Mike Curb

Mike Curb (born December 14, 1944) is a Entrepreneur and NASCAR owner. Curb is the owner of the Curb-Agajanian Performance Group, a team in NASCAR's Busch Series until 2006. Curb's sponsorship and ownership have included three of NASCAR's most celebrated drivers: he previously owned Richard Petty's famed #43 in 1984 and 1985, including the 199th and 200th career wins for Petty. Curb was also a sponsor for Dale Earnhardt during his 1980 NASCAR Winston Cup Series championship winning season, and sponsored Darrell Waltrip's #12 Toyota Tundra in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, driven by Joey Miller in 2006. Curb-Agajanian has also run cars for many years in the Indianapolis 500 including Top Ten finishes such as Billy Boat.

In November 2007, Curb purchased the remaining interest in Brewco Motorsports from Clarence Brewer of Central City, Kentucky, making him co-owner with Gary Baker. Forming Baker-Curb Motorsports competing in the NASCAR Nationwide Series in 2008 in the #27 and #37 cars. Operations have been moved to Nashville, TN.

Biography
Mike Curb’s name is commonplace in many forms of auto racing – from sprint cars to Indy cars and at various levels of NASCAR. His involvement in racing can be traced back more than 40 years – covering a vast background in motorsports, with championships in various forms of racing and at multiple levels.

A motorsport enthusiast, Curb is a co-owner of the Curb Agajanian Performance Group, a team that has won 10 national championships. His sponsorship and ownership have included three of NASCAR's most celebrated drivers: he previously owned Richard Petty's famed No. 43 car in 1984 and 1985, during which Petty achieved his 199th and 200th career wins. Curb was also a sponsor for Dale Earnhardt during his 1980 Winston Cup championship winning season, and sponsored Darrell Waltrip's No. 12 Toyota Tundra in the Craftsman Truck Series, driven by Joey Miller in 2006. Curb-Agajanian also ran cars for many years in the Indianapolis 500, including for Dan Wheldon and Alexander Rossi, with whom he won the 2011 and 2016 Indianapolis 500s respectively.

While auto racing sparked his early interest as a youngster, his involvement began with sprint car racing in the 1970s and that led to NASCAR.

“I’ve been following racing since I was a young boy in California,” Curb said. “I got involved in motorsports in the 70s with JC Agajanian and the California Racing Association through sponsorships that led to meeting with Les Richter and Bill France Jr. at Riverside Speedway back in 1979, when I was the Grand Marshal for the Riverside NASCAR race.”

At the time, Curb was the Lieutenant Governor of California and acting governor.

“Les and Bill advised me that Dale Earnhardt was only going to run a partial schedule and asked me if I would be willing to provide sponsorships that would lead to the possibility of ownership in Dale Earnhardt’s team,” Curb said.

Earnhardt went on to win his first NASCAR Winston Cup Series championship in 1980, driving the Mike Curb Productions-sponsored car to Victory Lane in five events during the season.

Later in the 1980s, Curb took on the role of a car owner in the series with Richard Petty as the driver. It was during that time that “The King” scored his 200th victory, with a win at Daytona International Speedway in July of 1984.

“My term as Lieutenant Governor and Acting Governor had ended at that time and I was working with President Reagan as Chairman of the RNFC in Washington, D.C.,” Curb recalled. “I was able to play a major role with Bill France Jr. to bring President Reagan to Daytona for the July 4th race.”

Reagan was the first sitting president to attend a NASCAR race.

Mike Curb was first listed as the owner of ThorSport Racing's No. 13 in 2009. This coincided with Curb Records, the record label Mike Curb owned, being a permanent sponsor for the team. He would be listed as the owner of the No. 13 until 2013 when his sponsorship and coinciding ownership would follow Johnny Sauter to the No. 98 on the same team. From 2009-2012, Sauter would have five wins, thirty-eight top 5's, and fifty-four top 10's. His best points finish would be 2nd in 2011, six points behind champion Austin Dillon. Sauter would drive the No. 98 from 2013-15, garnering four wins, twenty-four top 5's and forty-six top 10's. He would finish 4th in the standings each of these three years. Sauter would leave for GMS Racing after this season, but Curb would stay with the No. 98 and Sauter's replacement Rico Abreu in 2016. A known dirt racer, Abreu would struggle by ThorSport's standards. He would only have two top 5's and five top 10's en route to a 13th place points finish. He would be replaced in 2017 by Grant Enfinger, and results would come back to regular levels. In his four full-time seasons, Enfinger had five wins, thirty-four top 5's and sixty-one top 10's. His best finish in the points would be tied for 3rd in 2020. Curb has continued to keep partial ownership as of 2021, where the No. 98 will be split between Enfinger and Christian Eckes

Curb’s involvement in NASCAR continued to evolve through the years. In addition to his role as a car owner in NASCAR’s premier division, he was the registered car owner for numerous drivers in the NASCAR Xfinity Series between 1998 to 2013; and for several drivers in the NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series – including being the listed owner for the current points-leading No. 98 ThorSport/Curb truck driven by Grant Enfinger. Johnny Sauter drove that truck to 10 national victories, including Daytona.

Curb was the only car owner to win in all 10 NASCAR auto racing series in the United States – the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series (formerly Nextel/Sprint Cup and Winston Cup), the Xfinity Series (formerly the Nationwide series and Busch Series), the Gander Outdoors Truck Series (formerly the Camping World Truck Series and Craftsman Truck Series), the Grand-Am Rolex Daytona Prototype National Sports Car Series (now the United Sports Car Series merged with American Le Mans), the IMSA GT Series (formerly IMSA Camel GT), Continental Series (formerly IMSA GTS), the Late Model All American Series, the Modifieds and the K&N East and West Series. Curb was the co-owner with Richard Childress of the No. 98 Chevrolet driven by Austin Dillon. Curb is also a long-time sponsor of ThorSport Racing in the Truck Series, being part-owner of the team's No. 98 Ford driven by Grant Enfinger. He also maintained a similar partnership with Phil Parsons Racing in the Cup Series, which also ran the No. 98.

The Curb Racing team has cars in United States Automobile Club (USAC) competition. Their drivers Christopher Bell and Rico Abreu won the 2013 and 2014 USAC National Midget tours.

Early life and education
Curb was born in Savannah, Georgia and raised in the San Fernando Valley of California. After attending Grant High School, Curb graduated from San Fernando Valley State College (now California State University, Northridge). He is of Mexican heritage.