Interstate’s involvement in racing as it is today began in 1983 with the Interstate Batteries Great American Race. In 2007 we celebrate 25 years of involvement with this adventure that features about 100 antique, vintage and classic cars in a time-speed endurance rally across the country. The route changes each year, but usually spans the United States from coast-to-cast, visiting both small towns and big cities.

As 1990 approached, we moved into a different type of racing with Stanley Smith in the All-American Challenge Series. This was short-track, low-cost racing to test the interest level with Interstate distributors and dealers. We not only participated in the Southeastern and Mid-Central parts of the country, but also took part in a special tour, visiting tracks up and down the West Coast to expose Western distributors and dealers to Interstate Batteries racing. The following year Stanley moved up to the Busch series and qualified for a couple of Winston Cup events.

During 1992, Interstate Batteries teamed up with Joe Gibbs, coach of the Washington Redskins, to be the title sponsor of his new NASCAR Winston Cup team. Our first race was the Daytona 500, with driver Dale Jarrett behind the wheel. As a new team, we steadily improved throughout the season and went on to a second-place finish at Bristol and third-place at the July Daytona race, ending the season 19th in point standings.

With the newly formed Joe Gibbs Racing team and Dale Jarrett driving the No. 18 Lumina, we scored our first Winston Cup victory in the 1993 Daytona 500! While we didn’t win another race that year, we had 18 top-10 finishes and 13 top-fives, ending up fourth in points that year.

Also during this year, Interstate Batteries charged onto the scene of Indy car racing at the historical Indianapolis 500 with driver Jeff Andretti and the Jack Pagan Racing team. The excitement of our first Indy 500 led to the 1994 sponsorship of another Pagan racer – Roberto Guererro, the former Indianapolis speed record holder.

In 1995, the Interstate-Joe Gibbs Racing team saw major changes. Bobby Labonte, a rising star on the NASCAR circuit, stepped into the driver’s seat of the Interstate Batteries Monte Carlo. In his first season with the team, he made three trips to Victory Lane and finished with a career high 10th-place standing in the Winston Cup points!

This year additionally marked a premiere adventure across two borders starting in Ottawa, Canada, and ending in Mexico City for the one and only Interstate Batteries Great Race across North America.

Exciting times lay ahead in 1997 when Interstate Batteries sponsored the inaugural Winston Cup race at the brand-new Texas Motor Speedway. Almost 200,000 fans attended the Interstate Batteries 500, and nearly 11 million people tuned in to the race on CBS. We ended up finishing third, and raised brand awareness across the country.

Our involvement with Joe Gibbs eventually extended into the field of NHRA racing. We became associate sponsor of Top Fuel driver Cory McClenathan, Funny Car driver Cruz Pedregon and Pro Stock driver Jim Yates. During these times, the three teams combined won a total of nine rounds of competition.

As driver Bobby Labonte steadily climbed to sixth in 1998 and second in 1999, he rose to win the 2000 NASCAR Winston Cup, making him the only driver to win both the NASCAR Busch and Winston Cup championships. Bobby finished the season with four wins, including the prestigious Brickyard 400 and the historic Southern 500. Bobby continued to drive the No. 18 Chevy until his last season with Interstate Batteries in 2005.

With beginning of the 2006 season, Phoenix native J.J. Yeley became just the third driver to pilot the vaunted No. 18 Interstate Batteries machine. While he didn’t win any races, he did get named #1 in most spectacular wrecks for the year in USA Today. Not exactly what we were hoping for, but we received some nice publicity, and it is a part of Interstate Racing history.

For current race information please visit our Garage Talk and Race Results sections.