TonyRaines1999NASCARCraftsmanTruckSeriesTruck

Pickup truck racing is a form of

auto racing Auto racing (also known as car racing, motor racing, or automobile racing) is a motorsport involving the racing of automobiles for competition. Auto racing has existed since the invention of the automobile. Races of various sorts were organise ...

which involves modified versions of

pickup truck A pickup truck or pickup is a light-duty truck that has an enclosed cabin, and a back end made up of a cargo bed that is enclosed by three low walls with no roof (this cargo bed back end sometimes consists of a tailgate and removable covering) ...

s on racing circuits, mostly oval tracks. Race pickup trucks are mechanically similar to

coupé A coupe or coupé (, ) is a passenger car with a sloping or truncated rear roofline and two doors. The term ''coupé'' was first applied to horse-drawn carriages for two passengers without rear-facing seats. It comes from the French past parti ...

-shaped

stock cars 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 ...

, with the main difference being the more boxy shape of the cab, which does not have as good aerodynamics as stock cars.

NASCAR 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 thr ...

vehicles have been rapidly evolving since the inception of the series in 1995, in terms of speed, aerodynamics, and engine equipment. The NASCAR series was also the first to use this type of vehicle, unveiled in 1994.

History

The concept of pickup truck racing started in 1983 when former NASCAR driver

Buck Baker Elzie Wylie Baker Sr. (March 4, 1919 – April 14, 2002), better known as Buck Baker, was an American stock car racer. Born in Richburg, South Carolina, Baker began his NASCAR career in 1949 and won his first race three years later at Columbia ...

established the National Pickup Truck Racing Association to help Buck Baker Driving School graduates start their careers. The series, which did not plan to have a points system, had a ten-race schedule planned with intentions to sell the series to NASCAR. The trucks were built with a

1981 NASCAR Winston Cup Series The 1981 NASCAR Winston Cup Series was the thirty-third season of professional stock car racing in the United States and the 10th modern-era Cup Season. It was the first year of the Gen 3 car. Because of the energy crisis, manufacturers were down ...

car base; the four-barrel Cup Series

carburetor A carburetor (also spelled carburettor) is a device used by an internal combustion engine to control and mix air and fuel entering the engine. The primary method of adding fuel to the intake air is through the venturi tube in the main meteri ...

s were reduced to two to decrease speeds. The series began to increase in popularity, and the schedule was increased to eleven races. After the season ended, Baker's attempted sale of the series to NASCAR was denied, and was sold to

Dick Moroso Richard D. Moroso, commonly called “Dick”, was an American hot rodder, drag racer, and businessman. Moroso grew up in Old Greenwich CT and started selling speed parts out of his family's basement in the early 1960s under the name Speed Assoc ...

, with the series being rebranded the

Moroso Performance All-Pro Pickup Truck Series Moroso may refer to: * 7724 Moroso, a main-belt asteroid, named after Pascuala Moroso and Rafael Villalobos * Dick Moroso Richard D. Moroso, commonly called “Dick”, was an American hot rodder, drag racer, and businessman. Moroso grew up in O ...

. In 1991,

SCORE International SCORE International (Southern California Off Road Enthusiasts) is an off-road racing sanctioning body in the sport of desert racing. Founded by Mickey Thompson in 1973, SCORE International was purchased from Sal Fish in late 2012. and is run by i ...

racers Dick Landfield, Jimmy Smith,

Jim Venable Jim or JIM may refer to: * Jim (given name), a given name * Jim, a diminutive form of the given name James * Jim, a short form of the given name Jimmy * OPCW-UN Joint Investigative Mechanism * ''Jim'' (comics), a series by Jim Woodring * ''Jim ...

and

Frank "Scoop" Vessels Frank "Scoop" Vessels III (1952 – August 11, 2010) was an American off-road truck racer, winner of the 1977 Baja 1000 desert off-road race. He was sponsored by BFGoodrich Tires. Vessels was a participant in the formation of the NASCAR Craftsman ...

unveiled plans to create a pickup truck series for NASCAR. Three years later, the trucks were unveiled at the

1994 Daytona 500 The 1994 Daytona 500, the 36th running of the event, was held February 20 at Daytona International Speedway, in Daytona Beach, Florida. Loy Allen Jr., ARCA graduate and Winston Cup rookie, driving the No. 19 for TriStar Motorsports, won the pol ...

, and officially created as the SuperTruck Series. After hosting seven exhibition races, the series held its first season in 1995. The series, now known as the

NASCAR Camping World 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 thr ...

, is one of three national series sanctioned by NASCAR (besides the

Cup Series The NASCAR Cup Series is the top racing series of the NASCAR, 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. ...

and

Xfinity 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 ...

Truck racing series

;North America *United States **

(1995–present) **National Pickup Truck Racing Association (1983) ** SCCA RaceTruck Challenge (1987–1991) **Moroso Performance All-Pro Pickup Truck Series (1984) **

ARCA Lincoln Welders Truck Series The ARCA Truck Series was a pickup truck racing series which ran on numerous short tracks throughout the American Midwest, running in Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Kentucky and Michigan. Sanctioned by the Automobile Racing Club of America, it rac ...

(1996–2016) **

FASCAR Pro Truck and Sportsman Series The Florida Association of Stock Car Automobile Racing (FASCAR) was considered to be the Florida state version of the NASCAR, National Association for Stock Car Automobile Racing or simply ''NASCAR'' for short. It was intended to be a developmen ...

(2005–2008) *Mexico ** MasterCard Truck Series (2002–2003) ** Pick Up Racing Mexico (2006–2012) ** Mikel's Trucks Series (2017–present) ;South America *Argentina ** TC Pick Up (2018–present) *Brazil ** Pick-Up Racing (2001–2009) **

Copa Chevrolet Montana Copa or COPA may refer to: COPA COPA may refer to: * Computer Operator Programming Assistant. trade of ITI * Child Online Protection Act, a former U.S. law to protect minors from certain material on the internet * Canadian Owners and Pilots Asso ...

(2010–2012) ;Europe *British **

Pickup Truck Racing Pickup truck racing is a form of auto racing which involves modified versions of pickup trucks on Race track, racing circuits, mostly Oval track racing, oval tracks. Race pickup trucks are mechanically similar to coupé-shaped Stock car racing, s ...

;Oceania *Australia **

V8 Utes The V8 Ute Racing Series, known originally as the V8 BRute Utes was an Australian motor racing series for Coupé utility, utilities, derived from the Australian Production Car Championship. It was conceived in 2000 by Procar Australia, PROCAR chief ...

(2001–2017) **

SuperUtes Series The SuperUtes Series (known for commercial reasons as the Haltech V8 SuperUte Series) is an Australian pickup truck racing competition that was launched in 2018 as a successor to the V8 Ute Racing Series. The series' events are held as a support ca ...

(2018–present) *New Zealand ** SsangYong Racing Series ;Asia *Thailand **

Thailand Super Series Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 mi ...

(2013–present)

References

Auto racing by type Stock car racing {{Racing