ISM Racing

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title: "ISM Racing" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["american-auto-racing-teams", "defunct-nascar-teams", "indycar-series-teams", "mcilhenny-family", "1997-establishments-in-the-united-states", "1999-disestablishments-in-the-united-states"] description: "Auto racing team" topic_path: "geography/united-states" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISM_Racing" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Auto racing team ::

ISM Racing was a former auto racing team owned by Bob Hancher. The team fielded entries in the Indy Racing League and the NASCAR Winston Cup Series.

Indy Racing League

ISM fielded cars in the IRL from 1997 to 1999. In 1998, Jeff Ward finished 6th in IRL driver points and won the pole at Phoenix in an ISM car and the team fielded three cars in the 1998 Indianapolis 500. However, the team was only able to run part-time in 1999 and shut down in July of that year. The IRL team used G-Force chassis and Oldsmobile engines.

ISM IRL drivers

• Jim Guthrie (1998)
• Steve Knapp (1998-1999)
• Jeff Ward (1997-1999)

Complete IRL IndyCar Series results

(key) (Results in bold indicate pole position; results in italics indicate fastest lap) ::data[format=table]

Year	Chassis	Engine	Drivers	No.	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	Pts Pos	Pos	1996–97	1998	1999
NHA	LSV	WDW	PHX	INDY	TXS	PPIR	CLT	NHA	LSV
Dallara IR7	Oldsmobile Aurora V8	USA Jeff Ward (R)	35										17		30th	69
WDW	PHX	INDY	TXS	NHA	DOV	CLT	PPIR	ATL	TXS	LSV
G-Force GF01B	Oldsmobile Aurora V8	USA Jeff Ward	35	2	5	13	17	22	19	2	20*	6	3	21	6th	252
USA Jim Guthrie	53	DNS	DNS	29									33rd	41
USA Steve Knapp (R)	55			3									22nd	118
WDW	PHX	CLT	INDY	TXS	PPIR	ATL	DOV	PPIR	LSV	TXS
G-Force GF01C	Oldsmobile Aurora V8	USA Jeff Ward	35	3												11th	206
USA Steve Knapp		25	DNQ	26	12	17	27					25th	69
USA Brian Tyler	36				DNQ								37th	16
Italy Vincenzo Sospiri				DNQ								NC	—
::

1. In conjunction with Sinden Racing Services.

NASCAR: Team Tabasco

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a0/Tabasco_Pontiac.jpg" caption="The Tabasco Pontiac"] ::

ISM started its NASCAR operation in 1997, starting as a part-time operation with the intent of running the full 1998 Winston Cup season. The team received backing from McIlhenny Company, the makers of Tabasco hot sauce, and hired Todd Bodine, who had last raced full-time in Winston Cup in 1995 for Butch Mock Motorsports, to drive the team's #35 Pontiac. The team attempted the UAW-GM Quality 500 at Charlotte and the season finale at Atlanta, finishing 26th in the former and failing to qualify in the latter.

1998 started off poorly for Bodine as he failed to qualify for the Daytona 500 and the following two races. The team followed this up with an unexpected front row start at Atlanta, and recorded its first top ten when Bodine finished tenth. This would be the only top ten the team would record, and after running 27th at Darlington and 29th at Bristol, the #35 missed the race at Texas. Bodine then ran 39th at Martinsville before missing the race at California Speedway with an injury suffered in a practice crash. Wally Dallenbach, Jr. brought the car home in 29th, after starting 42nd.

Despite the #35's struggles, McIlhenny was not initially upset with the results as they had been largely focused on using their sponsorship as a giant marketing tool. Things began to change when, after he only qualified for five of the first thirteen races of the season, Bodine was released from his contract. After only qualifying for one additional race with Gary Bradberry attempting the July race at New Hampshire, Hancher decided to exit NASCAR and sold the #35 to Tyler Jet Motorsports.

Car No. 35 results

::data[format=table]

Year	Team	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	32	33	NWCC	Pts	1997	Todd Bodine	35	Pontiac	52nd	116	1998	41st	2180	Wally Dallenbach Jr.	Gary Bradberry	Jimmy Horton
DAY	CAR	RCH	ATL	DAR	TEX	BRI	MAR	SON	TAL	CLT	DOV	POC	MCH	CAL	DAY	NHA	POC	IND	GLN	MCH	BRI	DAR	RCH	NHA	DOV	MAR	CLT
26	TAL	CAR	PHO	ATL
DNQ
DAY
DNQ	CAR
DNQ	LVS
DNQ	ATL
10	DAR
27	BRI
29	TEX
DNQ	MAR
39	TAL
DNQ		CLT
28	DOV
DNQ	RCH
35	MCH
DNQ	POC
22	SON
DNQ
	CAL
29
	NHA
40
	POC
DNQ	IND	GLN	MCH	BRI	NHA	DAR	RCH	DOV	MAR	CLT	TAL	DAY	PHO	CAR	ATL
::

References

References

1. (July 10, 1998). "Bodine fired by ISM Racing". [[Lawrence Journal-World]].

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::