As passionate about driving as ever, McCumbee hopes his involvement in sports car racing will one day allow him to compete in the Rolex 24 At Daytona or the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
“It’s opened up a door for me to be able to try to continue to make a living in this sport and I want to drive as long as I possibly can,” McCumbee said. “The sport in general is all that I know. It’s what I want to do and make a long-term commitment to and make a career out of.”
As part of his commitment to racing, McCumbee McAleer Racing has become a championship-winning driver-development program in the sports car world. McCumbee’s knowledge gained by seeing the racing landscape firsthand from a variety of levels and perspectives aids the team’s success.
“It’s amazing what you can learn even when you’re teaching others at the same time, so you’ve got to be a good student of the sport and even with the experience that I’ve been blessed to have, I still learn something every year,” McCumbee explained. “I learn something to make myself better as a driver, make myself better as a team owner, or make our team better in general.
“That knowledge you hope to pass on to the next kids coming up, or new staff that are working on these cars and want to become an engineer or a crew chief or a lead mechanic, or whatever it may be. There’s always growth that you hope you can help people with.”
McCumbee believes the increased level of intensity from series like the MX-5 Cup to GT4 cars to headlining GT3 machinery is similar to what he experienced in his climb from ARCA to the Truck Series to the Cup Series.
Although he has become a well-respected name in sports cars, McCumbee has always remained an integral part of the stock car scene.
His partner, engine builder Robert Elliott, has for the better part of a decade helped field late model cars for the two-car team of McCumbee and Sam Yarbrough. Both are winners of the prestigious Myrtle Beach 400 and have CARS Tour victories to their credit. McCumbee competes full time with the CARS Tour and at major late model stock races, while Yarbrough is often found at NASCAR-sanctioned events.
“The CARS Tour is as tough as any of the stuff that I did coming up,” McCumbee said. “It certainly rivals the ARCA Series and the Truck Series back when I was coming up through that. It’s without a doubt the premier Southeast touring series that exists.”
Occasionally, McCumbee competes against new CARS Tour co-owner Dale Earnhardt Jr., whom McCumbee famously played in the 2004 ESPN biopic “3: The Dale Earnhardt Story.”
McCumbee was working for Andy Hillenburg’s Fast Track High Performance Driving School at the time and the company had the contract to build all the cars for the movie.
The production staff was having a hard time finding an actor to play Junior, and McCumbee fit the bill.
“Essentially, I didn’t have to act, I just had to read lines and act as myself and that was exactly what they were looking for,” McCumbee said. “I was a short-track racer at the time at Myrtle Beach and so it was kind of perfect for what they were needing for that role.”
Although McCumbee remained humble about his acting career, in hindsight, he thinks perhaps he didn’t take advantage of the notoriety as much as he should have.
“It wasn’t something I ever even thought of doing in my life, but I do think that ultimately it helped me with screen time, it helped me with a camera in front of my face and moving forward being a representative for a sponsor or a partner,” he said. “It certainly brought value to that.”
Today, McCumbee lives near his hometown on the southeastern North Carolina coast with his wife Stephie, 6-year-old boy Cannon and 2-year-old girl Kinley. He’s content with the path he’s charted in racing and life and becoming a part of the sports car landscape, which had never been on his radar as a young racer. His thoughtful personality comes across in his cerebral decisions on the track and as a team owner. He’s quick to acknowledge that the staff in the shop helps facilitate the on-track success.
McCumbee is pragmatic and understands the climb it took to reach the highest levels of stock car racing. He’s willing to do the same again in either NASCAR or in sports cars.
But he’s also not trying to force anything.
“I think just taking care of the present takes care of the future,” McCumbee said. “Just keep doing the best we can with everything we have going on now. Opportunities tend to present themselves when we see success.”
This story appeared in the July 19, 2023 edition of the SPEED SPORT Insider.
