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Jimmy Means
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Jimmy Means (born May 291950 in Huntsville, Alabama) is a former Winston Cup/Nextel Cup owner/driver. Currently, he is an adviser for Front Row Motorsports and owns his own team, Means Racing. He competed in NASCAR for eighteen years in mostly his own equipment, posting one career top-five. He made three career Busch Series starts in 1989, finishing 10th at Darlington Raceway. Following his retirement, Means worked as a crew chief in NASCAR, working for Bud Moore Engineering and Moy Racing.
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Encyclopedia
Jimmy Means (born May 291950 in Huntsville, Alabama) is a former Winston Cup/Nextel Cup owner/driver. Currently, he is an adviser for Front Row Motorsports and owns his own team, Means Racing. He competed in NASCAR for eighteen years in mostly his own equipment, posting one career top-five. He made three career Busch Series starts in 1989, finishing 10th at Darlington Raceway. Following his retirement, Means worked as a crew chief in NASCAR, working for Bud Moore Engineering and Moy Racing. Means was part the Alabama Gang which included Bobby Allison, Davey Allison, Red Farmer, and Donnie Allison and later Steve Grissom and Mike Alexander. He is the father of Brad Means
Local track career
Means won dozens of late model races in Alabama and Tennessee in the early 70's, including track championships at Huntsville Speedway and the historic Nashville Speedway USA.
Driving career
Means made his Cup debut in 1976 at the Daytona 500, driving the #5 Chevy for Bill Gray. He led one lap but finished 40th after an engine failure. He ran an additional eighteen races for Gray in the #52 car with sponsorship from WIXC, finishing in eleventh place twice. The following season, Means drove twenty-six races and had a career-best six top-ten finishes, but due to twelve DNFs, he only finished nineteenth in points.
In 1978, Means began running as an independent driver, except for the Winston 500, where he drove for Bill Champion. He had two top-tens but improved three spots to finish sixteenth in points. He received new sponsorship from Mr. Transmission, but only had one top-ten in 1979, forcing him to fall to 23rd in points. After a sponsorship change to Thompson Industries for 1980, Means failed to finish higher than 12th, but he was still able to move up to 17th in the standings. Broadway Motors became his new sponsor in 1981, and after two top-tens, he continued to move up to fourteenth in points. In 1982, he was able to garner an additional pair of ninth-place runs, and finished a career-best 11th in points. It also marked the first time in his career he ran every race on the schedule.
Means had the highest finish of his career in 1983, when he had a seventh-place run at Talladega. Combined with two other top-tens, he dropped seven spots in the standings. During the 1984, Means suffered injuries in a crash at Talladega Superspeedway, forcing him to miss several races. He did not have a top-ten finish over the next two years, and he lost his Broadway sponsorship, picking up funding from Voyles Auto Savage in late 1986 NASCAR Winston Cup Series. He also switched his manufacturer to Pontiac as well. In 1987, Eureka Vacuum Cleaners became Means' new sponsor, and he had the last top-ten of his career at Richmond International Raceway. He dropped to what was at the time the lowest points finish of his career (30th) in 1988, and continued to struggle in 1989, failing to qualify for several races and dropping another spot in the standings despite a new sponsor in Alka-Seltzer. Means had already chosen to skip two races in favor of Bobby Hillin, Jr. in 1991
After being involved with J. D. McDuffie's fatal crash, he continued to relinquish the ride to Mike Wallace at the end of the season.
After losing the Alka-Seltzer sponsorship, Means continued to drive a part-time schedule, posting only one top-ten finish. After getting part-time funding from NAPA and Hurley Limo, Means ran eighteen races before retiring from driving.
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