M. C. Anderson Racing

M.C. Anderson Racing is a former NASCAR Winston Cup Series race team owned by Morgan Cuyler "M.C." Anderson, who made his fortune in the construction business. The team ran out of Savannah, Georgia. Known for being in NASCAR for a short time, the team however was one of the more dominant teams in the series in the late 1970's and early 1980's. After the 1982 season, Anderson sold his team to Texan drag racer, Raymond Beadle to start Blue Max Racing. Some driver of M.C. Anderson Racing include Buddy Baker, Benny Parsons, and Cale Yarborough.

M.C. Anderson Racing

Owner(s)	M.C. Anderson
Base	Savannah, Georgia
Series	Winston Cup
Race drivers	Sam Sommers, Buddy Baker, Benny Parsons, Marty Robbins, Cale Yarborough
Sponsors	Valvoline Melling Tool Company, U.S. Army
Manufacturer	Buick, Chevrolet, Oldsmobile
Opened	1976
Closed	1983
Career
Debut	1976 World 600 (Charlotte)
Latest race	1982 Atlanta Journal 500 (Atlanta)
Drivers' Championships	0
Race victories	10

History

Car No. 27 History

The team first appeared in 1976 at the World 600 with Georgian driver Sam Sommers who was a short track ace, however the larger style of tracks that NASCAR was trending to at the time was not for his suiting. After the 1977 season, Anderson recruited Buddy Baker to drive the 27 car in 1978 on a partial basis before going all in on 1979. The team also recruited engine builder and crew chief David Ifft to lead the calls on the pit box. Baker drove for the team in 19 races in 1978, however the season was riddled with attrition with 12 DNF's. However the other races he finished, he placed in the Top 10 with a best finish of second at Talladega and a third at Dover. He was leading the Daytona 500 after leading a race high 76 laps, with ten to go with a big gap over second place Bobby Allison, Baker blew up and dropped out of the race, finishing 196 of 200 laps. After a season where durability issues plagued Baker despite being a known hard nosed racer in those days, he left the team to go to Ranier-Lundy Racing.

After a small search was conducted, Benny Parsons, the 1973 Champion was recruited to drive the 27 car in 1979. His gentle driving style resulted in more success with the team as they went full time as planned in 1979, they won their first race as a team at Benny's home track at North Wilkesboro and rounded up the season with a win at Ontario in California. At the Daytona 500, the team taped together a television camera inside the cockpit of the race car to deliver a live in-car shot of the races, this was the first time in NASCAR history where a team transmitted to live television, in this case for CBS. The team would finish fifth in the standings. In 1980, the group would run it back again and would come with a financial boost in the case of Michigan businessman Harry Melling. He was a self made businessman who made oil pumps for the Ford Motor Company and wanted to find ways into advertisement and found his way to Benny Parsons, who had Michigan roots as he lived in Detroit for a time as a taxi-cab driver. The 1980 season would be the most successful year together as they won three times, at Charlotte, Michigan, and the last NASCAR race in Ontario to close out the year. The team finished third in points, however Junior Johnson & Associates driver Cale Yarborough left the team to go part time racing to spend more time at home with his family. M.C. seeing an opportunity to get a legend, brought Yarborough over. Along with the move, Valvoline agreed to sponsor the team as well. The move meant that Anderson would have to go back to part time.

The Yarborough and Anderson pairing was a successful one, winning Atlanta and the summer race at Daytona together in 1981 and winning Rockingham, Michigan, and the Southern 500 at Yarborough's home track of Darlington, the last of his wins at the track. During the 1982 season, crew chief Tim Brewer came along to lead the team where Ifft moved to a managerial position with the team. However the move was short lived as tensions grew within the shop. Anderson had desired to go back full time racing with Yarborough in 1983, Yarborough was insistent of not driving on a full time basis again as he desired to be at home in South Carolina more. It came to a boiling point where Anderson entered Yarborough's car at Martinsville in the fall and Cale refused to drive the car. Anderson would leave his name on the entry sheet until Friday where the team did not show up and withdrew. Yarborough would receive an offer to drive for Rainier-Lundy in 1983 to remain part time. Disgusted, Anderson would announce he would be selling off his team. The team would be bought by drag racer Raymond Beadle who ran the team the next year as Blue Max Racing.^[1]

M.C. Anderson would later die on May 6, 1999 at the age of 62. A bridge carrying Interstate 95 outside of Savannah was named after him in February of 2000.^[2]

