The 1995 Skoal Bandit Copper World Classic was a pickup truck race held on February 5, 1995 at the Phoenix International Raceway in Avondale, Arizona. It was the first event of the

1995 NASCAR SuperTruck Series The 1995 NASCAR SuperTruck Series presented by Craftsman was the inaugural season of the NASCAR SuperTruck Series. The season began on February 5, 1995, and ended on October 28. Mike Skinner of Richard Childress Racing won the championship. Pr ...

, the first season of what is now the

NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series is a pickup truck racing series owned and operated by the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, and is the only series in NASCAR to race production pickup truck based stock cars. The series is one of t ...

, and the first edition of what is now the

Lucas Oil 150 The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Championship Race is a NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race that takes place at Phoenix Raceway. The race has been the last race of the year for the Truck Series since 2020. History From 1995 until 1998, two rac ...

Ron Hornaday Jr. Ronald Lee Hornaday Jr. (born June 20, 1958) is an American former professional stock car racing driver. He is the father of former NASCAR driver Ronnie Hornaday and son of the late Ron Hornaday Sr., a two-time Winston West Champion. Hornaday is ...

of Dale Earnhardt, Inc. won the pole position, while Mike Skinner of Richard Childress Racing won the race after leading a race-high 30 laps.

Background

Phoenix International Raceway, November 2011

Phoenix International Raceway, which opened in 1964, began hosting NASCAR

Winston Cup Series The NASCAR Cup Series is the top racing series of the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR). The series began in 1949 as the Strictly Stock Division, and from 1950 to 1970 it was known as the Grand National Division. In 1971 ...

races in

1988 File:1988 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The oil platform Piper Alpha explodes and collapses in the North Sea, killing 165 workers; The USS Vincennes (CG-49) mistakenly shoots down Iran Air Flight 655; Australia celebrates its Bicenten ...

. The track is long; the

banking A bank is a financial institution that accepts deposits from the public and creates a demand deposit while simultaneously making loans. Lending activities can be directly performed by the bank or indirectly through capital markets. Becau ...

in turns 1–2 and the backstretch is 10–11 degrees, while the

dogleg Dogleg or dog-leg may refer to: * Dogleg (band), an American indie rock band *Dog-leg (stairs), a configuration of stairs which includes a half-landing before turning and continuing upwards *Dog-leg gearbox, an unusual manual transmission layout ...

and turns 3–4 are 8–9° and the frontstretch is 3°. The Truck Series was planned in 1991 and officially created in 1994. During the year, seven exhibition races were held and broadcast by TNN under the ''

Winter Heat Series ''Winter Heat Series'' (or NASCAR Winter Heat) is a television program on TNN and later ESPN2 that featured stock car racing. History The program aired during the winter months between November and January (during NASCAR's offseason). The program ...

'' banner. TNN returned to cover the Copper World Classic. Regarding Phoenix being the site of the series' inaugural race, Ron Hornaday stated, "Phoenix fits right into a lot of these drivers' hands because they all came from short tracks." The race was one of five held for the 18th Annual Skoal Bandit Copper World Classic. Various drivers were attracted to the event, including Cup Series drivers

Ken Schrader Kenneth Schrader (born May 29, 1955) is an American professional racing driver. He currently races on local dirt and asphalt tracks around the country while also competing part-time in the ARCA Menards Series, driving the No. 11 Ford for Fast Tra ...

Geoff Bodine Geoffrey Edwin Bodine (born April 18, 1949) is a retired American motorsport driver and bobsled builder. He is the oldest of the three Bodine brothers (with Brett Bodine and Todd Bodine), and sister Denise. Bodine lives in West Melbourne, Florid ...

and

Terry Labonte Terrance Lee Labonte (born November 16, 1956), nicknamed Texas Terry or The Iceman, is an American former stock car driver who raced from 1978 to 2014 in the former NASCAR Winston Cup and Sprint Cup Series (now called the NASCAR Cup Series). A tw ...

, the latter having won the Cup race at Phoenix in

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which sank in the Baltic Sea; Nelson ...

. Other drivers included off-road racing champion

Roger Mears __NOTOC__ Roger Mears (born April 24, 1947 in Wichita, Kansas) is a former off-road driver who also drove in the USAC and CART Championship Car series. He raced in the 1978–1984 seasons, with 31 combined career starts, and started in the 1982 ...

and former

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

head coach

Jerry Glanville Jerry Michael Glanville (born October 14, 1941) is an American football coach who is the head coach of the Alabama Airborne of Major League Football. He played football at Northern Michigan University in the early 1960s, and is a former NASCAR ...

. In the field of 33 drivers that competed in the race, Hornaday, Mike Skinner,

Joe Ruttman Joe Ruttman (born October 28, 1944) is a retired American stock car racing driver who competed in NASCAR's Sprint Cup Series, Nationwide Series, and Camping World Truck Series. With 13 career wins in the Truck Series he is currently tied for 13t ...

