''Winter Heat Series'' (or

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 ...

Winter Heat) is a television program on TNN and later ESPN2 that featured

stock car racing Stock car racing is a form of automobile racing run on oval tracks and road courses measuring approximately . It originally used production-model cars, hence the name "stock car", but is now run using cars specifically built for racing. It ori ...

History

The program aired during the winter months between November and January (during

's offseason). The program began during the 1994–1995 winter and ran through the 1998–1999 winter. The races were held at the 3/8 mile

Tucson Raceway Park Tucson Speedway is a paved oval racetrack located at the Pima County Fairgrounds, off Interstate 10 just south of Tucson, Arizona. It is one of only three paved ovals in the state of Arizona (the others are Phoenix Raceway and Havasu 95 Speed ...

in Tucson, Arizona. TNN originally broadcast the races before ESPN took over. Broadcasters for TNN were Mike Joy,

Buddy Baker Elzie Wylie "Buddy" Baker Jr. (January 25, 1941 – August 10, 2015) was an American professional stock car racing driver and commentator. Over the course of his 33-year racing career, he won 19 races in the NASCAR Cup Series, including the 198 ...

, Glenn Jarrett and

Ralph Sheheen Ralph Sheheen (born August 23, 1964) is an American sports announcer. He is one of the lead broadcasters of NASCAR Xfinity Series on NBCSN, and was the lead commentator of Feld Entertainment's AMA Supercross Championship from 2006 until 2020. He ...

. ESPN's broadcasts included Benny Parsons, Bob Jenkins, and Bill Weber. During the 1998 broadcast,

Larry Rice Larry Rice (24 March 1946 – 20 May 2009) was an American racing driver in the USAC and CART Championship Car series. He was the 1973 USAC National midget driver's champion and won the USAC Silver Crown series in 1977 and 1981. He was inducted i ...

, Rick DeBruhl and

Ray Dunlap Speed was an American sports-oriented cable and satellite television network that was owned by the Fox Sports Media Group division of 21st Century Fox. The network was dedicated to motorsports programming, including auto racing, as well as aut ...

served as fill-ins for Parsons and Weber. There were six to eight races per winter. The first season of Winter Heat featured the then-brand new

SuperTruck 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 thr ...

(which ran various exhibition races during the 1994–95 seasons), the

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 Raci ...

and the

NASCAR Featherlite Southwest Tour The NASCAR AutoZone Elite Division, Southwest Series (originally NASCAR Featherlite Southwest Tour) was a late model stock car racing series sanctioned by NASCAR that was held in the Southwestern United States. The original NASCAR Southwest Tour beg ...

. In later years when ESPN covered the events, there generally were three late model races (called the Winston Triple Crown), and a race or two from the NASCAR Featherlite Southwest Tour and Winston West Series.

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 ...

won the first ever Southwest Winter Heat race while Garrett Evans won the second.

Late model champions

*1995–96:

Greg Biffle Gregory Jack Biffle (born December 23, 1969) is an American semi-retired professional stock car racing driver. He last competed part-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 44 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for NY Racing Team and full-time in the ...

*1996–97: Carl Trimmer *1997–98: *1998–99: Marc Groskreutz

Notable drivers to gain national attention from the series

Kurt Busch Kurt Thomas Busch (born August 4, 1978) is an American professional auto racing driver. He last competed full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 45 Toyota Camry TRD for 23XI Racing. He is the 2004 NASCAR Cup Series champion and the ...

Matt Crafton Matthew Justin Crafton (born June 11, 1976) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He is a three-time champion of the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (2013, 2014, 2019), in which he competes full-time, driving the No. 88 Ford F-150 ...

* Rick Crawford *

Shane Hall Shane Michael Hall (born August 25, 1969) is an American former professional stock car racing driver. He is a former driver in the NASCAR Xfinity Series. He last drove the No. 49 Chevrolet for Jay Robinson Racing. Hall is featured as an unlockab ...

* Kevin Harvick *

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 ...

Ronnie Hornaday Ron Hornaday III (born August 1, 1979) is a NASCAR driver and the son of NASCAR Camping World Truck Series champion Ron Hornaday Jr. On May 12, 2001, he earned a career best finish of 11th at Darlington Raceway, his best out of 12 starts. Motors ...

* Hershel McGriff *

Chris Raudman Chris Raudman (August 26, 1963 - October 28, 2021) was an American stock car racing driver. He was a regular competitor in the NASCAR Featherlite Southwest Tour, and was the series' 1996 champion; he also attempted to qualify for one NASCAR Wins ...

* Craig Raudman * Mike Skinner *

Chris Trickle Chris Trickle (May 30, 1972 – March 25, 1998) was an American stock car racing driver. A competitor in the NASCAR Featherlite Southwest Tour, he was murdered in a drive-by shooting that remains unsolved. Family Trickle was the son of ...

External links

nascar.com article on Benny Parsons' recommendations about Greg Biffle after Biffle dominated the Winter Heat series1996-97 Champion Carl Trimmer's website
* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20040804204255/http://olson_fan.tripod.com/welcome.htm Site contains screen captures of the Southwest Series' first two Winter Heat races {{NASCAR on TNN ESPN2 original programming Spike (TV network) original programming NASCAR on television 1994 American television series debuts 1998 American television series endings