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DECADES of RACING Top 10 Drivers / First Wins / Nascar Origin / Busch Origin / BookStore / Hall of Fame
NASCAR CRAFTSMAN TRUCK SERIES Racing enthusiasts Jim Venable, Dick Landfield, Frank Vessels, Jim Smith and Marion Collins convinced Nascar on the idea of an official truck division, due to the popularity of Nascar racings growth in every division, thus the Supertruck Series was born in 1994. Sponsored by the Craftsman Division of the Sears Company, Nascar held four preview races in California (2), Oregon (1) and Arizona (1). In addition there were two winter heats of 200 laps (75 miles) held at Tuscon Raceway Park in Tuscon, AZ. Now operating as the Nascar Craftsman Truck Series, the popularity of the series has grown tremendously as evidenced by the 28 races held in 1998. The first full season of 1995 featured twenty races at 15 tracks and Mike Skinner driving for Richard Childress won the championship over Joe Ruttman. Skinner had 8 poles and 8 wins to beat Ruttman by 126 points. The 1996 schedule was expanded to 24 races at 23 tracks with the first 1.5 mile tracks at Homestead, Florida and Las Vegas added plus the Watkins Glen road circuit was added also. Ron Hornaday, in a Chevrolet owned by Dale Earnhart, won two poles and four races enroute to winning the 1996 title by 53 points over Jack Sprague. In 1997 the schedule was expanded to 26 races at 25 tracks. The purse grew to more than $6 million which is good considering that the Busch Series was racing for $10 million purse at that time. Jack Sprague who finished second in 1996 won the 1997 championship by a series record 232 points over Rich Bickle, who ended up just one point ahead of third-place Joe Ruttman. Hornaday won seven races with Ruttman taking five, Sprague and Bickle each won three, and Irwin won two. One time winners included Bliss, Sauter, Bob Keselowski, Tony Raines, Randy Tolsma, and Ron Fellows. In 1998 the action and suspense was great as the championship wasn't decided until the last lap of the last race of the 27 race season. Ron Hornaday passed Greg Biffle and Joe Ruttman on the last lap at Las Vegas to finish behind racewinner and 1997 series champion Jack Sprague but that was enough to make Hornaday the first two-time Craftsman Series champion and Sprague finished a frustrated second. Birthdays/ LINKS/ Career Records / Multiple Winners/ Pit Crews Check out the new Nascar Memorial page.
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