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Newsletter
The JBFC
newsletter is done and now at the
printers. It will be mailed to fan
club members at the end of this week.
Thanks for your patience!
Truck Chief Don
Tarantino
checks under the hood
Woody cleans up the
area at
the back of the transporter
S
the family and friends
in your thoughts and prayers.
Memory Lane
By: JBFC
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Another
photo of JB fans was found during
the completion of Johnny's 2000
scrapbook. Do you recognize
these fans? |
Pit Stops are Tweaked
for Truck Series
NASCAR has tweaked
the pit-stop rules for Camping World
Truck Series teams as it will force them
to use one crewman to fuel the car
instead of giving them option of using
two crewmen.
NASCAR instituted a rule this year that
allowed only five crewmen over the wall
on a pit stop, and a team can no longer
change tires and fuel the car on the
same stop.
In the past, when teams were allowed to
change tires and fuel the car on the
same stop with a limit of seven crew
members, teams would use five crewmen to
change tires, one to fuel the car and
one to hold the catch can for fuel
overflow.
But with the new rule, some teams last
week used two crewmen to fuel the car at
Daytona International Speedway since
they had an extra person available and
it takes two gas cans of fuel to fill
the tank. When one can was emptied, the
first fuel man would move away from the
car and the second crewman would be
standing by with another gas can to
finish the fueling.
Tweaking the rule this week, NASCAR will
allow only one crewman to fuel the car,
so teams will have to go back to the
original method of the fuel man handing
the empty gas can to a crew member
across the pit wall and have the second
gas can given to him to finish fueling
the car.
NASCAR announced the rule change during
the prerace drivers meeting Saturday
morning at Auto Club Speedway in
California.
Handling Goes Away in California
Johnny had a
good view of the front in the 2nd
starting spot, but the handling would go
away after 45 laps when he felt a tire
going bad. Johnny brought his #1
Toyota Tundra home in the 12th position.
Kyle Busch won for the 1st time in 2009.
Daytona Photos
By: JBFC
The Camping World Truck garage area is
out in the open at Daytona
International Speedway. As you
can see by the photos below, there is
no protection from the weather
element. There is not much room
between trucks for the crews to work
either.
Trucks Continue Double-Digit Ratings
Climb
By: SpeedTV
The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series
on SPEED picked up right where it left
off in 2008 with a double-digit
Nielsen Ratings increase from the
season opener in Daytona. The Friday
night race, won by Todd Bodine, scored
a Nielsen mark of 1.90 (1,393,000
households), up 21 percent from last
year's 1.57 (1,128,000 households).
The race peaked at a 2.28 (1,673,000
households), up 29 percent from last
year's peak of 1.77 (1,272,000
households). The NASCAR Camping World
Truck Series enjoyed its most-watched
season to date in 2008, as 19 of the
22 races on SPEED saw year-to-year
Nielsen Ratings increases, 15 in
double digits. The next Truck race
will be on FOX with the SPEED
broadcast team Friday at 4 p.m. ET
from Auto Club Speedway in California.
The series returns to SPEED on March 7
at 1 p.m. from Atlanta Motor Speedway.
Heluva Good! to Sponsor NCWTS Race
Officials
of New Hampshire Motor Speedway and
Heluva Good!, a leading producer of
real sour cream dips, cheese, and
condiments, announced today that the
NASCAR Camping World Truck Series will
have a "Heluva Good!" Saturday at the
speedway on September 19, 2009. The
NASCAR Truck Series event will be
named the "Heluva Good! 200." This is
a significant addition to their
already strong support of NASCAR
racing at the speedway. Currently,
Heluva Good! sponsors pole qualifying
for all five NASCAR divisions
competing at New Hampshire Motor
Speedway in June and September and
both of the NASCAR Camping World
Series East races in June and
September.
O'Reilly Establishes Award
O'Reilly Auto Parts, the official auto
parts store of NASCAR, will sponsor a
Sprint Cup Series and a Camping World
Truck Series contingency special award
this season.
The O'Reilly
Auto Parts "People, Service and Performance" award
recognizes the team effort made both on the track and in the
pits. The NSCS and NCWTS driver who records the fastest lap
time and lowest cumulative pit stop time of the event will
be the award winner.
In order to
be eligible, the driver must finish the race on the lead
lap. In the event of a tie, the award will be presented to
the driver with the highest finishing position in the event.
