Bahari Racing

The organization traces its roots to 1981, when Dick Bahre founded the team and entered a No. 23 Pontiac on a part-time basis. The team competed sporadically until 1986, when Chuck Rider joined the ownership group and the team was formally renamed Bahari Racing. At that time the car number was changed from 23 to 30, and the manufacturer was switched from Pontiac to Chevrolet. Michael Waltrip, who had run a handful of races for the predecessor team in 1985, was signed to run for Rookie of the Year in 1986 in a car sponsored by Hawaiian Punch.

In 1987, Waltrip remained the driver and the team returned to Pontiac after the brief switch to Chevrolet. Following Hawaiian Punch's departure, the team cycled through a series of sponsors before All Pro Auto Parts stepped in for the remainder of the season. Country Time Lemonade came on board in 1988, and Waltrip finished second at Pocono that June — one of the team's strongest results to that point.

Pennzoil joined as primary sponsor in 1991, and the partnership produced the team's most competitive period. In Waltrip's first Pennzoil season, the No. 30 won poles at Dover and Michigan and recorded four top-five and twelve top-ten finishes, landing fifteenth in the season points standings. The team remained in that competitive range through 1992, 1994, and 1995. In 1994 and 1995, Waltrip drove the No. 30 to twelfth in points in back-to-back seasons — his best results in the Cup Series — with nearly identical statistical profiles each year. Waltrip departed after 1995 to drive the No. 21 for the Wood Brothers, ending a long association with the organization.

For 1996, the team signed Johnny Benson, the reigning Busch Series champion, to replace Waltrip. Benson won the pole for the Purolator 500 at Atlanta early in the season but struggled for consistency. His performances improved as the year progressed, highlighted by a near-win at Richmond and a best race finish of fifth at Pocono in July. He earned Rookie of the Year honors and finished twenty-first in points.

The 1997 season was the team's finest, with Benson completing eleventh in points — one position behind Ken Schrader in the standings — and collecting eight top-ten finishes. He also won the pole at Michigan. Pennzoil's departure after the season was a significant blow, as the sponsor relocated its backing to Dale Earnhardt Inc.'s new No. 1 entry. Benson also left to join Roush Racing's new No. 26 program.

Derrike Cope replaced Benson for 1998 with Gumout (a Pennzoil division) providing partial sponsorship. The season was a dramatic step backward: the team failed to record a top-ten finish for the first time since 1986, failed to qualify for four races, and fell from eleventh to fortieth in the owners' points standings. A pole position for Cope at Charlotte in October stood as the season's lone bright moment. Gumout departed at year's end.

In 1999, the Sara Lee Corporation came on board with sponsorship spread across four of its food divisions — Jimmy Dean Sausages, Bryan Meats, State Fair Corn Dogs, and Rudy's Farm, each with its own paint scheme. Despite the unusual branding arrangement, the season was a failure on the track. Cope failed to qualify for half of the first twenty-two races.

Midway through 1999, Jack Birmingham purchased the team and renamed it Eel River Racing — a name reflecting his Massachusetts roots, where the Eel River flows through Plymouth. Birmingham fired Cope and replaced him with Todd Bodine, and Mike Bliss also ran two races before season's end. For 2000, the car number changed from 30 to 27. The team ran a full season with Jeff Fuller and Bliss, achieving a best finish of ninth at Talladega in October, though the team suffered ten DNFs and finished thirty-eighth in points.

In 2001, Kenny Wallace drove the largely unsponsored No. 27 for the early part of the season. C.F. Sauer eventually came on as a sponsor through its Duke's Mayonnaise brand, painting the car yellow for the Coca-Cola 600 and subsequent races. Wallace departed after failing to qualify at Sonoma; Rick Mast replaced him and made the field for five races. After Mast and Sauer departed following the Kansas race, Birmingham was left without a driver or sponsor and suspended operations. The team officially closed on October 2, 2001.

Bahari Racing's most significant contribution to NASCAR was providing Michael Waltrip a competitive home for nearly a decade. Though the team never won a Cup race, its Pennzoil-era runs in the early-to-mid 1990s placed it among the midfield organizations capable of consistent top-ten results. The Johnny Benson years in 1996 and especially 1997 represented a brief resurgence before Pennzoil's departure triggered the team's irreversible decline.