The Trucks Too Tough To Tame

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In: NASCAR Truck Series News
Guest Column By Cathy Elliott

A rare weekend off for both the NASCAR Sprint Cup and Nationwide Series in mid-March provided the perfect opportunity to focus the spotlight on the third member of NASCAR’s elite trifecta, the Camping World Truck Series.


Compared to its two older siblings, the NCWTS, which celebrated its inaugural “SuperTruck” season in 1995, is the new kid on the block. Although like that kid, the trucks came to town with something to prove, and they found their reception to be hospitable rather than hostile.

There’s just no denying that the trucks are cool. They have attitude. Toyota Camrys, Dodge Chargers, Chevrolet Impalas and Ford Fusions mix it up every weekend in NASCAR events at America’s most famous speedways, but they can also be seen daily at schools and supermarkets, routinely hauling kids and groceries around instead of hauling buggy around the track. They go about their business maturely and professionally.

Trucks have a somewhat different vibe. If you believe everything you hear on TV (and don’t we all?), trucks are hard-working, dependable and tough. They get the job done, but they have managed to maintain their swagger. “Real rides for real people,” could be their official slogan. So when I first heard that NASCAR was launching a truck racing series, I couldn’t help but picture my dad, who was known to have quite the heavy right foot in his day, careening through a tight turn in his silver ’83 Nissan. Not the most aggressive vehicle on the road, but still, it made me smile to think NASCAR was launching a racing series that seemed so relatable to almost everyone.

I was working as the editor of the local newspaper in Darlington at the time, and within just a few months of NASCAR’s announcement, one question kept popping up at every media event hosted by the ‘local track’ – “When are the trucks coming to Darlington?”

In early 2001, we got the answer. I was working as the director of public relations at the track by then, when word came down that those tough trucks would race at the track “Too Tough To Tame” in May. In an odd foreshadowing of things to come, that race would be held on the Saturday of Mother’s Day weekend.

The late Jim Hunter, president of the speedway at the time, surely had some vaudevillians in his family tree. He never booked one act if he could get three instead, and on this particular weekend, he assembled a doozy of a playbill. The race-day slate of events included the Pabst Blue Ribbon 100, a Goody’s Dash Series race; the Too Tough To Tame 200 NCWTS race; and TRUXPO, a monster truck show.

At the time, I felt like someone had dropped me into the middle of a “Tron” movie, with no script to guide me. What the heck was going on here? Cocky me thought I was pretty well up to speed on NASCAR, but this day was something different. It was crazy, non-stop activity everywhere you looked. One particularly popular man was barreling over piles of dirt in a truck called Bigfoot, which had tires taller than my house. Other guys in trucks with equally tall tires were doing the same thing. It was confusing, but there was a lot of cheering going on and everyone seemed to like it.

Then there was a fight in the Goody’s Dash garage that somehow involved syndicated radio personalities John Boy and Billy. After that was all settled down, Shane Hmiel went out and surprised everyone by winning the Dash race. He came up to the press box looking every day of 14, but in fact, it was his 21st birthday, and his dad was there with him to celebrate.

The trucks never disappoint, and they did not disappoint at Darlington, knocking each other all over the place like socks in a dryer for the full 200 miles. NCWTS competitors resemble those lions who battle it out in the jungle for control of their domain; they don’t back down until faced with definitive defeat. Even then, they’re not happy about it. They skulk around and wait for another opportunity to present itself, and then they go right back at it. There’s a reason it’s called a “pride,” you know.

The late Bobby Hamilton won that inaugural race. I remember how we all laughed at the time and thought it was so charming when that bear of a guy brought his son’s extremely small dog with him to Victory Lane to pose for photos. Hamilton, a two-time Truck Series winner at Darlington, came back in 2003 to run the very first exhibition laps under the lights. When those 10 laps were complete, his burnout was the best I have ever seen, period. “Cool” doesn’t even begin describe it.

Looking back, that weekend was actually quite epic, and also bittersweet in many ways. Maybe that’s a big part of the series’ appeal. As we grow older and more successful, still there are those Bruce Springsteen “Glory Days” moments when we remember those crazy road trips to out-of-town football games in high school, or that time in college when you dared your buddy to pick up a snake, which promptly bit him. We were trucks on days like that, and as I believe you already know, the trucks are cool.

Many Sprint Cup Series superstars got their start in the trucks. They are the faces of NASCAR now, but back then, they were just working to make a name for themselves, like everybody else. There were fewer obligations and demands on their time, and more time to focus on the job, and the joy, of racing. Some of them, like Kevin Harvick and Kyle Busch, love it so much they now own their own truck teams, and even compete in Truck Series events on a semi-regular basis.

If you haven’t watched a truck race in a while, take a couple of hours one of these weekends to check it out. You’ll see some talented drivers you may not have heard of – yet – and some others you haven’t seen in a while, driving like it’s their very last race.

You’ll be hooked. The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series is an exciting combination of strategy, action, plenty of beating and banging, colorful and interesting personalities, and of course, a great deal of spectacular passing. Every day is a glory day. What a shame if we let it pass us by.
Speedway Digest Staff
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