Ron Hornaday, Jr. – Back in the High Life Again

November 29, 2007
By Allen Madding

Allen Madding

At 49 years old, Ron Hornaday, Jr. can look back over the last 12 years of his driving career and grin. Not because of a steady rise to the top, but of the ebbs and flows of a hard fought career in NASCAR racing.

When NASCAR decided to launch the SuperTruck Series, redubbed the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series in 1995, Richard Childress and Dale Earnhardt both decided they wanted to own a truck. A little friendly rivalry sprung up and the two began looking for the right driver. Childress picked Mike Skinner. Earnhardt had been watching the NASCAR Winter Heat Series on ESPN over the winter and a short track driver from California had caught his eye. He picked Ron Hornaday, Jr. To Hornaday’s credit, he had amassed an impressive amount of wins on short tracks and had bagged two consecutive NASCAR Southwest Tour Series championships.

As the 1995 season developed Hornaday and Skinner lived up to their expectations. Skinner won the championship. Hornaday won it the following year. When Hornaday won the championship for a second time in 1998, it seemed he was on top of the world. In 2000, DEI decided that the Truck Series was not a profitable operation and elected to withdrawal. Earnhardt moved Hornaday to the Busch Series. It seemed like a logical step and Hornaday stepped up to the challenge. He was named Rookie of the Year and Most Popular Driver winning twice and finishing fifth in the Busch Series points. But at the end of the year, Earnhardt parked the No. 3 Busch Series team leaving Hornaday scrambling for a ride.

Hornaday made 12 Busch starts in 2001 driving for Armado Fitz and Mike Curb recording a single top-five finish. The quality of race car he had with DEI the year before was obviously missing. At the same time, Hornaday competed full time driving for A.J. Foyt in the NASCAR Winston Cup Series, but in 32 starts Hornaday and the Foyt team were only able to record one top-ten finish. By the year-end, the sponsorship was gone and Foyt could not field the car without the funding.

Hornaday dropped back to the Busch Series for 2002 driving for Rick Hendrick and Dave Carroll. Richard Childress signed him to drive the No. 2 Chevrolet in the Busch Series in 2003 and 2004. Hornaday recorded one win in both seasons. The results were not what Childress was looking for, and at the end of 2004, he replaced Hornaday with Clint Bowyer. The two-time NASCAR Craftsman Truck champion had fallen on hard times. Many claimed he was washed up and done.

Kevin Harvick knew Ron Hornaday was a talented driver, and he owed Hornaday a favor or two. So, Harvick put Hornaday behind the wheel of his No. 6 Chevrolet in the Craftsman Truck Series for 2005. Hornaday scored a win and finished fourth in the season standings making good on Harvick’s investment. Hornaday was beginning to enjoy the Truck Series all over again and was once again voted Most Popular Driver.

But Friday night at Homestead, Florida, Ron Hornaday, Jr. was able to smile that toothy grin of his as he won the 2007 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series championship. That grin showed the pride of not only winning a hard fought championship battle with his old rival Mike Skinner but the accomplishment of being back on top of the sport after taking some hard knocks during some terribly tough seasons.

The thoughts and ideas expressed by this writer or any other writer on Insider Racing News, are not necessarily the views of the staff and/or management of IRN.

	Enter your search terms Submit search form
	Web Insiderracingnews.com