Lance Allen Hooper (born June 1, 1967) is a race car driver and crew chief in
NASCAR
The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC (NASCAR) is an American auto racing sanctioning and operating company that is best known for stock car racing. The privately owned company was founded by Bill France Sr. in 1948, and hi ...
as well as several touring divisions. Hooper attended his first race when he was just two weeks old, and also came from a long line of racing champions, including his uncle, father, and brother. Hooper last served as the driver and crew chief of the No. 44
Key Motorsports
Key Motorsports (formerly The Motorsports Group and Circle Sport – The Motorsports Group) was an American professional stock car racing team that last competed in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series. The team was founded by Virginia businessma ...
Chevy in the Truck Series in 2009.
Racing career
Hooper first began racing in 1990 in the
NASCAR
The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC (NASCAR) is an American auto racing sanctioning and operating company that is best known for stock car racing. The privately owned company was founded by Bill France Sr. in 1948, and hi ...
Whelen All-American Series
The NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series (formerly the Whelen All-American Series, Winston Racing Series and the Dodge Weekly Series) is a points championship for NASCAR sanctioned local short track motor racing around the United States and Ca ...
, and was named Rookie of the Year at
Saugus Speedway
Saugus Speedway is a 1/3 mile racetrack in Saugus, Santa Clarita, California on a site. The track hosted one NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series event in 1995, which was won by Ken Schrader. Schrader became the first NASCAR driver to win in a race i ...
. He went on to win the track championship there the next two years. Following that stint, Hooper moved up to the NASCAR
Featherlite Southwest Series, and won seven races in his first year on the circuit, then won the championship in 1995. In addition to his success on Raceday, he won the pole award sixteen times, the ''Most Popular Driver'' award as well as breaking many track records.
After that, he moved to the NASCAR
Winston West Series
The ARCA Menards Series West, formerly the NASCAR K&N Pro Series West, NASCAR AutoZone West Series, NASCAR Winston West Series and NASCAR Camping World West Series, is a regional stock car racing series owned and operated by the Automobile Racin ...
. In 1996, he won five races, as well as both the championship and the Rookie of the Year points title. That year, he made his
Winston Cup
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, ...
debut as well, running the
Dura Lube 500
The NASCAR Cup Series Championship Race is a NASCAR Cup Series stock car racing, stock car race held at Phoenix Raceway in Avondale, Arizona.
It is one of five NASCAR races run with a length measured in kilometers; the Ruoff Mortgage 500 (the ot ...
and finishing 33rd in his own
Pontiac Pontiac may refer to:
*Pontiac (automobile), a car brand
*Pontiac (Ottawa leader) ( – 1769), a Native American war chief
Places and jurisdictions Canada
*Pontiac, Quebec, a municipality
** Apostolic Vicariate of Pontiac, now the Roman Catholic D ...
. He soon caught the eye of owner
Richard Jackson, owner of
Precision Products Racing
Precision Products Racing (PPR) was a NASCAR team that competed regularly from 1990 to 1998. It was owned by Richard Jackson and based in Asheville, North Carolina. The team officially closed after the 2001 season following a part-time schedule ...
, and the two ran six races together in 1997 in the Winston Cup Series. In 1998, the two made an abbreviated bid at the
Busch Series
The NASCAR Xfinity Series (NXS) is a stock car racing series organized by NASCAR. It is promoted as NASCAR's second-tier circuit to the organization's top level Cup Series. NXS events are frequently held as a support race on the day prior to a ...
championship, running 16 races and finishing in the top-20 three times.
Hooper did not run much in 1999. He ran one Busch Series race for Jackson, and made an unsuccessful attempt at the
Brickyard 400
The Brickyard 400 was an annual NASCAR Cup Series points race held at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana. The inaugural race was held in 1994 and was the first race other than the Indianapolis 500 to be held at the Indianapolis Moto ...
with
Fenley-Moore Motorsports
Bud Moore Engineering, later Fenley-Moore Racing, was a championship-winning NASCAR team. It was owned and operated by mechanic Bud Moore and ran out of Spartanburg, South Carolina. While the team was a dominant force in the 1960s and 1980s, the ...
after replacing
Jeff Davis during qualifying.
