Michael McLaughlin (born October 6, 1956) is an American former professional stock car racing driver. Nicknamed "Magic Shoes", McLaughlin was a perennial fan favorite, winning the Most Popular Driver award in 1997. He also scored several wins and top-five points finishes in the points standings in the NASCAR Busch Series.

Early career

McLaughlin grew up in New York State and began his professional career at a later stage than most other drivers, competing in his first race at the age of twenty in a dirt modified he built. He then ran regularly at his home track, Maple Grove Speedway, before moving up into the DIRT Modified series.

McLaughlin lived a few blocks from Maple Grove Speedway and built his first car in the garage at home. According to his mother, he drove the car to the track on his first night of racing.

Move to NASCAR In 1984, McLaughlin made his Busch Series debut at the Mello Yello 300 at Charlotte Motor Speedway, driving the No. 73 Pontiac home to a fourteenth place finish. He ran one more race that season, the October Charlotte race. Unfortunately, mechanical problems ended his day early. He raced twice more the next season, posting an eleventh place run.

McLaughlin then advanced into the NASCAR Modified ranks for Sherwood Racing, owned by Bill Corazzo and run by Clyde McLeod. His crew included Corazzo's nephews, Paul Corazzo Jr., who would go onto his own racing career in both open wheeled formula cars and Sprint car winning championships in both many times, Greg Zipadelli, who would later win Sprint Cup titles as crew chief, and Greg's younger brother Scott Zipadelli, who is also now a top level NASCAR crew chief. McLaughlin won the 1988 championship in the Winston Modified Tour, now known as the Whelen Modified Tour. He has sixteen career wins in the modified series.

McLaughlin also drove for Harry and Mike Greci in the Busch North Series, finishing third in points in 1993. McLaughlin became the first driver ever to win both ends of the Modified/Busch North doubleheader at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

NASCAR Busch Series career In 1990, McLaughlin returned to the Busch Series, driving the No. 51 Coors Extra Gold Oldsmobile in six races. Despite two wrecks, McLaughlin had two top-five finishes and caught the eye of many in the sport. He ran eight races the following season, but was unable to duplicate his success. After part-time runs in 1992 and 1993, McLaughlin finally ran his first full-time schedule in the Busch Series in 1994, driving the No. 34 Fiddle Faddle Chevrolet for Cicci-Welliver Racing. Despite not making two races, McLaughlin posted three top-fives and finished 13th in points. He also ran two Winston Cup races for Cicci-Welliver that year, finishing 22nd and 27th at New Hampshire and Watkins Glen, respectively.

In 1995, McLaughlin got his first taste of Victory Lane, winning the GM Goodwrench/Delco 200 at Dover, and collected thirteen additional top-tens on his way to a third place points run. After a winless 1996, McLaughlin won twice in 1997 (including at his hometrack at Watkins Glen) and was named the series' Most Popular Driver. 1998 saw him add Goulds Pumps as his primary sponsor, and he won two more races, and matched his career-best finish of third in points.

After going winless in 1999, McLaughlin shockingly announced he would depart from Cicci-Welliver at the season's end, citing a need for a change. He and Goulds left for the No. 48 Chevy fielded by Innovative Motorsports in 2000. Unfortunately, the season was a struggle and McLaughlin could not get the cars up to speed. Despite two fifth place finishes, McLaughlin jumped ship just weeks before the start of the 2001 season to the unsponsored No. 20 owned by Joe Gibbs Racing. McLaughlin shocked the NASCAR world by winning the NASCAR Subway 300 at Talladega, albeit controversially. Despite the win, the team could not continue to run unsponsored, and McLaughlin moved over to the MBNA No. 18 for the remainder of the season. He finished seventh in points.

In 2001, McLaughlin was Tony Stewart's back-up driver for the Coca-Cola 600. Stewart was running the Indy 500 the same day and McLaughlin was to have started the race if Stewart did not arrive on time. Stewart eventually arrived in Charlotte just minutes before the command to start engines and finished third.

Struggles and retirement from driving

In 2002, McLaughlin went winless once again, but was able to muster a fourth-place finish in points. However, Gibbs wanted to move his son Coy into the No. 18, and McLaughlin was forced to find a new job. In October 2002, McLaughlin announced he would run with a new team, Angela's Motorsports in the 2003 season. The team showed up at that season's Speedweeks, and their Ford Taurus was the fastest in testing. After that, problems began arising, and weeks before the season started, Angela's Motorsports closed its doors. It turned out that the team's owners had been behind in paying their bills, and their debtors took over the operation and shut everything down. McLaughlin appeared to be out of a job, but after word leaked out, fans began donating money to allow McLaughlin to run the Daytona race, and with sponsorship from XM Radio and with Darrell Waltrip's DWStore.com, McLaughlin drove the No. 39 Jay Robinson Racing Ford at the season-opening event, qualifying fourth but finishing 29th after a wreck in the closing laps. The financial windfall could not get McLaughlin a full-time ride, although he returned to Cicci Racing to run seven races, posting one top-ten finish. McLaughlin went unemployed in 2004 until the end of the season, when he replaced Bobby Hamilton Jr. at Team Rensi Motorsports after Hamilton left to join Nextel Cup team PPI Motorsports, posting a second-place run at the Stacker 200 Presented by YJ Stinger.

