Long before Ron Hornaday Jr., was inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame in Charlotte, North Carolina, he was turning laps and experiencing success in Arizona at Tucson Speedway.
The second-generation driver – who was inducted into the Hall of Fame as part of the class of 2018 – will return to Tucson Speedway to be the grand marshal and participate in track festivities for the NASCAR K&N Pro Series West event on May 5.
Hornaday is certainly no stranger to the speedway. Much of his competition at the 3/8-mile oval was televised to a national audience, some as part of the popular NASCAR Winter Heat events that the track hosted in the 1990s. His success in those events led to him being selected to drive in the NASCAR Camping World Series for Dale Earnhardt Inc. – wheeling the No. 16 that was well known for its blue and gold NAPA branding.
Hornaday won two of the three truck series races at Tucson Speedway. He also won a pair of K&N West events there. In addition, he was a front-runner at Tucson in the former NASCAR Southwest Tour, a series in which he won back-to-back championships in 1992 and 1993.
The former resident of Palmdale, California went on to win a record four championships in the truck series – accumulating 51 wins, 158 top fives, and 234 top 10s in 360 series starts between 1995 and 2014. His Hall of Fame career also includes four wins, 32 top fives, and 70 top 10s in 184 starts in the NASCAR XFINITY Series. In addition, he had 46 starts in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series, with most of those coming in 2001 – the only year he ran most of the series schedule.
Hornaday’s career also included six wins, 20 top fives, and 26 top 10s, in 45 starts in the K&N West from 1989 to 2001. In making 128 starts in the Southwest Tour, he notched 18 wins, 73 top fives, and 89 top 10s between 1988 and 2000.
Hornaday also received Most Popular Driver awards in three different series – including in 1997 and 2005 in the Truck Series, in 2000 in the XFINITY Series, and in 1992 in the Southwest Tour.
The NASCAR K&N Pro Series West visit to Tucson Speedway on May 5 will be a doubleheader event, with the Port of Tucson twin 100s. They are the second and third races on the circuit this year.
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