December News

 

 

Looking For a Christmas Gift?
Grand Rapids Popcorn offers a variety of gift baskets filled with popcorn and other sweets that will satisfy any race fan.  They are located at 4675 West River Drive in Comstock Park, MI  1-800-968-4027 or you can order online at www.grpopcorn.com. 

 

 

Truck Series Viewers Jump
The Craftsman Truck Series was seen by more total viewers in 2007 than in any other season since moving to SPEED in 2003, according to Nielsen Media Research. With an average total viewer count of 686,000, the Truck Series also saw impressive growth in younger demos, posting its best numbers in Men 18-34, Men 18-49 and Men 25-54.

"The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series continues to be one of the true cornerstones of the SPEED motor sports lineup," network president Hunter Nickell said. "The series always delivers great racing, cool storylines and great championship battles.  To have champions like [Mike] Skinner and [Ron] Hornaday taking it down to the last race of the season in such dramatic fashion was what we've come to expect from this series and we're committed to its continued growth on SPEED."

To increase exposure of the Craftsman Truck Series and its participants, SPEED made two races from 2007 available to FOX (Martinsville and Mansfield) and developed a pre-race program, NCTS Setup, hosted by Krista Voda.  The Mansfield race was rained out and aired tape-delayed later on SPEED.

In 2008, the effort will continue as the plans are to again air two Truck races on FOX, with the remainder live and exclusive to SPEED.

SPEED will wrap up the 2007 NCTS season at 9 p.m. ET on Dec. 7 with coverage of the Truck Series awards ceremony from Florida, as well as re-airs of Trucks '07: A Rivalry Renewed (8 p.m. ET) and Bobby Hamilton: Live to Race, Race to Live (10 p.m. ET).

Craftsman Leaving Series
Craftsman will be out as title sponsor of NASCAR's truck-racing series beginning with the 2009 season, The Star has learned. No new title sponsor has been found to replace Craftsman, but a search will soon be getting under way, said Steve Phelps, marketing director for NASCAR. He said he believes NASCAR will have little problem finding a new title sponsor because of the increasing popularity of the series. "We haven't started a search, per se," Phelps said. "But what we want to try to do is identify companies that we believe would be a great fit for the series and a great fit for the fan base. So we'll get out there in 2008, the new year, and start discussions with new companies. No real timelines on when it's going to get done. But it will obviously get done." Craftsman's contract with NASCAR ends after the 2008 series. Craftsman has been the title sponsor since 1995, the year NASCAR founded the series. Over the past 13 series, the trucks have featured some of NASCAR's best racing. Television ratings in terms of total viewership have grown every season. Scott Howard, manager of marketing partnerships and activation for Sears, said his company had been in discussions with NASCAR about continuing sponsorship of the series for the past several months. But, he said, "We have come to the decision that we're going to be giving up our title sponsorship to the NASCAR Craftsman Truck series at the end of 2008. We are fully committed to the series until the end of next season." Howard said that Craftsman does not plan to withdraw fully from NASCAR. He said his company will continue exploring efforts to maintain a presence in the series.     

 

Talkin Trucks - Random Post Season Thoughts
By:  Charles Krall

Charles Krall recaps the action from the 2007 Craftsman Truck Series season.   Click Here for the complete article.

 

Bill Davis Racing Finishes Strong in Truck Series

Bill Davis Racing’s NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series stable had an incredible 2007 season.  The three teams together posted nine wins, 30 top-five finishes, 42 top-10 finishes and 12 poles.

 

The No. 5 Tundra driver of Mike Skinner led the stable with five victories, 17 top-five finishes, 20 top-10 finishes and 11 poles en route to a second-place finish in the NCTS Championship standings.  Skinner set the NCTS record of most poles in a single season (11) after breaking the record (10) he set in 1995.  With Skinner’s 11 poles and developmental driver Ryan Mathews’ pole earlier in the season, BDR now owns the single-season pole record in both the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series and NASCAR Busch Series.

 

Skinner also led the NCTS field in a number of categories, including driver rating (116.1), average start (2.5), average running position (6.54), laps in the top 15 (3678) and laps led (1105 laps, 1217.31 miles).  Skinner also set a new NCTS record of most race winnings in a single season ($737,520).

 

Skinner collected numerous year-end titles at the NCTS awards banquet:  the WIX Filters Award (lap leader), the Bud Pole Award (most poles), Mobil 1 Award (command performance) and the No. 5 Tundra pit crew won the Checkers/Rally Award (fastest pit crew) as well.  This is BDR’s second consecutive year that they have captured the pit crew award.

