On April 17, 1997, David Carrington (on the left), who at the time was president of WDC Systems, a leading supplier of inventory management and point-of-sale software to retailers around the world, purchased That's Racin', a sleepy little NASCAR store located in Birmingham, Alabama's Riverchase Galleria Mall. Chris Brannon (on the right), who is currently Racing USA's vice president, was a sales person at the store when Carrington purchased it.
Sales began to immediately increase, growing close to 70% in the first year. In late 1997, Carrington purchased another store -- this one in Huntsville, Alabama -- and re-branded the budding two-store chain with the trademarked name, Racing USA.
Two additional stores followed in 1998 and plans were developed for a national chain. Unfortunately, these plans changed in April of 1999, when Carrington was told he had cancer.
During his recovery, Carrington began investigating the internet and launched RacingUSA.com in August of 1999. By June of 2000, RacingUSA.com was the company's largest store and by Christmas of 2000, it was larger than all four of the "brick and mortar" stores combined. That's when Carrington and Brannon decided to change their business model and become an internet only retailer.
Today, RacingUSA.com is the most frequently shopped, independently owned store for officially licensed NASCAR merchandise. From its 10,000 square foot corporate headquarters just outside of Birmingham, Alabama, Racing USA's staff of professionals ship thousands of packages each month to loyal NASCAR fans throughout the United States.
Racing USA's response to the Dale Earnhardt tragedy in 2001 received national media attention (USA Today, CNN and Associated Press, among others). When other retailers throughout the country saw the family's tragedy as an opportunity to make a quick buck, Carrington and Brannon closed its stores on Monday in honor of the 7-time Winston Cup Champion -- and didn't increase its prices on Dale Earnhardt merchandise a single cent when it reopened its doors on Tuesday (quoting Carrington, "to do otherwise would have been unconscionable").
Because of its pricing integrity and its customer service track record, RacingUSA consistently receives "Excellent" performance ratings from its clients.
In 2005, RacingUSA and was named Alabama's Gold Award Retailer of the Year. In 2008, RacingUSA.com became the first NASCAR retailer to receive the TRUSTe Privacy Seal, the gold standard in third party internet website privacy compliance. And, in 2009, Carrington was named Entrepreneurial Hero by the Acton Foundation for Entrepreneurial Excellence.