McLaughlin became a test driver and development driver coach for Joe Gibbs Racing, and opened his own racing fabrication business. As of 2009, McLaughlin is also building bobsleds for the Bo-Dyn Bobsled Project, supplier of sleds to the US Olympic team.

Personal life McLaughlin's son Max currently races in the Super DIRTcar Series. Max formerly competed for Hattori Racing Enterprises in the ARCA Menards Series East, winning a race in 2019 at Watkins Glen International, as well as one race in the NASCAR Xfinity Series at the same track in 2023, and one race in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series at Eldora Speedway in 2018.

Motorsports career results

NASCAR (key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

Winston Cup Series NASCAR Winston Cup Series results Year Team No. Make 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 Pts Ref 1994 Team 34 34 Chevy DAY CAR RCH ATL DAR BRI NWS MAR TAL SON CLT DOV POC MCH DAY NHA22 POC TAL IND GLN27 MCH BRI DAR RCH DOV MAR NWS CLT CAR PHO ATL 55th 179 1996 Team 34 34 Chevy DAY CAR RCH ATL DAR BRI NWS MAR TAL SON CLT DOV POC MCH DAY NHA POC TAL IND GLNDNQ MCH BRI DAR RCH DOV MAR NWS CLT CAR PHO ATL NA -

Busch Series NASCAR Busch Series results Year Team No. Make 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 Pts Ref 1984 Boehler's Racing 73 Pontiac DAY RCH CAR HCY MAR DAR ROU NSV LGY MLW DOV CLT14 SBO HCY ROU SBO ROU HCY IRP LGY SBO BRI DAR RCH NWS CLT36 HCY CAR MAR 67th 176 1985 DAY33 CAR HCY BRI MAR DAR SBO LGY DOV 62nd 194 03 CLT11 SBO HCY ROU IRP SBO LGY HCY MLW BRI DAR RCH NWS ROU CLT HCY CAR MAR 1990 H&H Motorsports 51 Olds DAY39 RCH CAR MAR HCY DAR BRI LAN SBO NZH HCY CLT DOVDNQ ROU VOL MYB OXFDNQ NHA6 SBO DUB IRP ROU BRI DAR RCH29 DOV MAR CLT17 NHA3 CAR MAR4 47th 633 1991 DAY37 RCH CAR MAR VOL HCY DAR BRI LAN SBO NZH CLT41 GLN19 OXF39 NHA14 SBO DUB IRP ROU BRI DAR RCH DOV CLT32 NHA12 CAR MAR 45th 620 Shoemaker Racing 64 Pontiac DOV34 ROU HCY MYB 1992 H&H Motorsports 51 Olds DAY CAR RCH ATL MAR DAR BRI HCY LAN DUB NZH30 CLT DOV ROU MYB GLN13 VOL NHA30 TAL IRP ROU MCH NHA29 BRI DAR RCH DOV CLT14 MAR CAR HCY27 49th 549 1993 DAY CAR RCH DAR BRI HCY ROU MAR NZH9 CLT DOV MYB GLN12 MLW TAL IRP MCH NC 0 Chevy NHA22 BRI DAR RCH DOV ROU CLT MAR CAR HCY ATL 1994 Team 34 34 Chevy DAY29 CAR22 RCH11 ATL39 MAR21 DAR21 HCY12 BRIDNQ ROU16 NHA10 NZH5 CLT9 DOV18 MYB31 GLN19 MLW6 SBO15 TAL7 HCY16 IRP3 MCH4 BRIDNQ DAR6 RCH11 DOV28 CLT27 MAR11 CAR35 13th 2986 1995 DAY37 CAR13 RCH4 ATL31 NSV7 DAR16 BRI30 HCY3 NHA4 NZH31 CLT20 DOV1* MYB8 GLN4 MLW5 TAL32 SBO2 IRP3 MCH10 BRI21 DAR10 RCH17 DOV7 CLT5 CAR13 HOM24 3rd 3273 1996 