I remember seeing this cute blonde blue eyed driver being interviewed during a Busch Series race. My first recollection of Jamie McMurray was not on the track, but before a race. “Who is that kid?” I said. “Williams Travel agency, who is that?”
[media-credit id=43 align=”alignright” width=”229″]
[/media-credit]McMurray began his career in 1999 debuting in the truck series. The following year he went on to drive the #27 Williams Travel Agency Monte Carlo for Brewco Motorsports. Who? In the following weeks and months fans began to notice this driver and his humble, very kind hearted demeanor. He was a nice guy, very gracious in interviews and for us girls very easy on the eyes to boot.
I continued to stay tuned in and followed this new driver. I continued to hear his name as owners were talking about a possible Winston Cup ride as well. After 2 years driving full time in the Busch Series, Chip Ganassi announced at the end of 2002 that McMurray would be driving the #42 Texaco Havoline Dodge in the upcoming 2003 season. At that point, more people began paying more attention to McMurray as a driver and as a person. But no one knew how quickly or how much this driver would be in the limelight and become a household name in NASCAR’s top series of racing.
Sterlin Marlin, a veteran Winston Cup driver and also the seasoned driver of the #41 Coors Light Dodge for owner Chip Ganassi, quickly became the mentor for the new kid on the block. McMurray was eager to work with Marlin to learn the ropes of driving in this series. How it played out at the end of the 2002 season was no doubt a fairytale beginning for the Joplin Missouri driver.
In the fall of 2002 McMurray took the wheel behind the #41 Coors Light for the injured Sterlin Marlin who broke a vertebra in his neck at Kansas Speedway. McMurray’s first race was at Talladega Superspeedway.
McMurray also substituted the following week at Lowes Motor Speedway in Charlotte NC, which is home the home track for Nascar and the home to many drivers and race teams. In only his second start of his career, he won at Lowes Motor Speedway!
I remember watching the race on TV. I remember the last few laps of that race, the media was already talking about if McMurray could pull off this win. The fans were on their feet as McMurray was neck and neck with veteran driver Bobby Labonte. McMurray led 96 of the 100 laps and won that race for Marlin and Chip Ganassi Racing.
What an emotional win! McMurray fought back the tears during the Victory Lane interview and also was seen getting a phone call from Marlin who was back home in Tennessee. Marlin was as thrilled for McMurray as McMurray was for himself. McMurray’s emotions continued to flow as cameras caught him shedding tears of joy. This was indeed the Nascar upset of the year, even beating out the emotional win that Kevin Harvick captured after taking over the #29 Chevy Monte Carlo for the late Dale Earnhardt Sr. in 2001.
McMurray drove six races in 2002 in the #40 car and went on to win Rookie of the Year in 2003 driving the Texaco Havoline Dodge.
McMurray went on to drive for Ganassi racing, Rouch Fenway racing in the #26 Ford Crown Royal and Irwin tools. He also drove for Michael Waltrip Racing. In 2010, he replaced Martin Truex Jr. in the #1 Bass Pro Shop Monte Carlo and found himself back with Ganassi which is where his storybook career began seven years earlier.
In 2010, McMurray won the Daytona 500 in February and the Brickyard 400 in August, two of the most prestige’s races on the Nascar circuit.
Today he is still much of the same person and driver; he is a humble low keyed driver who races clean and expects the same in return. He has become a husband and a father, he also established a foundation to help the Missouri folks who’s world was turned upside down by a Tornado’s this year.
In an interview after his wins in 2010 this is how McMurray summed up his feelings about his life, career and power of prayer, “As those laps were winding down I was thinking about Daytona and why I cry and the power of prayer. I had a tough year last year. I found out the power of prayer and what that can do for you. When you get to victory lane, and you get to experience this, it just makes you a believer.”
