Post by Oldtimer on May 5, 2022 9:18:28 GMT -8
Petty Enterprises Nascar Craftsman Truck Series Entry
This is another fantasy idea by me, for me.
The idea for a Truck Series dates back to 1991.
A group of SCORE off-road racers had concerns about desert racing's future and decided to create a pavement truck racing series.
They visited NASCAR Western Operations Vice President Ken Clapp to promote the idea, who consulted with Bill France Jr., but the plans fell apart. Clapp told the four to build a prototype truck before would NASCAR consider it.
Bakersfield fabricator Gary Collins built a prototype truck, which was first shown off during Speedweeks for the 1994 Daytona 500 and tested by truck owner Jim Smith around Daytona International Speedway.
The truck proved to be popular among fans, and NASCAR arranged a meeting in a Burbank, California hotel on April 11, 1994; the meeting ultimately led to the creation of the "SuperTruck Series".
Tools line Craftsman served as the sponsor of the series on a three-year deal, and the series was renamed to the "Craftsman Truck Series" in 1996.
In addition, the series' $580,000 purse was larger than the Busch Grand National Series' points fund.
In 1993, Richard Petty raced his last Winston Cup race in a Pontiac Grand Prix.
In 1994, he would hand over the seat of the Cup Series #43 Pontiac to Rick Wilson, who struggled.
Many fingers were pointed around Petty Enterprises, with questions regarding the level of factory support from General Motors, the competitiveness of the Grand Prix, and the generic Chevy Small Block engine used by all the GM teams.
Most folks have always considered Petty Enterprises to be a Chrysler-oriented team. Other than the one year with Ford, they had raced either Plymouths or Dodges in the Cup series.
When Chrysler’s support disappeared, as evidenced by the poor showing by Petty in 1978, the path of least resistance was to join the multiple GM-based teams racing the variety of Buick, Pontiac, Oldsmobile, and Chevrolet models.
Nascar “encouraged” the major Cup teams to prepare trucks for the new Craftsman Truck series.
Prominent Cup owners Richard Childress, Rick Hendrick, and Jack Roush owned truck teams, and top drivers such as Dale Earnhardt and Ernie Irvan also fielded trucks for others.
Petty Enterprises found itself in a dilemma.
Nascar wanted to see a #43 Craftsman Truck entry and issued an ultimatum to Petty Enterprises.
The Childress and Hendrick entries already dominated a GM-based program, and Roush had indirect factory support from Ford.
Could Petty go back to the Chrysler well one more time?
In order to prepare for the 1996 Craftsman Truck Series, and unsure about a corporate alliance, Petty Enterprises, with the support of long-time corporate partner STP, built one of each, all painted in Petty Blue and all with STP as the primary sponsor.
And here they are.
The first (and ultimately the chassis/body package chosen) was a Dodge Ram.
Since this was going to be a series focusing on trucks, Petty chose Cummins and Onan as potential contingency sponsors on the Ram. Cummins, of course, is a supplier of engines for Dodge’s line of diesel heavy duty trucks, and Onan, an oft-used Dodge supplier of stand-alone generators.
This is a sneak peak, I will add more pictures of each one as they are completed.
This is the donor and the painted final.
This is one side with decals applied (once again, Sam Lopez with Three Amigos is doing the artwork).
This is another fantasy idea by me, for me.
The idea for a Truck Series dates back to 1991.
A group of SCORE off-road racers had concerns about desert racing's future and decided to create a pavement truck racing series.
They visited NASCAR Western Operations Vice President Ken Clapp to promote the idea, who consulted with Bill France Jr., but the plans fell apart. Clapp told the four to build a prototype truck before would NASCAR consider it.
Bakersfield fabricator Gary Collins built a prototype truck, which was first shown off during Speedweeks for the 1994 Daytona 500 and tested by truck owner Jim Smith around Daytona International Speedway.
The truck proved to be popular among fans, and NASCAR arranged a meeting in a Burbank, California hotel on April 11, 1994; the meeting ultimately led to the creation of the "SuperTruck Series".
Tools line Craftsman served as the sponsor of the series on a three-year deal, and the series was renamed to the "Craftsman Truck Series" in 1996.
In addition, the series' $580,000 purse was larger than the Busch Grand National Series' points fund.
In 1993, Richard Petty raced his last Winston Cup race in a Pontiac Grand Prix.
In 1994, he would hand over the seat of the Cup Series #43 Pontiac to Rick Wilson, who struggled.
Many fingers were pointed around Petty Enterprises, with questions regarding the level of factory support from General Motors, the competitiveness of the Grand Prix, and the generic Chevy Small Block engine used by all the GM teams.
Most folks have always considered Petty Enterprises to be a Chrysler-oriented team. Other than the one year with Ford, they had raced either Plymouths or Dodges in the Cup series.
When Chrysler’s support disappeared, as evidenced by the poor showing by Petty in 1978, the path of least resistance was to join the multiple GM-based teams racing the variety of Buick, Pontiac, Oldsmobile, and Chevrolet models.
Nascar “encouraged” the major Cup teams to prepare trucks for the new Craftsman Truck series.
Prominent Cup owners Richard Childress, Rick Hendrick, and Jack Roush owned truck teams, and top drivers such as Dale Earnhardt and Ernie Irvan also fielded trucks for others.
Petty Enterprises found itself in a dilemma.
Nascar wanted to see a #43 Craftsman Truck entry and issued an ultimatum to Petty Enterprises.
The Childress and Hendrick entries already dominated a GM-based program, and Roush had indirect factory support from Ford.
Could Petty go back to the Chrysler well one more time?
In order to prepare for the 1996 Craftsman Truck Series, and unsure about a corporate alliance, Petty Enterprises, with the support of long-time corporate partner STP, built one of each, all painted in Petty Blue and all with STP as the primary sponsor.
And here they are.
The first (and ultimately the chassis/body package chosen) was a Dodge Ram.
Since this was going to be a series focusing on trucks, Petty chose Cummins and Onan as potential contingency sponsors on the Ram. Cummins, of course, is a supplier of engines for Dodge’s line of diesel heavy duty trucks, and Onan, an oft-used Dodge supplier of stand-alone generators.
This is a sneak peak, I will add more pictures of each one as they are completed.
This is the donor and the painted final.
This is one side with decals applied (once again, Sam Lopez with Three Amigos is doing the artwork).
