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Rea White: Decline of Truck series difficult to watch
By Rea White - Associate Editor
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
NASCAR Camping World Truck Series drivers compete earlier this season at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, Calif.
Mike Laczynski
NASCAR Scene
COMMENTARY
It's difficult to see the tough economic times taking such a toll on competitors in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series.
This week, the Red Horse Racing team with driver Johnny Benson, the series champion while driving for Bill Davis Racing last season, shut down because of a lack of sponsorship. A couple of days later, Timothy Peters abandoned his effort to build his own team and took his sponsor to Red Horse, hoping to gain a competitive edge by uniting with a more competitive, established team.
Todd Bodine, also a former series champion with his Germain Racing team, has competed with piecemeal sponsorship this season. At times, his truck has run without any corporate backing as the team held on, hoping for that future funding to roll in. Fewer than 15 teams in the series have full funding for the season.
The series has only 32 trucks on the entry list this weekend. It had only 33 last weekend; after 26 laps at Texas Motor Speedway, 10 of those were in the garage reporting various mechanical failures.
Fans generally speak highly of the series. They say that the Truck races exemplify racing the way it ought to be. They race side by side for laps. They bump and bang. They make daring passes for the lead - from the start of the event. Young talent can try to get a foothold in the sport in this series; veterans can find renewed success and remind themselves of why they wanted to be racers week to week.
Speed offers a tremendous amount of coverage of the sport, and fans have access to drivers at the track as they often participate in autograph signings.
NASCAR has done everything it can to make this series competitive, fun and affordable - for fans and those racing in it.
So it's difficult to watch its teams struggling to make ends meet, to see the dearth of sponsorships within its ranks. One wonders how this series manages to exist at all. Purses are smaller than in the other two major NASCAR series, attendance at races much lighter.
For a series that is so highly praised, for one where the racing sports so much drama, this one seems to be getting lost in the economic downturn.
Let's hope it doesn't get forgotten completely.
Mentioned Drivers: Johnny Benson
2009 Sprint Cup Race for the Chase Standings
Driver Standings after the AMP Energy 500
| 1 | Jimmie Johnson | 6248 |
| 2 | Mark Martin | -184 |
| 3 | Jeff Gordon | -192 |
| 4 | Juan Pablo Montoya | -239 |
| 5 | Tony Stewart | -279 |
| 6 | Kurt Busch | -312 |
| 7 | Greg Biffle | -340 |
| 8 | Ryan Newman | -402 |
| 9 | Kasey Kahne | -414 |
| 10 | Carl Edwards | -437 |
| 11 | Denny Hamlin | -448 |
| 12 | Brian Vickers | -556 |
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Comments
28 responses to "Rea White: Decline of Truck series difficult to watch". Post a Comment.
SBeau said:
Jun 10, 2009 at 9:17 AMBigger purses would probably be a good start for the competitors. NASCAR has the money to spread, but can't seem to trickle enough past the Cup series (how many years did Lajoie advocate bigger purses in BGN?). As far as the lighter attendance, I guess we can blame "fans" here. Some people just NEED to see the big names in races to hold their interest. Which is kinda sad really, on account it doesn't validate the other drivers as being any good (which is the complete opposite). The series drivers really do put on a great show and is healthy competition wise. You look at the nationwide series that relies heavily on the Cup guys and look at how uneven the playing field is. Its to the point where its completely (almost literally) one sided and because of their intervening, they off set the point standings terribly. And let's face it, the regulars in that series are pretty much facing the same problems as the truck drivers. NASCAR could help things by paying up a little more to those guys.
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» Confirm Abuse ReportSTP43FAN said:
Jun 10, 2009 at 9:18 AMThe decline of the Trucks is not because of the economy - real disposable income is increasing across the country. The decline is happening because the series is too expensive for teams, having gotten there because of their own spending. The decline is happening because the racing, contrary to what "fans" say, is boring - the novelty of Truck racing wore off years ago; there is not a lot of side-by-side racing, lead changes are scarce, and bumping is not racing to begin with. The series is hideously overhyped yet at the same time grossly undercovered thanks to NASCAR's ridiculous policy of sticking the series on SPEED instead of splitting it among CBS, FOX, and NBC. In short, the decline is happening because the series has not proven it doesn't deserve it.