 

Johnny Benson, driver of the No. 23 TCUV/Exide Tundra, also had an earth-shattering year.  With four wins, 12 top-five finishes and 19 top-10 finishes, Benson finished third in the NCTS Championship points.  He capped his season in fine fashion with a victory in the season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway.  Benson was named the series’ Most Popular Driver for the second consecutive year and became only the second driver to win the award on multiple occasions.

 

Doug Wolcott also worked with a number of drivers this year, including the F1 and Indy 500 Champ Jacques Villeneuve.  Wolcott introduced and prepared Villeneuve for his career in NASCAR throughout the last seven races.

 

This year BDR had the top two finishing Toyota Tundra drivers and helped carry Toyota to its second consecutive Manufacturer’s Cup Championship.  As the 2007 season drew to a close, BDR’s truck stable had proved its talent and determination yet again.  The team has now finished second in the NCTS Championship hunt in two consecutive years. The competition will want to keep an eye on the BDR teams as they attempt to capture BDR’s first NASCAR Championship in 2008. 

Banquet Photos
By:  VPS Motorimages

              

Banquet Awards
NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series champion Ron Hornaday Jr. (No. 33 Camping World Chevrolet) collected a record $370,119 in point fund awards along with special awards of $52,000 during Monday’s Champions Award ceremonies to bring his 2007 season total to $1,137,044, a new single-season record.

Hornaday, the second driver to win three series championships, was honored along with Kevin Harvick Inc. owners Kevin and DeLana Harvick and crew chief Rick Ren. Both KHI and Ren are celebrating their first championship.

Hornaday’s winnings pushed his career total to $5,297,266, second on the all-time list behind fellow three-time champion Jack Sprague (No. 60 Con-way Freight Toyota) ($6,846,738).

The champion’s season winnings include special awards from Chevrolet, Goodyear and Sunoco.

More than $1.8 million in point fund awards were distributed to the top 20 drivers in the final NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series point standings. Runner-up Mike Skinner (No. 5 Toyota Tundra Toyota) won $997,980 for the season. That total is the fourth highest all-time and the highest for a non-champion driver. Skinner’s race winnings of $737,520 is also a new record.

Willie Allen (No. 13 ThorSport Chevrolet) was the 2007 Raybestos Rookie of the Year, topping Tim Sauter (No. 07 Lester Buildings Chevrolet). Allen became the first rookie to win the award in a Chevrolet since Travis Kvapil (No. 6 K&N Filters Ford) in 2001.

Johnny Benson (No. 23 Toyota Certified Used Vehicles Toyota) was named the Most Popular Driver for the second consecutive season. He is the first driver to repeat, and only the second driver to win the award more than once. Hornaday was named Most Popular Driver in 1997 and 2005.

Why Trucks Are Better
By:  Jeff Gluck

Everyone loves the Craftsman Truck Series, but it’s not for the reasons they think. 

Ask NASCAR fans why they love the trucks, and many will tell you that the racing is just better. It’s closer, more competitive and has better finishes. At least that’s the thought.

I’m not sold about the racing being that much better than in Sprint Cup or the Nationwide Series. But I do agree the trucks are the best series.

Here’s what makes it so enjoyable to watch:

• The personalities are more fun. In Cup, we often hear that all the drivers are robots or boring. That’s obviously not the case in trucks, a series full of characters who say what’s on their mind and aren’t afraid to stir a little trouble.

• The races are shorter. You don’t have to sit through four hours for something to happen. Fans can sit down, watch a truck race and have a good time without devoting their entire day to the event

• The announcers are better. Commentators Rick Allen, Phil Parsons and Speed TV’s coverage are top-notch. Don’t you wish Speed’s crew would cover the Cup races instead of the missed-restart, commercial-heavy, over-hyped, problem-filled broadcasts we saw recently?

• It’s about the racing. The other series sometimes get so drama-heavy, with stories and news about anything but racing. The truck series is simply about fast trucks and winning races. Pretty refreshing stuff.

Petty Family Planning New Camp in Midwest
Preferred Site in the Kansas City Area
Kyle Petty is one of NASCAR’s most popular drivers and he also helps run the legendary Petty Enterprises team that is owned by his father, Richard Petty. But it was his role as humanitarian that brought Petty to Kansas City this week.

Petty said on Tuesday afternoon that he and his wife Pattie are determined to build a camp that would help seriously ill children in the Midwest and that the Kansas City area is the preferred site for the facility.  “It’s not a matter of if we build here, it’s a matter of when we build here,” Petty said.

In 2004, the Pettys founded the Victory Junction Gang Camp in Randleman, N.C. The intent was to build a facility which would inject happiness into the lives of ill children by providing them, free of charge, with a camp which features everything from horseback riding to bowling.

