Tony Raines

While most of today’s NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series drivers began racing at a very early age, Tony Raines took his time. In fact, Raines earned a college degree while he was just beginning his racing career. And even when he did start racing, it began as more of a hobby – as racing was something Raines never thought he could do professionally.

Thus is the story of Raines, a 42-year old hard-working Midwesterner who could just as easily be your neighbor, except rather than leisurely mowing the lawn every weekend, he’s driving the No. 96 DLP® HDTV Chevrolet at speeds of more than 200 mph.

So how did Raines get into the elite NASCAR Nextel Cup Series after getting such a late start in racing? It all goes back to baseball, of all things.

Raines was born in Glasgow, Mont., but with his father in the Air Force, the family moved around quite a bit. The Raines’ spent two years overseas in Greece before moving to Indiana, stopping first in Pendleton, and then Walkerton, before finally settling in La Porte, located about 75 miles east of Chicago. At La Porte High School, the 6’ 2” Raines played football, basketball and baseball.

La Porte High School’s baseball team is known as a powerhouse in Indiana. Raines played in the system under legendary coach Ken Schreiber who won more than 1,000 games and was named National Coach of the Year three times. But it was Raines’ fascination with cars and speed that got him in trouble with Schreiber.

“Coach Schreiber lived right next to the baseball field,” said Raines. “One day I was out in my dad’s 1957 Chevy and I was doing a little hot-roding down the street and I don’t think Schreiber was too impressed. That pretty much ended my baseball career at La Porte.”

Years later when Raines had made it to the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series, he was given a copy of Schreiber’s book, Coaching With Pride, to which Schreiber had signed: “To Tony, who excelled in a curriculum not offered at La Porte High School. Best Wishes, Coach Schreiber.”

After his 1982 graduation from La Porte High School, Raines headed to Southwestern Michigan College in Dowagiac, and graduated in 1984 with a degree in aviation. Raines had always been fascinated with airplanes, and after his graduation, began working on the fleet of aircraft owned by Miles Laboratories – a pharmaceutical company in Elkhart, Ind. It was during that time Raines also earned his pilot’s license.

While working at Miles, Raines began racing as a hobby.

“I grew up going to races with my dad,” Raines said. “We always went to the local short tracks around Indiana, so I was a fan of racing growing up. As I got older, I went to NASCAR races at Michigan and Daytona. When I got out of college and started working on airplanes, I started building a street stock car to start racing. It’s just something I thought might be kind of fun.”

For much of the 1980s, that was Raines’ lifestyle – working on planes during the week and racing on the weekends. In 1988, Raines made his debut in the prestigious American Speed Association (ASA) Series – a minor-league racing series which produced NASCAR starts Rusty Wallace and Mark Martin.

In 1989, Raines competed in his first full season of ASA competition and followed that up with a full season in the NASCAR All-Pro Series where he was named the 1990 Rookie of the Year.

Raines then moved to Ernie Roselli’s ASA team in 1991 and scored his first series victory at Cayuga International Speedway in Nelles Corners, Ontario, Canada that same year. He stayed at Roselli’s team until 1995 when he moved to Milwaukee and joined Baker Motorsports and crew chief Howie Lettow.

Raines and Lettow won two races in 1995 before they captured the 1996 ASA championship on the strength of three victories and 11 top-fives.

“That was a fun year,” said Raines. “We had a great car and a good crew. I was really proud to win the ASA championship because of all the great drivers that have competed in ASA throughout the years. It was a great series and really helped me get better as a driver.”

After winning the ASA championship, Raines moved up to the new NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series division which had begun operations in 1996. Johnny Benson, whom Raines had competed against in ASA, recommended Raines to owner Kurt Roehrig and Raines made his debut on March 1, 1997 at Tucson, (Ariz.) Speedway. In May 1997, Raines won his first Truck Series race at I-70 Speedway in Missouri.

