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Daniel Joseph Pardus (born April 2, 1963) is an American former stock car racing driver. He was a regular on the NASCAR Goody's Dash Series, and also competed in events in the Busch and Winston Cup Series, as well as the ARCA Re/Max Series.

Racing career

A native of Port Orange, Florida, a suburb of Daytona Beach, Pardus, a graduate of Mainland High School, won back to back track championships at New Smyrna Speedway in 1980 and 1981. Pardus began racing in NASCAR's touring series in 1992, competing in the Goody's Dash Series, a series for four-cylinder subcompact cars. He ran in the series for several years, running a Chevrolet Cavalier and, later, a Pontiac Grand Am; he joined Jim & Judie Motorsports, the team he would run the majority of the remainder of his racing career for, before the 1995 season.

Pardus moved to the ARCA Re/MAX Series, a full-size stock car series, in 1997; running approximately half the series schedule, he placed third in the series' Rookie of the Year award standings and 12th overall. He ran only five races in the series in 1998, as he attempted to make his debut at the top level of NASCAR competition, the Winston Cup Series; he failed to qualify for a number of races through the season, and was injured early in the season in a practice crash at Texas Motor Speedway. In October he successfully made his debut, in what would prove to be his only start in the series, in the Pepsi 400 in October. Pardus finished 36th in the event, which had been delayed from July by extensive wildfires in central Florida.

Pardus entered the 1999 season intending to run the full 1999 Winston Cup Series schedule, competing for Rookie of the Year driving the No. 50 for Midwest Transit Racing. The team ran a limited schedule due to limited sponsorship; following his third failure to qualify in three attempts, at Charlotte Motor Speedway in May, Pardus was released as the team's driver, moving to a management position.

In 2000, driving for the Gardners, Pardus failed to qualify for the Daytona 500; after running a limited ARCA schedule in 2000, Pardus and the team moved to the NASCAR Busch Series in 2001, with sponsorship from The Outdoor Channel; he made his debut in the series at Nashville Superspeedway. In his second Busch Series race, at Chicagoland Speedway, Pardus was involved in a hard crash with David Donohue, suffering a broken back; he returned to competition later in the year, and ran a partial schedule in 2002, competing in twelve races, all but one for Jim & Judie Motorsports; the exception being a drive for Jay Robinson Racing in the GNC Live Well 250 at Daytona International Speedway; he also failed to qualify for six other races. Pardus' team hired pit crews from Winston Cup Series teams to pit their cars; at Nashville, due to a scheduling conflict, the crew for ML Motorsports pitted the car.

Following the 2002 season, The Outdoor Channel ended their sponsorship of Jim & Judie Motorsports; Pardus attempted to qualify for two races in 2003, at Daytona International Speedway and Darlington Raceway failing to qualify for both. Pardus would make one more attempt at a NASCAR start, in 2005 at Daytona, driving the No. 73 Chevrolet for Raabe Racing Enterprises in qualifying for the Pepsi 400; he failed to qualify for the event.

Personal life

Pardus is married, to Alice. He has two children, Danielle and Preston Pardus, both of whom also race cars; Preston won the Sports Car Club of America Spec Miata national championship in 2017.

He currently works as a utilities contractor, and worked as a part-time commentator for radio and TV broadcasts of racing events on SPEED Channel and HD Net, which he joined following his racing career.

