, TACO BELL, LONG JOHN SILVERS, and MDS logos embroidered.The front torso features a FRONT ROW MOTORSPORTS logo embroidered into it.Inside the front zipper of the jacket features a Maxim Racewear warranty label.The sides of the jacket have Velcro comfort straps on the back. The shoulder epaulets have FRONT ROW MOTORSPORTS embroidered logos, as well as MAXIM RACEWEAR logos present. The right sleeve has NASCAR, FORD RACING, RACING RADIOS,MERIT PRO, and K&N logos on the upper sleeve, and a MAXIM RACEWEAR logo in television position on the end of the sleeve. The left sleeve features SUNOCO, SHERWIN WILLIAMS, SEM, LINCOLN WELDERS, THE PETE STORE, and the SFI certification on the upper sleeve, and a MAXIM RACEWEAR logo in television position at the end of the sleeve. The back of the jacket shows some wear with a few scuff marks and stains.The back of the neck is unadorned.The back torso has @FRONTROWNASCAR, I BREAK FOR TRAINS, and a FRONT ROW MOTORSPORTS logo embroidered into it.The pants show decent use, with the tag destroyed, and some scuff marks.In the inside of the pants is written 38 SPARE and some Asian lettering.There is a tag in the waist of the pants, but the pants have been washed some many times, the tag has been destroyed.The black pants have a blue stripe up the sides, and has boot cuffs, though the cuffs do show some wear. The back of the pants show some light wear.Front Row Motorsports is a little team that can, and they have a number of wins in the Cup Series. They have had a lot of talented drivers, and I hope they have a lot of success in the future.