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» Confirm Abuse Reportlarrymo17 said:
Jun 10, 2009 at 9:40 AMcancel the truck races for now let the sponors go to the camping world series and sprint cup and help out
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» Confirm Abuse Reportlarrymo17 said:
Jun 10, 2009 at 9:40 AMcancel the truck races for now let the sponors go to the camping world series and sprint cup and help out
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» Confirm Abuse Reportcmwel2000 said:
Jun 10, 2009 at 11:59 AMit used to be a short track series and now they run on all the same boring 1.5 mile tracks that the cup cars run on. fans want to see short track racing some where and they used to get it from the truck series. its the same thing thats happening to the cup series except it has the big name drivers to keep interest. cup is on the same road as the trucks, just going slower.
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» Confirm Abuse ReportSTP43FAN said:
Jun 10, 2009 at 12:21 PMCMWEL2000 - Short track racing is boring. The Trucks had to come off the bullrings because big-league racing does not belong there. The Trucks are suffering because it's too expensive to compete, the racing isn't good (it wasn't good then and isn't now on short tracks), the series is straightjacketed as a Winston Cup support series, and the novelty of racing Trucks wore off years ago.
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» Confirm Abuse ReportSTP43FAN said:
Jun 10, 2009 at 12:22 PMSome changes that can help the Truck Series -
Report as Abuse1 - Take the races off SPEED Channel and put them on CBS, FOX, and NBC.
2 - Take them off Winston Cup weekends and make the series a stand-alone series, which was part of the original purpose of the series.
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» Confirm Abuse Reportcmwel2000 said:
Jun 10, 2009 at 2:05 PMshort track racing is not boring stp. maybe you should watch the IRL oval series
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» Confirm Abuse Reportlarisda said:
Jun 10, 2009 at 3:15 PMSTP calls himself a Petty fan and doesn't like short track racing? Most of the kings wins were on short tracks.
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» Confirm Abuse Reportjeffreesuk said:
Jun 10, 2009 at 3:35 PMPersonally i prefer truck series to nationwide,why dont nascar subsidise the series themselves to keep the grid size at a healthy level?
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» Confirm Abuse Reportjeffreesuk said:
Jun 10, 2009 at 3:35 PMPersonally i prefer truck series to nationwide,why dont nascar subsidise the series themselves to keep the grid size at a healthy level?
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» Confirm Abuse Reportjeffreesuk said:
Jun 10, 2009 at 3:35 PMPersonally i prefer truck series to nationwide,why dont nascar subsidise the series themselves to keep the grid size at a healthy level?
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» Confirm Abuse Reportbenflorance said:
Jun 10, 2009 at 3:41 PMthe trucks series is the best series of nascar the nationwide series should be like the truck series...a feeder series for young drivers and a home for veterans
Report as Abusethe truck races are exciting at all of the race tracks even the 1.5-2 milers...example michigan race last year
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» Confirm Abuse Reportsundaemunny said:
Jun 10, 2009 at 4:00 PMWhen winning a race doesn't even cover the cost of the tires you used to race, it's not too surprising that the truck and Bu...Nationwide series are dying on the vine.
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» Confirm Abuse Reportpetehulse said:
Jun 10, 2009 at 4:24 PMGo here http://www.oreillyracewaypark.com/ sit in the first dozen rows coming out of turn 4. That's what I call racing.
Report as AbuseThat said, I think NASCAR needs to continue to reduce costs and to restrict Sprint Cup driver participation. This needs to be a true development series.
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» Confirm Abuse ReportSheilaHawley said:
Jun 10, 2009 at 5:02 PMThe Trucks give us some really great finishes. I really enjoy watching them. Why do the purses in Cup have to be so very much more than Truck purses? Or do we not want Trucks to race? Like we didn't want to have to race in Rockingham. Or like we no longer wanted the Southern 500 at Darlington on Labor day weekend...Hmmm
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» Confirm Abuse Reportbutzson said:
Jun 10, 2009 at 5:06 PMI follow all of the series, and I disagree that Trucks are boring. Everyone of the series have some races that are boring, but overall, I have seen the most exciting races in the Camping World (Craftsman) series. I'm not speaking for every fan and some others shouldn't try speaking for the rest of us.
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» Confirm Abuse Reportlady6nascar said:
Jun 10, 2009 at 5:20 PM2 ME THE TRUCKS ARE THE VERY BEST. And now with my favorit gone JOHNNY. WILL I WATCH REALLY DON'T KNOW.
