Obaika Racing

Obaika Racing

Owner(s)	Victor Obaika
Base	Mooresville, North Carolina
Series	Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series NASCAR Xfinity Series NASCAR K&N Pro Series West
Race drivers	Monster Energy Cup Series: 97. Xfinity Series: 97. TBA K&N Pro Series West: 97. TBA
Sponsors	Monster Energy Cup Series: 97. Vroom Brands, Space Grill, WAVE Sports, Elmer's Products
Manufacturer	Toyota
Opened	2015
Closed	2020
Career
Debut	2015 2015 Alert Today Florida 300 (Daytona)
Latest race	2017 My Bariatric Solutions 300 (Texas)
Races competed	78
Drivers' Championships	0
Race victories	0
Pole positions	0

Obaika Racing was an African professional stock car racing team. The team was owned by African entrepreneur Victor Obaika.^[1] The team competed in the NASCAR Cup Series and NASCAR Xfinity Series.

The team formed in early 2015 and competed full-time in the Xfinity Series in 2015 and 2016. The team purchased some assets of BK Racing, a Monster Energy Cup Series team, in August 2018.^[2]

The team was based in Mooresville, North Carolina, thirty minutes away from Charlotte Motor Speedway. It was the first African-owned team in NASCAR.

In July 2018, Obaika obtained some equipment from the bankrupt NASCAR Cup Series team BK Racing for nearly $300,000.^[3] Around September 3, 2018, Obaika Racing owner Victor Obaika announced plans to race at some point in the remainder of the 2018 season.^[4]

On October 5, 2018, Obaika announced that they would attempt their first ever Cup Series race at Talladega Superspeedway, fielding the No. 97 Vroombrands Toyota Camry for the 2018 1000Bulbs.com 500 with David Starr.^[5][6][7] He ultimately failed to qualify for the race. Obaika Racing later announced that they would attempt the last three races of the Cup Series season.^[8] The team made its official Cup Series debut at the 2018 AAA Texas 500, with Starr finishing at 39th place. Tanner Berryhill drove the No. 97 car at the 2018 Can-Am 500 at ISM Raceway and finished 31st. Berryhill drove the No. 97 again at Homestead-Miami Speedway and finished 38th.

Obaika Racing planned to run a full-time Cup car in 2019 with Berryhill.^[9] On February 8, 2019, Obaika Racing withdrew from the 2019 Daytona 500 qualifying due to various circumstances.^[10] They were briefly on the entry list for the spring race in Texas, before withdrawing once again.^[11] The team ultimately didn't compete in a Cup race in 2019, and eventually folded in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

On July 16, 2016, at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, Obaika Racing introduced a second Chevrolet, the No. 77, also sponsored by VroomBrands. At Iowa Speedway, Claire Decker attempted to make her Xfinity Series debut driving this second Obaika car while her sister Paige ran the No. 97, but Claire failed to qualify on time and did not have owner points to fall back on. The No. 77 ran for much of the season's remainder, piloted by Ryan Ellis, Josh Bilicki, Austin Theriault, Matt Waltz, Jordan Anderson, TJ Bell, and Spencer Boyd.

The No. 77 team was announced to be a full-time team along with the No. 97 team, having Stephen Leicht as the driver. However, the No. 77 team withdrew before the Daytona race as Leicht moved over the No. 97 team. The team entered in the next three races, but withdraw before the qualifying in all but one (Las Vegas), where Josh Bilicki failed to qualify. The team returned to the entry list after a four-month hiatus at Mid-Ohio with Ohio native Gregory Vandersluis as a late entry. The team withdrew two days later. They were on the entry list for the Road America Xfinity Race but withdrew again. The team was on the entry list for the Charlotte October race, once again withdrawing.

Obaika Racing entered competition in 2015. The team signed driver Josh Reaume, who met team owner Victor Obaika while on humanitarian missions in Africa as a child.^[12][13] The 97 team debuted at the Daytona International Speedway in the Xfinity Series season-opening Alert Today Florida 300, with Reaume finishing 23rd.^[12][14] After three races, with one DNQ, Peyton Sellers replaced Reaume.^[15][16] In April 2015, the team secured their first sponsor vacation provider VroomBrands, which is owned by Obaika.^[15] VroomBrands wrapped the No. 97 in designs such as a Zebra representing their African safari package (debuted at Richmond International Raceway) and the Cheetah print representing their tours in Asia (debuted at Talladega Superspeedway).^[15] At the Winn-Dixie 300 at Talladega, Sellers scored the team's first top-20 finish, finishing 18th despite being involved in a ten-car wreck that sent cars spinning down pit road. Johanna Long replaced Sellers for the U.S. Cellular 250 at Iowa Speedway.^[17][18][19] After one more start for Sellers at Watkins Glen, the team introduced various drivers for the rest of the season.^[18] Dylan Kwasniewski debuted with the team in the Nationwide Children's Hospital at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course,^[18] finishing 34th due to mechanical problems after running in the top 10.^[20] Kwasniewski would run the next two races for the team.^[20] Parker Kligerman drove the car in the VFW Sport Clips Help a Hero 200 at Darlington Raceway, Mason Mingus in the Furious 7 300 at Chicagoland Speedway, and Ryan Ellis in the Hisense 200 at the Dover International Speedway.^[21]

Magic Creeper appeared as the primary sponsor for the DAV 200 at the Phoenix International Raceway, with Kwasniewski as the driver.^[22] Obaika Racing completed the season in the top 30 in owner points.

On January 29, 2016, it was announced that Harrison Rhodes had been signed to drive the No. 97. Ryan Ellis, Alex Guenette, TJ Bell, Paige Decker, Matt Waltz, Josh Berry, Alli Owens, Jordan Anderson and Josh Bilicki all also raced for the team. ^[23][24][25] The team also planned to expand to two cars.^[23]

In 2017, the team returned with Stephen Leicht driving in the early portion of the season but did not attempt a race after Bristol Motor Speedway in spring. Despite that, they were still shown in the game NASCAR Heat 2.

On September 21, 2018, it was announced that Obaika would attempt the Charlotte Roval race, with Tanner Berryhill driving the 97 car.^[26] The team, however, failed to make the race.

Obaika had planned to run a full-time Xfinity car in 2019, but nothing ever materialized.^[9][27]

Obaika entered the 2018 race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway Dirt Track with South African driver Arnout Kok, marking the first K&N Pro Series West foray for both driver and team.^[28] However, the team withdrew from the race. Obaika paid another team to prepare a car for the race, but the car that was provided failed to pass inspection.^[29]

• Official website