NASCAR is a permanent vacation for grandfather and Truck champion Ron Hornaday
Kevin Harvick Inc.'s Ron Hornaday holds up four fingers to show how many championships his won competing in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series. // David Griffin, NASCAR Scene
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MIAMI BEACH, Fla. – Ron Hornaday has raced in a NASCAR national touring series for 15 years, and at age 51 with a record four Truck series championships, it might seem that he might want to start taking it a little easy.
But Hornaday has no plans to hang up the helmet as long as team owners Kevin and DeLana Harvick are giving him a truck to drive. Their standard quip is that Hornaday will always have a job at Kevin Harvick Inc., but that doesn’t mean it will be a paying job.
“I could wash windows for Kevin and DeLana and still have fun,” Hornaday says. “So if I can’t get it done and I see that, they’ll put somebody in there, and I’ll work with them and do whatever I’ve got to do to make the company a success and winning championships.”
That time probably isn’t coming soon. Hornaday has won two championships in the last three years. He is a grandfather, but he’s a racer. He vows he will keep racing as long as he’s competitive.
“When I go out there and start riding around for a paycheck is when it’s time to quit,” Hornaday says.
Hornaday credits good equipment from the Harvicks and crew chief Rick Ren for making his job easy.
“There’s never a dull moment with Ron Hornaday,” Ren says. “There are some things he’s set in his ways about. He knows what he wants it to feel like, and it’s our job to get that feel for him. He’s pretty open-minded.
“If I sit and talk to him about I want to try [something] so he has an idea in what direction we’re going, he’s open-minded because we always know we can put it back to how we know it races good.”
That wasn’t always the case, Hornaday says. There was a time when he was close-minded.
“Ten years ago, I was,” Hornaday says. “Rick Ren and I probably couldn’t work together. I knew what I wanted in a truck. I knew what I had to have, and now it’s …, ‘You’re the crew chief, I’m the driver, and I’m just going to tell you what it does.’”
Harvick says there are advantages inherent in having a veteran driver behind the wheel.
“The big difference is you’re not in teaching mode – it’s all a matter of making sure that they have the stuff they need underneath them to drive,” Harvick says. “The hardest part with the young guys is getting over the fact that they have to learn race tracks, and when they first go out, they don’t really know what they need, and by the end of the day, they have the thing totally turned upside down, and you don’t really know where to go from there.”
NASCAR’s trucks handle so well that it’s more a mental challenge than a physical challenge, Hornaday says.
“I feel good still doing it,” the four-time series champion says “Every time I get behind the steering wheel, I feel like a kid. Other than these last few races being sick, I have never been drained, I’ve never been mentally confused in my race truck.
“When that stuff starts happening, that’s when it’s time to quit. Right now, I feel good when I drive, and I have fun doing it. … I can do it for another 20 years, I hope.”
That would take him to 71. And why not race that long? What’s he going to do – retire and see the country? His kids are grown, and he already gets to see the country.
“Racing now is fun,” Hornaday says. “We traveled before and got in the truck and had to hurry home, make sure that everything was all right in the house. Now, we feed the dogs, and every race is a vacation for us. I have a lot of fun doing it.”