The winning
NSCS team will receive a $5,000 check each race and the team
which wins the most awards during the course of the season
will be awarded with a $100,000 year-end bonus. The winning
NCWTS team will receive a $1,000 check each race and the
team which wins the most awards during the course of the
season will be awarded with a $10,000 year-end bonus.
O'Reilly
became an exclusive NASCAR partner in a multi-year agreement
announced in November.
36 Trucks Entered for California
The preliminary entry list for the
NASCAR Camping World Truck Series San
Bernardino County 200 at Auto Club
Speedway includes 37 entries, though
one has already withdrawn.
The Lafferty
Motorsports Chevrolet lists the driver
as to be announced. Gabi DiCarlo is
preparing to make her debut in the
Stringer Motorsports No. 90 Toyota.
Only two drivers are attempting to
compete in the Truck race and the Cup
event - Todd Bodine, who won the
season-opening Truck race for Germain
Racing, is attempting to make the Cup
field driving for Gunselman
Motorsports and Joe Gibbs Racing's
Kyle Busch returns to the No. 51 Billy
Ballew Motorsports Toyota.
Practices at the
2-mile Fontana, Calif. track are
slated to begin Thursday at 3:30 p.m.
EST.
Johnny Benson Gets Fresh Start at RHR
By: Jared Turner - Scene Daily
For defending NASCAR
Truck Series champion Johnny Benson,
it’s back to the drawing board in 2009.
After spending the last four full
seasons with Bill Davis Racing, a place
where he won 14 races, never placed
lower than 10th in points and finished
his tenure with a title, Benson starts
off the new season with a brand new team
that doesn’t even have full sponsorship
for the entire 25-race campaign.
The organization, Red Horse Racing, also
has two wins in 100 starts among five
former drivers. So how is the
veteran Benson approaching the 2009
season, which officially gets underway
with tonight’s NextEra Energy Resources
250 at Daytona International Speedway?
“It’s a new deal,” he said at the
2.5-mile Daytona track. “We built this
team from the ground up - not the Red
Horse team because they have the 11
[team], but the No. 1 [team] was from
the ground up. It’s been very tough to
try to get that done since November.
We’ve been working extremely hard trying
to get things ready.
“We [started] building our own bodies
in-house and other things ... that this
team hasn’t done in the past that will
make us a stronger team in the future.
The start of the year is going to be
very tough, but as things get rolling,
we’re excited about the season.”
Whether Benson can enjoy the same level
of success he did at Bill Davis Racing
is the big question surrounding the
45-year-old driver.
The other question is whether Benson can
repeat as champion. In the 14-year
history of the series, only two drivers
– Ron Hornaday and Jack Sprague – have
won multiple titles, but no driver has
ever claimed back-to-back crowns.
“History shows you can’t do it, but,
yeah, it’s going to be very difficult
because it’s a new team,” said Benson,
who won the 2008 title by a scant seven
points over Kevin Harvick Inc.’s
Hornaday. “We feel we’re going to be a
great race team, and I believe that.
[Crew chief] Trip Bruce is the crew
chief I’ve had for the last two years.
We’ve brought four or five other people
from the 23 team [at BDR].
“So I think the team aspect will be
strong, but because we started so late
in the game, I think it’s going to be
difficult to try to run for a
championship. I don’t know if we’re
championship caliber just yet.”
Just in the time Benson has been with
Red Horse, the organization has
undergone personnel changes, having laid
off a few employees because of NASCAR’s
new rule that reduces the number of men
that Truck teams can have over pit wall
from seven to five.
“I think it’s been difficult for a lot
of teams. It’s been difficult for our
team, too,” Benson said of the new rule
designed to help teams cut costs. “We’ve
gotten rid of one or two great people
that have worked these last two months
that we can no longer utilize because of
the rule changes. I don’t know if that’s
where we’re going to save money, but now
we’ve got to restructure some things
in-house to make this happen.
“There’s been some challenging stuff,
but we deal with those things year
round. As far as at the race track, it’s
very challenging there, too. We just
have to figure it out.”
Perhaps Daytona will
provide the first indication of where
Benson stacks up. The Grand Rapids,
Mich., native hasn’t won in four
previous Truck starts at the famed
trioval but has recorded finishes of
second and third there in his most two
recent starts.
