June 13, 2009
By Nick Blake
As a 16 year old, I’ve only been watching NASCAR racing since 2000, when I was just seven, but I want to say the first race I watched from start to finish was the 2001 Daytona 500. That’s the Sprint Cup Series. I didn’t really take interest into the Truck Series until 2003, when Darrell Waltrip came out of retirement to run a couple races in a Chevy that he and his brother Michael owned. Being as young as I was, I cherished that, because I wasn’t even born when Darrell was in his glory years. He didn’t disappoint either. With three starts that season, his finishes were 7th, 29th and 7th. I watched more races that season, keeping up with the long standing veterans such as Dennis Setzer, Ted Musgrave, and even Terry Cook. I also watched some kid driving the Roush Racing #99 truck. I think his name was Carl Edwards, he always did a back flip off the bed of his truck when he won a race. I wondered how big of a star he would become in just a few short years?
As the years passed, Truck racing became more exciting to me, the season opening race at Daytona was moved to prime time, under the lights, on Friday night and with all the well known veterans that seemed to never lose their rides, it wasn’t like you had to learn a new face in a new place -- every year like with the Cup Series. The racing was and still is short and quick, you have to come out with a game plan and a setup race truck, because in some races you only will have one or two pit stops to work on your truck. If it’s not fixed for the finish then, it won’t ever be your day to celebrate in victory circle.
Speaking of victory circle, do you remember when a driver would go to victory lane, and there would always be a Craftsman mini tool box on the roof of their truck? Sometimes a winning driver would hoist that before even getting the trophy. The tool box was symbolic for all the drivers that loved to compete in the rough and tough series.
Sponsorship wasn’t always a major problem, Roush Racing fielded limited or non-sponsored trucks for Jon Wood, Carl Edwards, and a few others. After 2006, GM Goodwrench left Kevin Harvick Inc., and left Ron Hornaday Jr. with no or limited sponsorship for most of the 2006 season. The team struck gold when they landed Camping World to sponsor the team in 2007 and ’08.
Not all teams have been lucky though, despite what most would think is a rebirth of the truck series with Camping World coming on as the new series sponsor, the poor economy was the dominating story in the late months of 2008, and well into the off season. It still hasn’t stopped. Workers are being laid off, equipment is being sold left and right, and all the veterans that I mentioned earlier, they're struggling to find rides.
Ultimately, it leads to teams being shut down. Not just teams that struggle to make the top 10 every week, I’m talking teams that have won championships within the past six years.
2004 champion Bobby Hamilton Racing struggled to continue after Hamilton was forced to give up his seat to his son due to cancer, cancer that less than a year later, claimed his life. His wife Lori continued the day-to-day operations, but with Dodge pulling support, and sponsors dropping out, the team’s last hurrah was a Martinsville win last season with Dennis Setzer. After the season ended, the team shut down.
Bobby Hamilton Racing, which from the late ‘90s to 2005, was a race and championship winning empire, was no more, with the equipment going to Jim Harris Motorsports. Other dominant teams that have shut down in recent years are, Ultra Motorsports #1, #2 (2005), Spears Motorsports #75, South Point Racing #62, #77 (2007) and the championship winning team of last season, Bill Davis Racing.
When trucks unloaded in 2009 for speed weeks, you’d think that colorful trucks with nothing on it became the new style. In reality, several teams came to Daytona with no sponsors. Among them was Todd Bodine, the 2006 champion. The sponsorless trucks became more common as the season grew, while the new rules on pit road (no tires and fuel at the same time) made for interesting strategy, meaning interesting and exciting racing. Even the ratings on SPEED were seeing a slight hike in viewers.
The start-and-park idea originated in the Sprint Cup Series this season, but trickled down to the Nationwide and Truck Series soon after.
After a strong 6th place run with David Gilliland at Lowe’s, The Racer’s Group quietly dropped out of future races, focusing more on their Cup effort. That opens the door for a lesser competitive team to enter races, but it’s not happening.
With Johnny Benson losing his ride at Red Horse Racing and quickly being replaced by Timothy Peters (Who you might forget was an RCR Nationwide driver in 2007 alongside Kevin Harvick in the #21.) there are only 32 trucks on the entry list for this Saturday’s race in Michigan. For the most part, the teams are the same as last weeks race at Texas, but at that race there were only 22 trucks out of a short field of 33 that finished the race. I kept an eye on that more than the racing up front.
How many will start-and-park this week, especially since Michigan is so tough on engines?
Will this epidemic become worse or clear up?
The poor economy is leaving us all with more questions than answers. The racing is still phenomenal in the Camping World Truck Series, but how long can it stay that way when our defending champion can’t even race?
If Camping World ever dropped out of their deal to sponsor the series, we might just have to call it the “Buy A Ride, Drive A Ride” Series.
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.
Comments or suggestions are encouraged. Please contact Nick Blake at 