Motorsports career results

NASCAR

(key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

Car No. 27 results

Year	Driver	No.	Make	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31	NWCC	Pts	Ref
1976	Sam Sommers	27	Chevy	RSD	DAY	CAR	RCH	BRI	ATL	NWS	DAR	MAR	TAL	NSV	DOV	CLT 24	RSD	MCH	DAY DNQ	NSV	POC	TAL 36	MCH	BRI	DAR 30	RCH	DOV	MAR	NWS	CLT 36	CAR	ATL 9	ONT		52nd	412	[3]
1977				RSD	DAY 31	RCH	CAR 7	ATL 13	NWS	DAR 13	BRI 15	MAR 28	TAL 10	NSV	DOV	CLT 9	RSD	MCH 8	DAY 10	NSV 24	POC 32	TAL 26	MCH 4	BRI 20	DAR 29	RCH	DOV 10	MAR 5		CLT 34	CAR 17	ATL 28	ONT 38		21st	2517	[4]
1978	Buddy Baker		Olds	RSD	DAY 7*	RCH		ATL 27	BRI				TAL 2						DAY 37	NSV		TAL 28	MCH 36	BRI											24th	2130	[5]
			Chevy				CAR 33			DAR 6	NWS	MAR		DOV 23	CLT 7	NSV	RSD	MCH 8			POC 5				DAR 32	RCH	DOV 3	MAR 26	NWS	CLT 34	CAR 22	ATL 21*	ONT 4
1979	Benny Parsons		Chevy	RSD 26		CAR 10	RCH 4	ATL 5	NWS 3		DAR 4	MAR 19		NSV 7	DOV 7	CLT 5	TWS 25	RSD 5	MCH 31		NSV 4	POC 4		MCH 3	BRI 4*	DAR 5	RCH 8	DOV 22	MAR 27	CLT 6	NWS 1	CAR 2*	ATL 31	ONT 1*	5th	4256	[6]
			Olds		DAY 18					BRI 5			TAL 35							DAY 2			TAL 21
1980			Chevy	RSD 33		RCH 28	CAR 21	ATL 30	BRI 4	DAR 2	NWS 5	MAR 2		NSV 2	DOV 22	CLT 1	TWS 23	RSD 3	MCH 1*		NSV 3*	POC 20		MCH 8	BRI 5	DAR 4	RCH 10	DOV 5	NWS 6	MAR 4	CLT 33	CAR 23	ATL 32	ONT 1	3rd	4278	[7]
			Olds		DAY 5								TAL 8							DAY 6			TAL 4
1981	Cale Yarborough		Olds	RSD	DAY 8	RCH																													24th	2201	[8]
			Buick				CAR 2*	ATL 1	BRI	NWS	DAR 26	MAR 21	TAL 24	NSV	DOV 10	CLT 3	TWS	RSD	MCH 8	DAY 1*	NSV	POC 5	TAL 28	MCH 17	BRI	DAR 10	RCH	DOV 13	MAR	NWS	CLT 31	CAR 25	ATL 3	RSD
1982		DAY 2		RCH	BRI	ATL 3	CAR 1	DAR 2	NWS	MAR	TAL 37	NSV	DOV	CLT 4	POC 28	RSD	MCH 1*	DAY 22	NSV	POC 26	TAL 4	MCH 28	BRI	DAR 1*	RCH	DOV	NWS	CLT 33	MAR	CAR 25	ATL 35	RSD		27th	2022	[9]

Daytona 500

Year	Driver	Manufacturer	Start	Finish
1977	Sam Sommers	Chevrolet	36	31
1978	Buddy Baker	Oldsmobile	31	7*
1979	Benny Parsons	Oldsmobile	5	18
1980	Benny Parsons	Oldsmobile	14	5
1981	Cale Yarborough	Oldsmobile	29	8
1982	Cale Yarborough	Oldsmobile	3	2

Car No. 6 results

Year	Driver	No.	Make	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31	NWCC	Pts	Ref
1980	Marty Robbins	6	Chevy	RSD	DAY	RCH	CAR	ATL	BRI	DAR	NWS	MAR	TAL	NSV	DOV	CLT	TWS	RSD	MCH	DAY	NSV	POC	TAL	MCH	BRI	DAR	RCH	DOV	NWS	MAR	CLT 32	CAR	ATL	ONT	N/A	67	[10]