Benson expects tonight’s affair to be no
different than the last few Daytona
Truck events, which have tended to
produce electrifying finishes.
“It’s going to provide a great race, and
there’s times we don’t know who’s going
to win the thing coming to the line,” he
said. “There’s [been] times where we’ve
been leading it and not win it and times
you’ve been third or fourth [and been]
able to win it.
“It’s very difficult. … I’ll bet you
that when we come down to it, it’s going
to be three-wide for the checkered
here.”
Perhaps a strong run at Daytona can help
Benson’s team in its quest to find
sponsorship for the full season.
K&N Filters is on the truck at Daytona,
but beyond that, the team is trying to
procure sponsorship where it can for
right now, even if it means on a
race-by-race basis or for a few races at
a time.
“Some of the bigger [sponsors] and your
major ones - you’re talking a long time
to get that to happen,” Benson said.
“One, they’re going to do their search
and figure out what they want to do and
where they want to be.
“Of course, with some of us changing
teams, that becomes all of the sudden a
little more difficult because now it’s
like starting over again.”
On the Road Again
To view all of the blog's
Barb wrote on her travels to Daytona -
click here
Congratulations!
Seven JB fans from
Michigan, Iowa, Tennessee and Ohio were
the lucky winners of the Toyota
Certified Used Vehicles hat pin on
Saturday. It pays to be fan club
members and to check the JBFC site!
Congratulations to Ken Meinders,
Klaus and Paulette Price, Frank Geasler,
Rose Hafner, Scott Thomas, Beth Imhoff,
Rick Utting and Janet Kimmet.
(02-08-09)
Find the JB Fan
Johnny's scrapbook for the 2000 is
now complete. This photo was
sent in by one of our dedicated
fans. Can you pick out the JB
Fan? (02-07-09)
Congratulations!!
The JBFC would like to
congratulate car owner, Kevin Cywinski
and crew chief Mike Chaffee, crew
members, Mike Resop and Mark Sornenson for their ARCA win at
Daytona. (It's nice to see JB fans
have success and they are always the
first ones to call me when JB hits
victory lane!) Driver James Buescher
held off the pack to earn their
victory!
(02-07-09)
HD on SPEED
The SPEED HD
Channel is now available on Comcast in
the Grand Rapids area ... Channel
223 ... Easy to remember for JB
fans. Be sure to set your channel
for next Friday's race!
(02-07-09)
Johnny Answers ...
Defending NCWTS champion
Johnny Benson returns to the Tundra
line-up for the 2008 season, joining Red
Horse Racing in the No. 1 Tundra. Benson
is looking to win another title trophy
after edging Ron Hornaday, Jr., by seven
points, to capture the 2008 driver's
championship. Benson's success last year
helped Toyota secure its third
consecutive NCWTS manufacturer's title
(2006-2008).
How do you
approach the 2009 season as the
defending NCWTS champion with a new race
team? "I am looking forward to
this season. It’s something different
obviously, with a new team, than I’ve
done the last four years. It’s going to
be different and challenging like all
new ventures but outside that I’m
looking forward to it. I’m working with
Trip (Bruce, crew chief) again and some
of the guys that I’ve worked with in the
past and then trying to build a new team
around it is always exciting."
What challenges will you face this
season switching to a new race team?
"With the rule changes and all of
that stuff, it’s a whole new ballgame
now. There’s going to be a lot of
different challenges ahead of us. If
we’re able to overcome those challenges
quickly, I think we have a shot at
defending the title. If we don’t, then
it will be a little long. I think
anytime that you go to a new team and a
new owner your expectations are to do
good and your expectations are still to
accomplish your goals, but it’s always
been a challenge anytime I’ve ever done
that."
Tearing the Trucks
Apart
By: Beth
Lunkenheimer
Here we are again. Another off season is coming
to a close, and the Truck Series is ready to hit the track once again. Time to
shake the cobwebs out of your head and get ready for what should be yet another
exciting season of Truck Series racing.
For the first time since its inaugural year, the Truck Series
will have a new series sponsor. Craftsman announced they would not return as the
title sponsor following the 2008 season, and after what seemed like forever,
Camping World announced they had reached an agreement with
NASCAR to sponsor the Truck Series.