DAY31 CAR2 RCH38 ATL11 NSV30 DAR41* BRI27 HCY25 NZH29 CLT35 DOV32 SBO2 MYB6 GLN3 MLW2 NHA9 TAL25 IRP2 MCH13 BRI38 DAR38 RCH11 DOV6 CLT5 CAR4 HOM27 10th 2853 1997 DAY33 CAR8 RCH27 ATL17 LVS24 DAR33 HCY10 TEX5* BRI2 NSV13 TAL35 NHA1 NZH8 CLT33 DOV23 SBO8 GLN1 MLW13 MYB2 GTY5 IRP37 MCH13 BRI16 DAR2 RCH32 DOV10 CLT13 CAL9 CAR7 HOM22 4th 3614 1998 DAY18 CAR5 LVS27 NSV1 DAR8 BRI6 TEX11 HCY21 TAL3 NHA7 NZH3 CLT7 DOV5 RCH34 PPR20 GLN2 MLW6 MYB3 CAL24 SBO3 IRP18 MCH15 BRI17 DAR3* RCH28 DOV4 CLT1 GTY12 CAR41 ATL29 HOM18 3rd 4045 1999 Cicci-Welliver Racing DAY15 CAR6 LVS19 ATL12 DAR16 TEX4 NSV7 BRI27 TAL21 CAL41 NHA40 RCH14 NZH28 CLT27 DOV28 SBO15 GLN3 MLW11 MYB12 PPR15 GTY9 IRP17 MCH24 BRI39 DAR38 RCH43 DOV9 CLT3 CAR16 MEM7 PHO16 HOM20 9th 3478 2000 Innovative Motorsports 48 Chevy DAY26 CAR15 LVS43 ATL21 DAR33 BRI42 TEX40 NSV2 TAL14 CAL41 RCH25 NHA33 CLT32 DOV10 SBO24 MYB30 GLN5 MLW28 NZH34 PPR8 GTY36 IRP34 MCH5 BRI28 DAR RCH30 DOV34 CLT39 CAR16 MEM24 PHO15 HOM31 24th 2690 2001 Joe Gibbs Racing 20 Pontiac DAY6 CAR14 LVS9 ATL11 DAR5 BRI13 TEX37 NSH9 TAL1 CAL10 RCH22 NHA10 NZH17 CLT11 DOV21 KEN25 MLW18 7th 3962 18 GLN17 CHI25 GTY12 PPR14 IRP23 MCH5 BRI16 DAR3 RCH32 DOV31 KAN10 CLT19 MEM10 PHO31 CAR3 HOM12 2002 DAY38 CAR5 LVS12 DAR6 BRI2 TEX18 NSH20 CAL6 RCH14 NHA5 NZH9 CLT4 DOV8 NSH33 KEN39 MLW8 DAY7 CHI27 GTY7 PPR7 IRP14 MCH17 BRI4 DAR8 RCH19 DOV2 KAN31 CLT8 MEM16 ATL3 CAR13 PHO19 HOM20 4th 4253 Chevy TAL24 2003 Jay Robinson Racing 39 Ford DAY29 CAR 61st 615 Santerre Racing 01 Ford LVSDNQ DAR BRI TEX Frank Cicci Racing 34 Chevy TAL39 RCH13 GTY NZH CLT30 DOV NSH KEN MLW DAY9 CHI30 NHA26 PPR IRP MCH BRI DAR RCH DOV KAN CLT MEM ATL PHO CAR HOM Herzog-Jackson Motorsports 92 Chevy NSHQL† CAL 2004 Roush Racing 60 Ford DAY CAR LVS DAR BRI TEX NSH TAL CAL GTY RCH NZHQL‡ CLT DOV NSH KEN MLW DAY CHI NHA PPRQL‡ IRP MCH 38th 1140 Team Rensi Motorsports 25 Ford BRI12 CAL11 RCH24 DOV2 KAN11 CLT12 MEM18 ATL41 PHO36 DAR39 HOM16† - Qualified for Todd Bodine · ‡ - Qualified for Greg Biffle

Craftsman Truck Series NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series results Year Team No. Make 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 Pts Ref 1996 Chesrown Racing 66 Chevy HOM PHO POR EVG TUS CNS HPT BRI NZH MLW LVL I70 IRP9 FLM GLN NSV RCH NHA MAR NWS SON MMR PHO LVS 91st 138 1997 Ken Schrader Racing 53 Chevy WDW TUS HOM PHO POR EVG I70 NHA TEX BRI NZH MLW LVL CNS HPT IRP5 FLM NSV GLN RCH MAR SON MMR CAL PHO LVS 91st 155 Competed only in companion events with Busch North Series as BNS driver and ineligible for Busch Series points

References

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