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USA.png Team LSR Chevrolet
250px
Full Name Chevrolet Lauren Savage Racing
Base Detroit, Michigan
Team Principal(s) USA.png Lauren Savage
USA.png Paul Savage
Chief Technical Officer USA.png Leland Thrash (head of Engineering)
AUS.png Savannah Ridgeway (head of R&D)
Founder(s) Lauren Savage
2017 World Stock Car Championship Team
Manufacturer USA.png Chevrolet
Race Drivers 22. USA.png Billy Savage
23. USA.png Jay Orlov
Test Drivers USA.png Liz Carter
Debut {{{wscc_debut}}}
Latest Race {{{wscc_latest_race}}}
Races Competed {{{wscc_races}}}
Race Wins {{{wscc_wins}}}
Drivers' Championships {{{wscc_championships}}}
Poles {{{wscc_poles}}}
Tires B

Lauren Savage Racing, currently competing as Chevrolet Lauren Savage Racing and commonly referred to as "Team LSR", is an American-licensed World Stock Car Championship team based out of Detroit, Michigan. Team LSR is currently one of the strongest teams on the grid due in part to their twenty-year partnership with General Motors, which has given them significant engineering and development support. The team moved its facilities to Detroit, Michigan in 2001 to be closer to GM's Technical Center (located in nearby Warren). This partnership has resulted in immense recent success, as the team is currently the two-time defending constructor's champions and its drivers have won the driver's championship in 2015 and 2016.

History[edit | edit source]

World Stock Car Championship[edit | edit source]

Car No. 18 History[edit | edit source]

After running as a one-car team from 1996 through 1998, Team LSR expanded to a two-car operation in 1999, hiring Dutch rookie Walther de Coninck to run for the Independent's Trophy. The No. 50 car strictly ran in European races; the team would later confirm that this was a strategic move to help develop their European facilities. de Coninck, despite coming from a karting experience, proved himself a capable stock car driver, running competitively during his debut season and managing to qualify for all three special events. The team would finish fifth in the Independent's Trophy in 1999.

2000 saw the 50 team continue to make strides, with de Coninck winning the Ryanair Grand Prix of Ireland and qualifying second for the 2000 Donington Grand Prix. He would finish second to his teammate in the Independent's Trophy.

In 2001, despite not winning any of the races he entered, de Coninck's three podium finishes and strong efforts during special events vaulted him to the top of the Independent's Trophy standings after the Daytona 1776. Despite a late charge from his teammate, de Coninck was able to win the Independent's Trophy.

Team LSR became a full-time team following the collapse of Allen Becker Motorsports late in 2001; with the off-season death of Jimmy Norris, de Coninck became the team's lead driver. de Coninck would prove his leadership throughout 2002, guiding the team through the growing pains that came with entering the grid full-time. Despite struggling through much of 2002, de Coninck was able to salvage a 17th place points finish. He would improve on this in 2003, finishing 9th in points and dominating much of the Donington Grand Prix before losing second gear shortly before the last pit stop, relegating him to fifth. Midway through the 2004 season, de Coninck announced that he would leave Team LSR to drive for Parsonsport. The team later announced that the 50 car would be renumbered to 18 for 2005 and would be the team's second part-time entry.

In 2005 and 2006, the 18 team was driven by Robert Carr, who managed to make all six special events he attempted despite having to run in the qualifying races (which are notoriously high-attrition races due to a large portion of the field being inexperienced).

With 2007's new sporting regulations limiting the number of entries allowed to each team, Team LSR made the decision to shut down the 50 team at the end of 2006 and move the employees to the 22, 23, and 46 cars.

Car No. 22 History[edit | edit source]

Billy Savage debuted the 22 car for Team LSR at Donington Park in 2002.

Car No. 23 History[edit | edit source]

Following the collapse of Allen Becker Motorsports, Team LSR gained the rights to use the team's car numbers starting in 2002. The team chose to retain cars number 23 and 46 alongside the full-time 50 car. Chip Thomas signed on as the driver of the 23 car for 2002, and he would remain with the team through the 2004 season. Thomas received wide praise as a stabilizing force on the team, and he was offered a contract extension that would have kept him in the car through 2007. He chose to retire and took a role in the team's competition department, where he is currently one of two associate directors under Paul Savage.