He returned to the sport regularly in 2000, running 13 races in the
Craftsman 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 th ...
for Marty Walsh (his best finish was 15th) and four races for Alumni Motorsports in the Busch Series, including an outside pole qualifying run. Hooper made 18 Truck Series races in 2001, and had a tenth-place finish at
Nazareth Speedway
Nazareth Speedway was an auto racing facility near Nazareth in the Lehigh Valley region of Pennsylvania which operated from 1910 to 2004 in two distinct course configurations. In its early years, it was a dirt twin oval layout. In 1987 it was reo ...
. Hooper also reunited with Jackson competed in a Cup race at
Dover
Dover () is a town and major ferry port in Kent, South East England. It faces France across the Strait of Dover, the narrowest part of the English Channel at from Cap Gris Nez in France. It lies south-east of Canterbury and east of Maidstone ...
for Dark Horse Motorsports.
He ran every truck race in 2002, despite switching from
Ware Racing Enterprises
Rick Ware Racing (RWR) is an American motorsports team which currently competes in the NASCAR Cup Series, WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, and the NTT IndyCar Series.
History
The organizational roots of RWR date back to Ware & Sons Racing with ...
to
Team Racing
Team racing, also known as team sailing, is a popular form of dinghy racing and yacht racing. Two teams compete in a race, each sailing two to four boats of the same class. The winning team is decided by combining the results of each team's boats ...
mid-season. Hooper ran his most recent Cup race to date that year, finishing 31st at
Bristol Motor Speedway
Bristol Motor Speedway, formerly known as Bristol International Raceway and Bristol Raceway, is a NASCAR short track venue located in Bristol, Tennessee. Constructed in 1960, it held its first NASCAR race on July 30, 1961. Bristol is among the m ...
for
Junie Donlavey
Wesley Christian "Junie" Donlavey Jr. (April 8, 1924June 9, 2014), a native of Richmond, Virginia, was the owner of Donlavey Racing; he began fielding the team in 1950. He drove for his team at first, but soon gave way to other drivers. Donlavey ...
. In 2003, Hooper began running his own entry in the Truck Series with fan-based sponsorships. He finished 24th in points that year. Hooper ran five races with
ThorSport Racing
ThorSport Racing is an American professional stock car racing team that currently competes in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series. The team was founded in 1996 as SealMaster Racing and is based in Sandusky, Ohio. Owned by Duke Thorson and his wife ...
, and had two top-twenty finishes in the No. 13 Silverado. He did not race again for five years, choosing to become a
crew chief at the Truck level, working with ThorSport and
Key Motorsports
Key Motorsports (formerly The Motorsports Group and Circle Sport – The Motorsports Group) was an American professional stock car racing team that last competed in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series. The team was founded by Virginia businessma ...
. He returned to the driver's seat in 2009 in the Trucks to drive the No. 44 entry for his then-employer, Key Motorsports, before finishing the year at Tagsby Racing.
Motorsports career results
NASCAR
(
key
Key or The Key may refer to:
Common meanings
* Key (cryptography), a piece of information that controls the operation of a cryptography algorithm
* Key (lock), device used to control access to places or facilities restricted by a lock
* Key (map ...
) (
Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. ''Italics'' – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)
Winston Cup Series
Busch Series
Camping World Truck Series
Busch North Series
Winston West Series
ARCA Bondo/Mar-Hyde Series
(
key
Key or The Key may refer to:
Common meanings
* Key (cryptography), a piece of information that controls the operation of a cryptography algorithm
* Key (lock), device used to control access to places or facilities restricted by a lock
* Key (map ...
) (
Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. ''Italics'' – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)
References
External links
*
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hooper, Lance
Living people
1967 births
People from Palmdale, California
Racing drivers from California
NASCAR drivers
ARCA Menards Series drivers
NASCAR crew chiefs
Sportspeople from Los Angeles County, California