Do you have time for an incredible story? Two weeks ago, while on the way to Las Vegas Motor Speedway the No. 98 Stewart-Haas Racing team hauler crashed in Arizona. Fortunately, everyone was fine in the crash, and the No. 98 car was able to get to LVMS to compete that weekend, but that’s not where the story ends.
Murphys Towing and Diesel, the Ash Fork, Arizona-based towing company that rescued the No. 98 team hauler from the side of the road, will now enter NASCAR as a primary sponsor of the No. 33 Reaume Brothers Racing truck with driver Keith McGee in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series finale at Phoenix Raceway.
Murphys Deisel actually has a YouTube channel, where they document interesting or unique recoveries that they do. The channel, which has nearly 7,000 subscribers actually has a video of their team recovering the No. 98 SHR hauler.
Here is the video of Murphys Towing and Diesel recovering the Stewart-Haas Racing hauler:
As part of the sponsorship deal, McGee, who says, “I’m more than happy to help with any partner whatever they want,” will be featured on Murphys Diesel’s YouTube channel and the company will actually be using their tractor to bring the Reaume Brothers Racing hauler into Phoenix Raceway.
McGee, 41, who has made a total of seven NASCAR Camping World Truck Series starts with a career-best finish of 10th coming at Talladega Superspeedway in 2021, says the conversation of the sponsorship from Murphys Towing and Diesel started when McGee noticed the company posting on social media about rescuing the No. 98 team hauler.
After looking at their social media channels, McGee noticed that the company’s thoughts and style aligned with his own personal ones and he decided to design a paint scheme with their logo, and as the kids say, he shot his shot.
“I was checking out their social media and I noticed they seemed like a patriotic group of guys. Guys that just love the country and they clearly enjoy NASCAR,” McGee explained to TobyChristie.com. “So, I created a rendering and sent it to them on social media saying I’d love to have them on board for Phoenix. Just told them my story, and they got back to me and said they loved the idea and we worked out a deal.”
What resulted from the spontaneous paint scheme design was an answered prayer for McGee.
McGee had planned on running the final race of the season at Phoenix Raceway, but sponsorship that he had hoped would come through had vaporized. He was still set to run Phoenix, but would not be able to afford to give the race a full effort. That all changed thanks to Murphys Towing and Diesel.
“I mean, it’s racing. And with me, plans always seem to go askew from time to time. But the plan was still there to go run Phoenix, but I was still hunting for sponsors,” McGee admitted. “It’s late in the year, so a lot of companies are focusing on their budgets for next year so a lot of companies haven’t been setting aside money to spend in the last part of the year. So, it was just not really dead ends, but a lot of people telling me they’ll reach back out to me next year.
“So, I was running out of viable options to come up with the funding needed to put in a solid performance. These guys came in and answered a lot of prayers, that’s for sure.”
If you aren’t familiar with McGee’s story, he is an interesting case. The son of Terri McGee Walker, a 1988 Olympics Gold Medalist, McGee is the first-ever NASCAR National Series driver from Alaska and he is also the first disabled veteran (McGee served in the United States Air Force) to make it into the NASCAR National Series ranks.
For McGee to get a chance to race a truck in the final race of the 2022 season, a week before Veterans Day, brought the emotions out in him. He understands this is his chance to inspire others who have served and that have potentially been harmed in the line of duty protecting their country.
McGee worked his way up the racing ladder at a later age than most aspiring racers, as he got started in the K&N West Series (now known as the ARCA Menards Series West) at the age of 37, but in just four years, he had worked his way into five NASCAR Camping World Truck Series starts a season ago. McGee had hoped for an increase in starts this year, but the racing business can be hard sometimes. So hard, in fact, that McGee thought about giving up.
“It’s definitely been a struggle,” McGee said. “This year, especially there have been a lot of days where I’ve thought maybe I should go back to Alaska and hang it up and say, ‘Hey, I made it to my dream and lived my goal,’ and I was talking to my Pac Bak sponsor from Talladega and he told me, ‘Man, I know exactly how you feel, I’ve been there. Just do one thing for me and give it one more day and then tomorrow give it one more day.’ And that hit home and resonated with me. It’s so easy to give up, but give it another day.”
Still, McGee has taken on numerous roles at Reaume Brothers Racing, which has kept him busy and around the sport all season.
“This year I’ve kind of had to do a lot just to make it through the season. I came back and helped out here at Reaume Brothers Racing. Josh [Reaume] reached out and asked if I could help out at Daytona because Daytona is always a grind. I came back in and took over the graphics department, which prints and handles all the wraps,” McGee said. “I realized this was a great place for me to keep busy and remain in the sport. I have done that the entire year and then Josh asked if I would like to spot, so I have been a spotter in several races in the Trucks, Xfinity, and Cup this year.
“I also like to bake in my free time, when I have it. So, I do the catering at some tracks for the race team. I’ll cook all night and then bring it to the track, and feed the guys. Then go spot. And I do all the radio communications for the team to make sure the comms are all working and in order. And when I’m not spotting, I’m holding the pit sign. There’s definitely been a full plate of jobs this year, but it’s definitely been worth it. This year, I’ve had probably 50 vehicles that I’ve designed on track. It’s definitely been a good year outside of the lack of racing opportunities I’ve had.”
Driver, graphics wrap department, spotter, radio communications, and paint scheme designer, McGee is a guy who literally can do it all. Now, he’ll look to record a decent finish at Phoenix Raceway in a couple of weeks.
McGee says a top-20 finish would be incredible, and if he could somehow score a top-10 finish, as he did at Talladega Superspeedway a season ago, it would be like winning a championship for him.
