Bill Davis Racing's Trip Bruce knew Johnny Benson had makings of a champion
HOLLYWOOD, Fla. - The first time crew chief Trip Bruce met eventual NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series champion Johnny Benson, he knew their relationship would be special.
Bruce had just been hired to lead Bill Davis Racing’s No. 23 Craftsman Truck Series team, so he went to Benson’s personal shop to meet his driver. When he walked in, Bruce noticed there were a lot of race cars around.
There was a car on a surface plate, ready to be worked on. There was a car ready to be loaded on a trailer to be raced somewhere. And there was an old Cup series car up on a lift, sporting confetti from victory lane.
Topping it all off was an old car that had been crushed and made into a table.
Bruce clearly liked what he saw.
“I knew right then I had met a true car guy,” Bruce said. “I’m a mechanic and a car guy, and I knew this would work. I’ve got a lot of respect for all the drivers in this series and every series, but [Benson’s] got my heart and soul. He’s got my passion.”
And now, they’ve got a championship, collecting the 2008 title after a battle with Ron Hornaday that wasn’t decided until the season’s final race at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
In their two years together, Benson won nine races and this year’s Truck series title. He’s parting company with his BDR team, something that was a topic of some heated words from team owner Bill Davis following the series awards ceremony, but both he and Bruce seem to have a solid relationship.
Benson, too, recalls their first meeting with fondness.
“To have you come over, talk to you and see your passion for our sport, see the desire to win races and the desire to win championships – you cannot ask for a better person to ride this ride with,” Benson said. “It’s been awesome to be able to do that. Thank you so much for your dedication, your wit, gambles on races and giving us as a team the confidence to go out and do the things we like to do best, and that’s go race.”
With his title this season, Benson became the second driver after Greg Biffle to win championships in the Truck series and what is now known as the Nationwide Series in 1995.
Benson went Cup racing full time in 1996 and raced in NASCAR’s top division for eight years, scoring his only Cup win at Rockingham in 2002.
He joined BDR’s Truck team in 2004 and has raced there ever since. Benson is 45 years old, and earlier this year he says he pondered his future in NASCAR. He told Davis earlier this year that he planned to either scale back his driving schedule or retire and would leave the team. He says he wanted to give the team time to prepare for 2009, but now the fact that he could drive full time once more is straining the pair’s relationship.
Still, Benson says he has not decided on a specific 2009 plan just yet.
“Well, there's all kinds of things to think about,” Benson said. “A few months back when I decided not to come back to Bill Davis's [team] was the fact that I was considering either retiring or doing a part-time schedule and going and playing with my Late Model and going and playing with my super modified, messing around, running a limited Truck schedule. … I didn't have a plan.
“It was just a deal where the schedules and the travels and everything is getting to the point where … I’ve really got to think about what I'm going to do in the future. I can't race forever. It's very hard to feel and think about when that time will be.”