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

Daytona 500

Busch Series

ARCA Re/Max Series

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

References

1. ^ "Busch Series Notes". The Daytona Beach News-Journal. Daytona Beach, FL. July 4, 2002. p. 7B. Retrieved 2013-09-11.
2. ^ Kelly, Godwin (May 21, 1992). "Pardus Aims For Rookie Of Year Honors On Nascar Dash Series". The Daytona Beach News-Journal. Daytona Beach, FL. p. 6B. Retrieved 2012-06-05.
3. Kelly, Godwin (February 16, 1995). "Pardus Out To Draft Winning Plan". The Daytona Beach News-Journal. Daytona Beach, FL. pp. 1D, 6D. Retrieved 2012-06-05.
4. Kelly, Godwin (October 17, 1997). "Pardus calls season successful". The Daytona Beach News-Journal. Daytona Beach, FL. p. 6B.
5. Kelly, Godwin (January 5, 1998). "Pardus to run with the big boys". The Daytona Beach News-Journal. Daytona Beach, FL. p. 2B. Retrieved 2012-06-05.
6. Kelly, Godwin (July 29, 1998). "Pardus hanging tough". The Daytona Beach News-Journal. Daytona Beach, FL. p. 1B. Archived from the original on 1999-04-27. Retrieved 2013-09-11.
7. Kelly, Godwin (April 25, 1998). "Healed Pardus turns to car". The Daytona Beach News-Journal. Daytona Beach, FL. p. 6B. Retrieved 2013-09-11.
8. "Pardus, at Last, Makes Winston Cup Debut". The New York Times. New York. October 17, 1998. Retrieved July 6, 2010.
9. ^ Booth, Andrew (November 8, 1998). "Pardus putting plan to action: Daytona driver spent '98 learning". The Daytona Beach News-Journal. Daytona Beach, FL. p. 6D. Retrieved 2012-06-05.
10. Trout, Ben (October 8, 1998). "Two weeks of restrictor-plate races". Williamson Daily News. Williamson, WV.
11. Kelly, Godwin (June 6, 1999). "Pardus is star student at school of hard knocks". The Daytona Beach News-Journal. Daytona Beach, FL. p. 8C. Archived from the original on 2000-08-23. Retrieved 2013-09-11.
12. Shacklette, Buddy (February 18, 2000). "Thirteen leave before the Big Show". The Daytona Beach News-Journal. Daytona Beach, FL. p. 3B. Retrieved 2012-06-05.
13. Williams, D.C. (March 24, 2001). "Daytona's Pardus moves to GN series". The Daytona Beach News-Journal. Daytona Beach, FL. p. 8B. Archived from the original on 2001-06-17. Retrieved 2013-09-11.
14. "Getting out". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Pittsburgh, PA. July 16, 2001. Retrieved 2012-06-05.
15. Hubler, Dale (April 11, 2002). "ML Motorsports Pit Crew To Make NASCAR Debut". Times-Union. Warsaw, IN. p. 2B. Retrieved 2012-06-05.
16. "Pardus loses sponsor". The Daytona Beach News-Journal. Daytona Beach, FL. October 24, 2002. p. 6B.
17. "Notes". The Daytona Beach News-Journal. Daytona Beach, FL. July 4, 2003. p. 10B.
18. "Nextel Cup Notes". The Daytona Beach News-Journal. Daytona Beach, FL. July 1, 2005. p. 2B. Retrieved 2012-06-05.
19. Kelly, Godwin (May 8, 2013). "Family affair: Former NASCAR driver Pardus introduces his kids to Daytona". The Daytona Beach News-Journal. Retrieved August 19, 2019.
20. Kelly, Godwin (September 29, 2017). "New Smyrna's Pardus wins SCCA national title". The Daytona Beach News-Journal. Retrieved August 19, 2019.
21. "Local motorsports notes: Pardus in the booth". The Daytona Beach News-Journal. Daytona Beach, FL. April 9, 2004. p. 3B. Retrieved 2012-06-05.
22. "Dan Pardus – 1998 NASCAR Winston Cup Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved August 29, 2019.
23. "Dan Pardus – 1999 NASCAR Winston Cup Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved August 29, 2019.
24. "Dan Pardus – 2000 NASCAR Winston Cup Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved August 29, 2019.
25. "Dan Pardus – 2001 NASCAR Busch Grand National Series Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved August 29, 2019.
26. "Dan Pardus – 2002 NASCAR Busch Grand National Series Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved August 29, 2019.
27. "Dan Pardus – 2003 NASCAR Busch Grand National Series Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved August 29, 2019.
28. "Dan Pardus – 1997 ARCA Bondo/Mar-Hyde Series Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved August 29, 2019.
29. "Dan Pardus – 1998 ARCA Bondo/Mar-Hyde Series Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved August 29, 2019.
30. "Dan Pardus – 1999 ARCA Bondo/Mar-Hyde Series Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved August 29, 2019.
31. "Dan Pardus – 2000 ARCA Bondo/Mar-Hyde Series Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved August 29, 2019.
32. "Dan Pardus – 2001 ARCA Re/Max Series Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved August 29, 2019.

External links

• Dan Pardus driver statistics at Racing-Reference

• Living people
• 1963 births
• People from Port Orange, Florida
• Sportspeople from Volusia County, Florida
• Racing drivers from Florida
• NASCAR drivers
• ARCA Menards Series drivers
• ISCARS Dash Touring Series drivers