, Butch Miller,

Jack Sprague Jack Sprague (born August 8, 1964) is an American former stock car racing driver who has competed in all of NASCAR's three top divisions, most notably in the Craftsman Truck Series, where he won series championships in 1997, 1999 and 2001. Rac ...

Rick Carelli Richard Dean Carelli (born November 9, 1954) is a retired American race car driver from Arvada, Colorado. He was nicknamed the "High Plains Drifter". He won multiple times in the No. 6 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series truck. He is the spotter for Er ...

, Bill Sedgwick,

Scott Lagasse Scott Lagasse Sr. (pronounced LAG-a-say) (born February 20, 1959) is a former race car driver. He has competed in multiple series, most notably the NASCAR Winston Cup Series. Racing career SCCA Beginning in 1985, he became the first driver ...

Tobey Butler Tobey Butler (born December 23, 1959) is a former American NASCAR driver. He finished in the top-10 in points in the inaugural year of the Craftsman Truck Series and then did a limited schedule. Career He was the 1987 champion of the NASCAR Nor ...

and

Sammy Swindell Samuel Alan "Slammin Sammy" Swindell (born October 26, 1955) is an American sprint car driver. He is a three-time champion and four-time runner-up in the World of Outlaws series; he has also competed in NASCAR and Champ Car competition and attem ...

would eventually compete in all twenty races in the 1995 season.

Qualifying

Ron Hornaday won the pole with a lap speed of . Ken Schrader (), Terry Labonte (), Johnny Benson Jr. () and

Joe Bessey Joseph W. Bessey (born June 25, 1961) is a former NASCAR owner/driver. He won one career Busch Series race before heading back to the Busch Grand National North Series in 2001, where he continues to field teams. In his driving career in that serie ...

() rounded out the top five.

Race

A crowd of 38,000 attended the race. Ron Hornaday led the first 23 laps of the race. During that timespan, two caution flags were flown: on lap 4,

Troy Beebe Troy Beebe (born January 5, 1962) is an American former professional auto racing driver. He competed in the NASCAR Busch Series from 1990 to 1997. Racing career Winston Cup Series Beebe was born in Modesto, California. He made his debut in the ...

spun out in turn 2, and on lap 17, Gary Collins spun in turn 4. On lap 24, Terry Labonte look the lead, and after a lap, the third caution occurred when seven trucks (Tobey Butler,

John Borneman John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Second ...

Bob Keselowski Robert Allen Keselowski (August 1, 1951 – December 22, 2021) was an American professional stock car racing driver. He owned K Automotive Racing and was a competitor in the ARCA Hooters SuperCar Series and the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series. Rac ...

, Steve McEachern, Bill Sedgwick, Jerry Glanville and T. J. Clark) crashed in turn 4. Labonte led until lap 29, and Hornaday led for three laps. On lap 33, Mike Skinner claimed first, leading for 29 laps; Skinner lost the lead on lap 61, when a yellow flag for debris was flown. Labonte reclaimed the lead during the period. On lap 72, Sedgwick, Keselowski and

Bob Strait Bob Strait (born April 12, 1949) is an American stock car racing driver. He was one of the pioneer NASCAR SuperTruck Series drivers. He has sixteen Automobile Racing Club of America, ARCA victories. Motorsports career results NASCAR (Template:N ...

spun in the dogleg, bringing out another caution. Five laps later, the final yellow of the race was flown when Glanville, Kerry Teague,

and

P. J. Jones Parnell Velko "P. J." Jones (born April 23, 1969) is an American professional racing driver. He has contested in multiple disciplines, including NASCAR, IndyCar, IMSA GT Championship, the American Le Mans Series, USAC, the Chili Bowl, and the S ...

crashed in turn 4. When the green flag waved with two laps to go, Skinner retook the lead from Labonte, and held off Labonte's attempted charge to win by .09 seconds. Ken Schrader finished third, followed by Joe Bessey, Geoff Bodine, Jack Sprague, Butch Miller, Joe Ruttman, Hornaday and Johnny Benson. Six drivers did not finish the race:

(engine),

Walker Evans Walker Evans (November 3, 1903 – April 10, 1975) was an American photographer and photojournalist best known for his work for the Farm Security Administration (FSA) documenting the effects of the Great Depression. Much of Evans' work from ...

(valve), Troy Beebe (suspension),

Butch Gilliland Leonard N. "Butch" Gilliland (born February 25, 1958) is a former NASCAR Winston Cup Series and Craftsman Truck Series driver from California. He was the 1997 Winston West Series champion and based on the west coast. All of his 10 Cup starts ca ...

(engine), Clark and Borneman (crashes).

Results

Race results

Standings after the race

References

{{NASCAR on TNN

Skoal Bandit Copper World Classic The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Championship Race is a NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race that takes place at Phoenix Raceway. The race has been the last race of the year for the Truck Series since 2020. History From 1995 until 1998, two rac ...

NASCAR races at Phoenix Raceway