In this season of change in the Spring Cup garage now a top management level-change has come to pass as Michael Waltrip Racing and Calvin Wells have mutually agreed to part as announced by co-owners Rob Kauffman and Michael Waltrip.
The separation was effectively “immediately.”
Wells had been vice president and chief operating officer at MWR since 2007. “We want to thank Cal for his strong contribution to getting Michael Waltrip Racing to where it is today. We wish him the very best in his future endeavors,” said Kauffman in a statement. “We plan to go forward now with the solid management team that is in place, and bring MWR to the next level.”
Wells founded the off-road championship winning Precision Parts Inc (PPI) over 30 years ago and established an enviable record with drivers such as Ivan “Ironman” Stewart, and Robby Gordon winning 88 races, 11 manufacturer’s championships three Baja 1000s and five Mint 400s in Toyota trucks.
When Toyota made the move to CART PPI became one of the “factory” teams along with Frank Arciero which was called Arciero/Wells. The team suffered the tragedy of the death of Jeff Krosnoff at the Toronto CART race in July 1996. Cristiano da Matta recorded the only race win for the team.
From 1998-2000 PPI also fielded Toyota Atlantic cars for drivers such as for future two-time Indy 500 winner, Dan Wheldon and Andrew Bordin of Woodbridge, Ontario.
In that same year Wells’ PPI team made his initial foray into NASCAR with Scott Pruett. In 2001 Ricky Craven became the team’s number one driver. Craven would record the two wins for PPI. Craven’s 2003 victory over Kurt Busch at Darlington has been called one of the closest finishes in Sprint Cup history.
By 2007, without necessary sponsorship Wells had to liquidate PPI and sold his owner’s points to MWR.
The separation was effectively “immediately.”
Wells had been vice president and chief operating officer at MWR since 2007. “We want to thank Cal for his strong contribution to getting Michael Waltrip Racing to where it is today. We wish him the very best in his future endeavors,” said Kauffman in a statement. “We plan to go forward now with the solid management team that is in place, and bring MWR to the next level.”
Wells founded the off-road championship winning Precision Parts Inc (PPI) over 30 years ago and established an enviable record with drivers such as Ivan “Ironman” Stewart, and Robby Gordon winning 88 races, 11 manufacturer’s championships three Baja 1000s and five Mint 400s in Toyota trucks.
When Toyota made the move to CART PPI became one of the “factory” teams along with Frank Arciero which was called Arciero/Wells. The team suffered the tragedy of the death of Jeff Krosnoff at the Toronto CART race in July 1996. Cristiano da Matta recorded the only race win for the team.
From 1998-2000 PPI also fielded Toyota Atlantic cars for drivers such as for future two-time Indy 500 winner, Dan Wheldon and Andrew Bordin of Woodbridge, Ontario.
In that same year Wells’ PPI team made his initial foray into NASCAR with Scott Pruett. In 2001 Ricky Craven became the team’s number one driver. Craven would record the two wins for PPI. Craven’s 2003 victory over Kurt Busch at Darlington has been called one of the closest finishes in Sprint Cup history.
By 2007, without necessary sponsorship Wells had to liquidate PPI and sold his owner’s points to MWR.