Silly Season 2007

[Mumzy]

And Dave Ashley drove the Enduro Ford F-150.

When Smith, Landfield, Venable, Evans and the rest put that "NasTruck" deal together they had a vision of running the desert and the pavement. Little did they know it was almost the kiss of death for the off-road factory teams. It has taken almost 15 years to get the factory back in the desert after they were lured down south. I wonder were the modern day Trophy Truck would be if the Craftsman Truck Series had never been???? Factory Chevrolet, Ford, Dodge, Toyota and Nissan teams. Chevy and Ford are represented...Dodge is back, Toyota is kind of back...Nissan is history.

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[NIKAL]

I found this on http://www.frontstretch.com/blunkenheimer/7286/
Its the history of the Truck series.

History of the Truck Series
Tracking The Trucks · Beth Lunkenheimer · Thursday March 1, 2007

It all started with a simple idea; put a group of trucks on an oval track and let them race. Jim Smith, Frank Vessels, Jim Venable and Dick Landfield presented their idea to NASCAR. Unfortunately, NASCAR was skeptical and didn’t seem to want to give it a chance. Well, Dennis Huth and Brian France refused to let the idea die. A few months later, Huth and France re-presented the idea for a truck series to Bill and Jim France, and shortly afterwards, a new NASCAR racing division was born.

The first Craftsman Truck Series race was the Mesa Marin 20 on July 30, 1994. The 20-lap exhibition race was called “just a glimpse of what will be a national touring series in 1995,” by Dennis Huth, one of the people responsible for the birth of the current series. The race, which took just 7 minutes to complete, was won by P.J. Jones. Jones received $900 in prize money, while the rest of the 5 driver field (Gary Collins, Rob MacCachren, Craig Huartson and Dave Ashley) were each rewarded $800. There were just three more exhibition races in 1994, with the final exhibition held at Tucson Raceway Park in Arizona. Providing a glimpse into the future, that event was won by then two-time Featherlite champion Ron Hornaday, Jr.

With the success of the four exhibition races, Huth and Brian France were given the task of planning 3 more races at Tucson over the winter of 1994 and 1995. These would be “full-fledged” races with larger fields and more laps. These 200-lap races also featured a 10-minute break halfway through the event so crews could adjust their trucks. As the races became longer and the fields became larger, both the success of the races and a growing fan base were taking root.

On February 5, 1995, the Craftsman Truck Series made its official debut with the GM Goodwrench 200 at Phoenix International Raceway. The field consisted of 33 trucks; 17 Fords, 13 Chevys, and 3 Dodges. Mike Skinner, driving the No. 3 Richard Childress owned Chevrolet, started near the back but won by a margin of just 0.09 seconds. Skinner would take the truck, painted to imitate the late Dale Earnhardt’s Nextel Cup car, to Victory Lane 7 more times that season en route to the inaugural series championship.

In a series whose first race got the winner just $900, today’s purses are quite a bit higher. Now, last place goes home with more than twice the money the entire field did for that first race. In its 13th season, the truck series continues to be a strong training ground for young drivers, while giving Nextel Cup drivers a place to play and fans a reason to watch.

Did You Know…

The first ever NASCAR truck was a 1994 Ford F-150 Lightning?
Toyota entered the truck series in 2004 and has won 26 races and its first championship just 3 years after the debut of the Toyota Tundra?
The championship has been decided by less than 100 points in 8 of the series’ 12 races (67%)?
Kyle Busch is the youngest driver to race in the truck series? He was just 16 years old when he first entered the series in 2001 before changes to the NASCAR age rule forced him to sit out until his 18th birthday.

[RGFan]

Jim Venable had none other than Rob Mac at the wheel at the first couple of go rounds at Mesa Marin!! Rob also didn't do so well on that hard black stuff, but can you blame him, pavement racing sucks!!!

Obviously you are the minority with that thinking.

[RGFan]

Here is the 1995 points standing for the Craftsman Truck Series...Some familiar names

Final Points Standings

Mike Skinner - 3224
Joe Ruttman - 3098
Ron Hornaday - 2986
Butch Miller - 2812
Jack Sprague - 2740
Rick Carelli - 2683
Bill Sedgwick - 2681
Mike Bliss - 2636
Scott Lagasse - 2470
Tobey Butler - 2358
Bob Strait - 2182
Sammy Swindell - 2109
Steve Portenga - 2048
Walker Evans - 1744
Bob Keselowski - 1742
John Nemechek - 1674
P. J. Jones - 1519
Jerry Glanville - 1482
Dave Rezendes - 1453
Geoff Bodine - 1436
T.J. Clark - 1235
Kerry Teague - 1221
John Kinder - 1183
Bob Brevak - 1182
Mike Hurlbert - 1146
Johnny Benson - 1049
Kenny Allen - 992
Dennis Setzer - 850
Ken Schrader - 828
Mike Chase - 767
Michael Dokken - 753
Todd Bodine - 748
Jerry Churchill - 715
Rodney Combs - 660
Steve McEachern - 613
Ray Daniels - 543
Terry Labonte - 515
Wayne Jacks - 506
Butch Gilliland - 501
Troy Beebe - 491
Darrell Waltrip - 450
Gary Collins - 440
Ron Esau - 427
Kenny Wallace - 420
Ernie Irvan - 408
Roger Mears - 382
Randy Churchill - 370
Frank Davis - 368
Pancho Carter - 349
Tommy Archer - 325

[kaw500]

Some great names on that list, I thought Rick Carelli would make a name in CUP at one time.

[NicksTrix]

Some great names on that list, I thought Rick Carelli would make a name in CUP at one time.

he tried, and was a back marker if he could get in the show. tried the deal like furniture row is doing now: out of colorado= never a chance. funny thing is the common denominator in both those programs is joe garone. joe was a wrench for the team, now he's running one...

once rick whacked his head he was pretty much done as was steve park and a number of others. he was a round the track for a while as a spotter & coach. haven't heard about him in a number of years.


moral to the story- you just never know when things will totally change.