Paul McMahan
Hometown: Elk Grove, CA
Resides: Nashville, TN
Birthday: Dec. 1, 1970
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Web site: http://www.paulmcmahanracing.com


2008 Season Review: Finished 18th in championship points.

Paul McMahan’s main goal at the beginning of the 2008 season was to get back on the road and return to full-time competition with the World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series. He had to take a circuitous route to achieve this, driving a number of different cars during the first half of the season, but his determination and perseverance paid off, as he joined forces with the Parsons Motorsports team owned by longtime car owner Lonnie Parsons, at the end of June and competed the rest of the season with the World of Outlaws.

McMahan and the team were fast right out of the box, rattling off Top-10 finishes in five of their first six races together. In just 10 races with the team, he had already racked up eight Top-10 finishes, as the team continued to climb in the yearlong World of Outlaws car owner standings. The veteran driver helped the team to a strong finish as they wound up just outside of the Top-10 when the final team standings were tallied up.

“We kept getting better, though we were still not quite where we need to be yet at the end of the year,” said McMahan. “When I came here, they were 15th in points and we ended up 11th. We progressed and got better, but there is still a ways to go.”

McMahan drove five different cars before joining the Parsons Motorsports team at the end of June, when the World of Outlaws paid a visit to River Cities Speedway in North Dakota. In just his second start with the team at Cedar Lake Speedway in Wisconsin, the California native who now calls Nashville, Tennessee home ran 10th. His best finish of the season with the World of Outlaws came just a few races later, when he was fourth at Tri-State Speedway in Indiana. He had a couple of other Top-Five runs cut short by bad luck.

“It’s always tough when you go from race car to race,” he explained. “You have different cars and different crew chiefs. It’s hard to get going right doing that, but that’s what I had to do to get back out on the road. This is where I want to be and what I want to do for a living. I did everything possible to get back out here with the Outlaws. I’m very fortunate that Lonnie Parsons gave me the call to drive the Casey’s General Store car.”

With 17 full-time drivers completing the season with the World of Outlaws, the level of competition was at an all-time high each and every night. One of the highlights of the season for McMahan’s team was a very strong seventh-place finish in the finale of the Williams Grove Speedway Summer Nationals in July, after the team had trouble at the famed half-mile earlier in the season.

“It hasn’t gotten any easier, I can tell you that,” quipped the veteran driver, when asked about the level of competition this season. “The Outlaws are always tough. It’s the toughest series you can race on a day in and day out basis. Pennsylvania is tough also, but to go to as many race tracks as we go to with the competition the way it is with the World of Outlaws, it is the toughest place to race.”

McMahan, who has been competing with the World of Outlaws for a number of years and has seven career A-Feature wins with the series, visited four new tracks this season, including North Central Speedway in Minnesota where he finished a very strong sixth. He also competed for the first time at Dacotah Speedway in Mandan, North Dakota, as well as Lucas Oil Speedway in Missouri and 34 Raceway in Iowa, which were all inaugural events for the World of Outlaws.

“Any time you go to a different race track is nice,” he explained. “It gets stagnant when you go to the same race tracks over and over. It’s great to go to new venues and see new tracks and new fans, because they are excited to see us and we are excited to be there.”

McMahan wrapped up the season with 18 Top-10 finishes in World of Outlaws competition, with 16 of those coming in the Casey’s General Stores Maxim. McMahan led laps at Attica Raceway Park back in April while driving for Hall of Famer Rick Ferkel, one of the original “Outlaws.” He also won the Crane Cams Dash in the finale of the Summer Nationals at the famed Williams Grove Speedway in July to earn a pole position in an A-Feature event.

2008 Season Stats
Driver                             Pts.         $Earned         Wins         Top 5         Top 10
Paul McMahan             5879         $72,485             0             1                    17

World of Outlaws history: 2000- 20th in points… 2001- 11th in points- 1 win… 2002- 19th in points… 2003- 7th in points- 2 wins… 2004- 12th in points- 1 win… 2005- 11th in points… 2006-18th in points- 1 win… 2007- 8th in points- 2 wins…2008-18th in points

Previous Racing History: 1981- National Quarter Midget Champion… 1987- Began Racing Sprint Car- Won first race at Placerville (Calif.) Speedway… 1992-Hanford (Calif) Speedway- 3rd in points… 1993- Hanford (Calif.) Speedway- 3rd in points… 1994- Northern Auto Racing Club (NARC)- 2nd in points… 1995- Calistoga (Calif.) Speedway- Champion, King of California Speedweek Champion, NARC- 2nd in points… 1999-All Star Circuit of Champions- Rookie of the Year- 7th in points… 2000- World of Outlaws Gumout Series- 2nd in points- 5 wins… 2002- All Star Circuit of Champions- 3 wins…Also won the Short Track National at I-30 Speedway in Little Rock, AR…. 2006- National Sprint Tour- 6th in points.

Interesting Facts: Won first World of Outlaws race at State Fair Speedway in Sedalia, Missouri in 2001…Earned the 1995 Motoring Press Association Open-Wheel Driver of the Year… He and his wife Jan have two children, a son and a daughter.