The Petty’s impetus for founding the race-themed camp was the death of their son, Adam, during a NASCAR test session.  Richard Petty handed 75 acres of wooded land to Kyle and Pattie and private donors _ many from the NASCAR community _ stepped up with financial help. The camp, which features 42 modern wheel-chair accessible buildings and a 7-acre lake, hosts up to 125 children in each of its week-long summer sessions. It also hosts family weekends.

Pattie Petty said there is no doubt that good work is being accomplished at the North Carolina camp. Good for the kids and good for their families.  “We’re seeing that the family dynamics are being rebuilt,” she said. “If you’ve never thought about a chronically ill child, let me explain what that does to the family dynamics. Mom and dad usually split up, there’s an 80 percent divorce race and 52 percent in bankruptcy. If in any way, we can bring these families together, and maybe they don’t feel like their the only person with a child sickle cell or their not the only family with a child with spina bifida, we bring them together and they learn how to deal with it.”

Pattie Petty said that the North Carolina camp is now operating at capacity She said that prompted a look into a second camp.  Kyle Petty said that he would like to build the camp in this area for a number of reasons. Some of those reasons are practical _ the proximity of the airport and top-shelf medical facilities. And some are emotional _ he has a long relationship with Sprint and says he has been blown away by how Kansas City has welcomed NASCAR.  “For us,” Kyle said, “it’s important to be in this area.”

Pattie Petty said that after a story about possibly building a camp appeared in the Star in late September, offers and pleas poured in from interested Midwesterners.  “The simple presentation to Sprint arose more interest from the medical community and people wanting to donate land and people wanting us to come to their community. That took us four or five years in North Carolina,” she said.

Petty was scheduled to meet with civic and corporate representatives Tuesday night for another presentation on the project. He said that before anything becomes definite, all involved must be confident of the “long-term sustainability” of the project.  Petty said if details are worked out, the camp could open in 2009 or ’10.

JB Fans at Homstead
Johnny had more lucky fans who were in attendance at the Craftsman Truck Race in Miami!  Judy and Ralph Manting along with David and Dayton Stone cheered Johnny on.  Thanks for sharing, Ralph!



 

Sad News
The JBFC would like to send well wishes to the family of Curtis Martin on the recent loss of his mother after the Miami race.  Curtis is part of the #23 Bill Davis Racing team. 

 

Miami Photos
These lucky JB fans went to the Craftsman Truck race in Miami to see Johnny win the race!  Thank you for sharing your photos with the fans!

By:  Jack Drolema Jr

         

By:  Scott Jewell

   

 

Berlin Raceway Releases 2008 Schedule
New racing division added; popular traveling series return
Five points-earning local racing divisions, eight different traveling series and three marquis annual events highlight Berlin Raceway's 2008 season schedule, which opens on Saturday, April 12 and runs through Saturday, October 11.

A new racing division will compete for points and prize money and will crown its first champion in 2008. The 4-Cylinder division will race 12 times for points, plus a season-ending non-points Enduro race. The 4-Cylinder class raced a handful of times in 2007 as a non-points experiment, growing from 14 cars in April to 37 cars in September. The increasing popularity in the 4-Cylinder division was due to the exciting race action on the track all season long (proving racing really is a contact sport) and the inexpensive costs of purchasing and maintaining a 4-Cylinder. A 4-Cylinder race car is a standard street model with a few safety additions such as five-point seat belts and roll bars. Models raced in 2007 include Pontiac Grand Ams and Sunbirds, Dodge Neons, Chevrolet Cavaliers and Toyota Corollas, among others. The purchase and modification of a 4-Cylinder race car costs less than $1,000. The addition of this class gives racers a true entry level class at Berlin Raceway.

With the 4-Cylinders becoming the fifth division at Berlin, joining the Coors Light Late Model, Engine Pro Super Stock, De-Jay Slick Truck Pro Stock and Instant Cash Advance Sportsman divisions, gone are the days of a standard weekly show with all point divisions racing every Saturday night. Only once (Championship Night, September 20) are all five divisions racing on the same night. Each division has several nights of racing off from the time-consuming and expensive sport of racing, allowing race teams some personal time away from the track during the six month season. But each race night is packed with excitement for the fans; in addition to Berlin's regular divisions, traveling series including Auto Value Super Sprints (three times), ARCA, ASA, Short Track Trucks, Wolverine Outlaw Midgets (twice), Vintage Racing Organization, USPro Series and ISMA Supermodifieds are all on the 2008 schedule. Entertainment such as the ever-popular School Bus Races (which have drawn the largest crowds of the season for each of the past several years), Trash Can Bowling and Spectator Drags pack the itinerary on nights when less than four of the divisions race.    Complete Story