As is the case with most NASCAR
winter breaks, this one was filled with news of rule changes, teams closing
their doors and driver shuffling. In an effort to help teams save money,
NASCAR changed the number of crew members allowed over
the wall during a pit stop. Only five crew members will be allowed over the
wall, and teams are not permitted to get fuel and tires on the same stop. In
addition, the crew chief must choose only 12 active crew members to travel with
the team.
Defending series champion Johnny Benson is one of the many
drivers that find themselves with new teams. Prior to being crowned the 2008
champion, Benson announced he would be leaving Bill Davis Racing and might
possibly retire from racing full time following the final race of the season. As
it turned out, Benson got out at just the right time.
In late December, Triad Racing Technologies purchased Bill
Davis Racing and subsequently released Benson’s former teammate Mike Skinner
after being told the new team owners would continue to field the No. 5 Toyota
with Skinner behind the wheel. It took until mid-January for the 51-year-old to
find himself a ride, but after speaking with multiple teams, Skinner has joined
Randy Moss Motorsports. He will pilot the No. 5 Toyota alongside Raybestos
Rookie of the Year hopeful Tayler Malsam.
But Skinner wasn’t the only former Bill Davis Racing driver
to line up a new ride for the 2009 season. Before the 2008 season even came to a
close, fans and media alike started to speculate and buzz with rumors about
Johnny Benson’s future. The Grand Rapids, Michigan native announced in
mid-December that he had in fact joined Red Horse Racing and will pilot the No.
1 RFMS / Red Horse Racing Toyota Tundra, and the best
part is that Trip Bruce, Benson’s crew chief during the 2008 season, joined him
at Red Horse Racing. In the season opener, T.J. Bell will accompany Benson as
his teammate in the No. 11 Toyota vacated by David Starr. Should a sponsorship
come through for the No. 11 team, Bell may remain with Red Horse Racing for more
of the 2009 season.
Despite all of the moves made during the off season, series
veterans Ted Musgrave, Dennis Setzer and Jack Sprague will be sitting on the
sidelines this year. Musgrave quit following a wreck in practice at Las Vegas
Motor Speedway after a lackluster season and an argument with team members.
Setzer became the innocent victim of Bobby Hamilton Racing closing its doors,
and Sprague was released from Kevin Harvick, Inc. after performance woes plagued
the No. 2 team.
With multiple drivers in new rides, it’s somewhat comforting
to know there was only one major change in the 2009 Camping World Truck Series
schedule. After hosting just five Truck Series races, Mansfield Motorsports Park
owner Mike Dzurilla announced in mid-December the track had been forced to close
its doors and cancel the race scheduled for late May. The same day that
announcement was made, NASCAR announced it would make
its first trip to Iowa Speedway on September 5th. The 0.875 mile track has a
seating capacity of just 25,000 and is a “Rusty Wallace Signature Series Track.”
As has been the case with the last two seasons, it’s time for
me to make an educated guess as to who will walk away with the 2009 championship
and trophy. It’s easy to say Johnny Benson will come back and make a repeat
appearance at the head of the banquet table, but I’m not convinced he can do it
in 2009. Since Benson just joined a new team, there will most likely be a few
growing pains as the team gets used to working together.
Instead, I think it’s more likely that Ron Hornaday, Jr. will
add a fourth championship to his resume and his second in just three years.
After narrowly edging Mike Skinner for the title in 2007 and narrowly getting
beat by Johnny Benson in 2008, Hornaday, Jr. knows what it takes to remain
consistent enough to be in the championship hunt come Homestead in November.
This season, sponsorships have been harder to come by, and
many teams are waiting on that money to determine if and how much they will
race. But now that you’re up to speed on all of the changes that have been made
thus far, get ready for some racing. The Camping World Truck Series heads to
Daytona International Speedway next Friday night to kick off the 2009 season.
Did You Know…
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Ron Hornaday, Jr. and Kevin Harvick, Inc. have added a new
sponsor to the No. 33 Chevrolet this year? Longhorn, “the fastest growing
moist snuff in the country,”has signed on as primary sponsor for the 2009
season.
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Former motocross champions Ricky Carmichael has joined
Kevin Harvick, Inc? Carmichael is scheduled to pilot the No. 4 Monster Energy
Drink Chevrolet for 14 races, and several other drivers will share the truck
for the remaining 11 races on the schedule.
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