The team scored a major coup for 2005, luring 1999 series champion Logan MacDonald away from SG Motorsports. MacDonald acted as a mentor to the talented-but-young lineup of Billy Savage, Arthur Fox, and Robert Carr. MacDonald's mentoring paid off, as Savage won Rookie of the Year and two races; MacDonald himself would win one race and finish seventh in points, nearly a ten position gain from the prior season. He would win three races in 2006 en route to a third-place finish in points, the team's highest to date and his highest since his championship in 1999. In 2007, he and the team won the 2007 Donington Grand Prix, a first for both team and driver. MacDonald would win at least one race in each of the next three seasons, and announced midway through 2010 that he was retiring from driving. After that year's Lime Rock Classic, the team named BDR Nismo driver Rebecca Bennett as MacDonald's successor.

Bennett was unable to match MacDonald's performance in the car, winning only two races from 2011 through 2014, but was a consistent top-ten finisher; the team believed her relative lack of qualifying success (she averaged twelve spots behind her teammates over her tenure at Team LSR) was the biggest cause of her struggles, as she had to use up her equipment to work through traffic. Bennett proved unwilling to work on qualifying, and became unhappy at the team throughout the 2015 season. Her performance slipped drastically, managing only one top ten finish and crashing several times throughout the season. Five years after she was named the driver of car 23, it was announced that Bennett would be demoted to the 46 car in 2016 to make room for two-time WSCC Lites champion Jay Orlov.

Orlov started 2016 in impressive fashion, winning the Mello Yello Grand Prix of Atlanta after a spirited battle with Marco Tarelli. He would follow that up with seven more wins, including the team's first win in the Lime Rock Classic, and the series championship, making it back-to-back titles for the team and setting the rookie records for wins (8) and poles (6).

Car No. 46 History[edit | edit source]

The 46 car was the second of the car numbers inherited from Allen Becker's team. In 2002 and 2003, it was driven by Michael Gordon. Gordon was replaced in 2004 by Zack Warner, who had shown promise in WSCC Lites. Warner, however, was unable to translate that success to the higher series, and was released from the team after the 2004 season concluded. He was replaced with Arthur Fox, who would drive the car for two seasons and amassed several impressive runs. Fox's weakness on road courses prompted him to voluntarily step down to the Lites series in 2007. He was the last regular driver for the 46 car until 2012.

It remained one of Team LSR's full-time entries until 2007, when the new sporting regulations relegated it to part-time status as the team's reserve car. It was at this time that it became the team's R&D and development car, a role that was adopted for reserve cars by many teams over the next decade. A number of drivers would pilot the car during this time, including Felix Klein, Niles Sanna, and Kenny Oliver.

In 2012, Ira Gertner made history as the first Israeli driver to start a World Stock Car Championship race when he started the 2012 Donington Grand Prix from 15th; Alon Peretz was the first Israeli to attempt a race back in 1993, but failed to make the field in six attempts.

Jay Orlov shared the reserve role - and car 46 - with Gertner in 2015, winning the pole at Lime Rock and scoring a ninth-place finish on debut. He became the driver of the 23 car in 2016. Gertner would move on to Opel Race Team in 2016, and Bennett was demoted to the 46 team after several lackluster seasons in the 23 car. Bennett would leave the team after the season for Autosport Tomas Rojer; it was announced during the 2016-2017 offseason that her replacement was Liz Carter of Michigan.

Car No. 50 History[edit | edit source]

Car No. 51 History[edit | edit source]

Team LSR debuted as Lauren Savage Racing in 1996 with ten employees and just three fully-built cars. They signed Alton Kirby, a younger driver from the development ranks, to drive the team's six Independent's Trophy races, plus attempt the three special events. Kirby would run respectably in 1996 and 1997, finishing several races in the Top 10 and generally avoiding trouble on the track. Due to the team's limited early funding, they were unable to afford to field a competitive pit crew for nearly three years, which Kirby cited as one of the factors influencing his decision to leave the team after the 1997 season.

Jimmy Norris replaced Kirby in 1998 and managed to finish second in the Independent's Trophy. Wendy's signed on as primary sponsor for the 51 car for 1999 and 2000 with Norris remaining at the wheel. Norris would score the team's first race win at the 1999 Budweiser 300, which vaulted the team to its first Indepenent's Trophy title. Norris and Team LSR would repeat as Independent's champions in 2000. Norris would finish second to teammate Walther de Coninck in 2001 and was scheduled to return to the team in 2002 as the team moved to the grid full-time. Unfortunately, Norris was killed in a car accident during the offseason.