“Johnny Benson was at the NASCAR banquet at the end of 1996 and couldn’t get to the practice session at Winter Heat in Arizona,” Raines said. “He recommended me to Roehrig, who let me test Johnny’s truck while he was at the banquet. I guess Kurt liked what he saw, and he got a second sponsor and hired me as his driver. That’s how I got into the Truck Series.”

Raines followed up a successful rookie year in the Truck Series by scoring three wins and finishing fifth in points in 1998. His success fueled his move to BACE Motorsports’ NASCAR Busch Series team in 1999.

“I was flying home from the Truck Series Race at Sonoma (Calif.),” Raines said. “A guy came onto the plane and sat down next to me and asked me what I did. I told him I raced in the Truck Series. He told me he owned a Busch Series team called BACE Motorsports. I was looking for a job, and he was looking for a driver. Two weeks later, we signed a contract. It was pretty wild how it came together.”

Raines competed in 31 of the 32 Busch Series events in 1999 and finished 12th in points. His impressive first season earned him the Rookie of the Year crown. For the next two seasons, Raines continued to drive for BACE in the Busch Series and finished as high as sixth in points in 2001.

In 2002, Raines again drove a full Busch Series schedule for BACE, and on June 2 at Dover (Del.) International Speedway, made his Nextel Cup Series debut for BACE. He started 17th and finished 31st.

“The thing that I remember most about that race was how long it was,” Raines said. “In the Busch Series and Truck Series, obviously the races are a lot shorter, so 400 laps at a tough track like Dover was a heck of a way to start.”

Raines made six more Nextel Cup starts in 2002 before Raines and BACE began competing in the Nextel Cup Series full-time in 2003.

Despite not having a primary sponsor, the team managed to qualify for 35 of the series’ 36 races.  In addition, Raines finished third in the Rookie of the Year standings behind Jamie McMurray and Greg Biffle.

The BACE team really raised eyebrows in the NASCAR garage in the season’s penultimate race at Rockingham when Raines started fourth and finished sixth.

“That was a fun year,” Raines said. “We were kind of like a throwback team. We didn’t have any money, but we had a group of guys who just wanted to race and work hard. We managed to qualify for all but one race, and we got better as the year went along. Looking back, it was just a neat group of guys to be a part of.”

Unfortunately for Raines, his impressive effort with under-funded BACE motorsports didn’t lead to a full-time ride in 2004.

“It was tough,” Raines said. “I certainly wanted to race, but nothing solid came together. Racing is a lot of luck, both on and off the track, and after 2003, I just didn’t have a lot of luck getting a good solid Nextel Cup ride.”

In the next two seasons, Raines drove anything he could.  In 2004, he made six starts in Nextel Cup, 18 in the Busch Series and one in the Craftsman Truck Series, followed by a mix of races again in 2005.

In late 2005 he was approached by officials from Hall of Fame Racing – a new team owned by Pro Football Hall of Fame quarterbacks Troy Aikman and Roger Staubach and managing partner Bill Saunders. The team was on schedule to compete in Nextel Cup for the first time in 2006 with full backing from DLP HDTV.

“I told my wife after meeting with Roger, Troy and Bill, that even if I didn’t get the job, at least I got to have a meeting with Troy Aikman and Roger Staubach,” Raines said.

As it turns out, Raines was the perfect fit for Hall of Fame Racing and was offered the job soon thereafter. He was to split time with two-time NASCAR champion Terry Labonte – with Labonte behind the wheel the first five races and two road course events and Raines driving the remaining 29 races.

“Obviously as a race car driver, you want to drive every race you can,” said Raines. “But that was a good situation for everyone on the DLP team. We were able to use Terry’s experience to make sure the team got off to a good start in the first year.”

Raines and Labonte combined to finish 26th in owner points – an impressive effort for a first-year team. One of the highlights of the year for Raines came in October where he led three times for 28 laps en route a seventh-place finish in the Bank of America 500 at Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway.

When he is not racing, Raines enjoys hunting and spending time with his wife, Sue, and their young son, Leland. He also enjoys golfing and watching movies and sports.