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» Confirm Abuse ReportPhoenix987 said:
Jun 10, 2009 at 5:37 PMTrucks are the best series. Why is it declining though? Simple. Unless you are about the Top 3 finishers, the prize money is nearly the same from about 5th to last. At Texas, Todd Bodine got over $72,000 for winning, yet Rick Crawford in 5th won just over $18,000. Last place won over $10,000. The difference between running the full race and finishing 5th and just starting and parking is less than the cost to run the race.
Report as AbuseI remember that just about 3 years ago, the purse at a Truck race gave the winner about $20,000 and Benson in 2nd got just over $4,000. We've come a long way, sure, but it's still expensive to compete in Trucks. A cup car is what, $50,000 to take to a race minimum?
Trucks probably cost about $20,000 for the top teams, so unless they have a sponsor (or win) they likely aren't making much for the weekend.
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» Confirm Abuse Reportgcronk3 said:
Jun 10, 2009 at 6:33 PMGet the truck races under the lights on Friday nights. Go to places like Rockingham and give the fans a chance to see the races at price that a family can afford. Maybe set the trucks up as a more regional series like NASCAR used to be. Sending the trucks all over the country when 90% of the race shops are centered in North Carolina is too costly. Maybe if travel costs were reduced there would be more teams.
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» Confirm Abuse Reportchauf306 said:
Jun 10, 2009 at 8:17 PMI personally like the truck races and have seen some of the better races in that series in recent years, while Sprint Cup rolled out the cookie cutter(COT). It is sad when you see past champion drivers struggling to just get a ride, let alone sponsors! Hornaday, Benson, Bodine, these guy's have carried the series, they deserve better. You have some great young drivers is the series, I for one hope it survives. Go Matt Crafton!
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» Confirm Abuse Reportbhstoneman said:
Jun 10, 2009 at 8:29 PMI find it hard to believe someone old enough to call him or herself STP43, does not like short track racing. I have loved the trucks since they started racing, but I agree the races on the 1 1/2 mile tracks and the 2 mile tracks aren't nearly as good as the ones on the shorter tracks. The series should keep out the Cup drivers, especially the ones who just race to keep a regular truck driver from winning, and especially the ones who care nothing for the trucks, fans, or other drivers.
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» Confirm Abuse ReportWerner said:
Jun 10, 2009 at 8:36 PMremember when the truck series started and the trucks darn near looked like the trucks people drove?...then again maybe it's a reflection of what's going on in the showroom...people are shying away form buying trucks...
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» Confirm Abuse Reportbuckshot88 said:
Jun 10, 2009 at 9:13 PM#10,i agree with you, the truck series always seems to competitive while the nationwide series will put you to sleep. hopefuly nascar will find a way to keep the series afloat during these tough times.
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» Confirm Abuse Reportrwilliamhayes said:
Jun 10, 2009 at 11:06 PMit's a junk series mainly run by a bunch of tetreds
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» Confirm Abuse Reportkcysr said:
Jun 11, 2009 at 10:11 AMDuring Daytona 500 speedweeks I use to go to the truck race but Na$car in its rush for $$ took my Sprint tower tickets from me and made someone else buy them in a 4 day package and then told me I had to sit somewhere else so I stopped going and started doing other things on Friday and have not missed it. The sad part is indirectly because of this reason I started not pay attention to the series anymore. Then when I tuned in one night for a race on Speed Channel and I heard the Michael Waltrip infomercial I just can't stomach it anymore. If they put that guy in the booth for cup races I will have to tune out all together Darrell is bad enough.
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» Confirm Abuse Reportdburkec said:
Jun 11, 2009 at 3:17 PMI used to be a big truck fan until they gave the toyotas the extra 40 hp and the stump pulling torque curve. the lack of support from chevy, ford, and dodge reflects the imbalance in the hp and torque. i tape the races and watch only if the chevys were competitive. unfortunately, all my racing pals quit watching the series two or three years ago. they simply won't watch nascar give the advantage to toyota. a foolish move, and it shows more and more in attendance and tv .
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» Confirm Abuse ReportSTP43FAN said:
Jun 15, 2009 at 5:53 PMCMWELL2000, short track racing is dreadful - the least amount of positional passing in NASCAR. Watch IRL ovals while your rifling that shot, because the racing is superior. Larisda, so what? Petty won on superspeedways, and superspeedways are what racing is about. Bottom line is this - there has not been a competitive non-plate Truck race since Fontana and New Hampshire in 1998. That's how boring the Truck series is.
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