The team decided to move the 51 to part-time status alongside the new number 22 team to honor Norris. The car would remain one of two part time entries though 2007, when new sporting regulations limited full-time teams to two entries, plus one reserve car for special events. Team LSR announced its three cars would be the 22, 23, and 46, allowing the numbers 18, 50, and 51 to go to other teams.

Sponsorship[edit | edit source]

Current Sponsors[edit | edit source]

Team LSR has had a long partnership with Amazon.com, which has sponsored Billy Savage and the #22 team since his rookie season in 2004. Amazon has advertised multiple products and services through this partnership, including Amazon Prime, Amazon Music, and the Amazon Kindle. Currently the brand promotes Amazon Smile, a charity initiative that allows Amazon to donate 0.5% of the sale price of eligible items to the customer's selected charity as its sponsor.

Steak N Shake joined the team in January 2010 as an associate sponsor, and in 2012 became the primary sponsor of the team's reserve car.

Coca Cola partnered with the team in 2001 as an associate sponsor and supplier. In 2005 and 2006, it was the sponsor of the part-time number 51 car through its Mello Yello brand. In 2013, the team signed a deal to sponsor the #23 car (the driven by Rebecca Bennett) through its VitaminWater subsidiary. This deal lasted until 2016, at which point they returned to an associate role. Later that same year, however, it was announced that Coca Cola would be resuming its primary sponsorship of the 23 car with both Coca Cola and Coca Cola Zero Sugar (then called Coke Zero) starting in 2017.

Anova Culinary joined the team in 2014 in a partial B2B deal; Anova agreed to provide precision cooking equipment and exclusive recipes to the kitchen staff at LSR's Detroit headquarters and its European facility near Rennes, France.

The National Multiple Sclerosis Society joined the team in 2016 to sponsor the #23 driven by Jay Orlov; they scaled back their sponsorship in 2017 at the request of the team, who had other sponsorship agreements to fulfill. They are currently the primary sponsor for the team during all special events, all races in March, and the championship weekend.

Beasley Media Group signed a deal in October 2016 to join the team in 2018 as its official media partner; the team will carry sponsorship from two of its stations - 101.1 WRIF Detroit and 92.9 WBOS Boston - during the season's twin races.

Former Sponsors[edit | edit source]

Wendy's was the primary sponsor on the number 51 car in 1999 and 2000, and remained an associate sponsor on the 50 and 51 cars until 2005, when the team signed a two-year deal with rival chain Hardee's.

Hardees was the primary sponsor on the 18 car in 2005 and 2006, and was an associate sponsor of the team's other cars until 2007, when they left to sponsor Henderson Engineering.

Exxon-Mobil sponsored the 46 team from 2002 through 2006 with its Superflo Motor Oil brand. Mobil 1 would replace Superflo in 2007, and remained with the team until 2011.

Notable Drivers[edit | edit source]

Seasons No. Driver Notes
1996 - 1997 51 USA.png Alton Kirby First driver to run for Team LSR
1998 - 2001 51 USA.png Jimmy Norris First race win for Team LSR in 1999.
Independent's Trophy Champion in 1999 and 2000.
1999 - 2004 50 NED.png Walther de Coninck Ran the team's second car (European races), and joined the grid full time in 2002
2002 - present 22 USA.png Billy Savage 2015 series champion, four-time championship runner up.
2009 Daytona 1776 Champion
2004 series Rookie-of-the-Year.
Ran only special events in 2002 and 2003.
2005 - 2010 23 USA.png Logan MacDonald 1999 series champion with Stephen Glass.
2007 Donington Grand Prix champion.
2005 - 2006 46 USA.png Arthur Fox Voluntarily stepped down to WSCC Lites in 2007.
2013 - 2016 23 USA.png Rebecca Bennett Demoted to reserve role in 2016.
2012 - 2015 46 ISR.png Ira Gertner First Israeli driver to start a World Stock Car Championship race.
Reserve driver from 2012 through 2015.
2015 - present 23 USA.png Jay Orlov 2016 series champion and rookie of the year.
2016 Lime Rock Classic champion.
2015 reserve driver with Ira Gertner.