The 1995 Skoal Bandit Copper World Classic was a pickup truck race held on February 5, 1995 at the

Phoenix International Raceway Phoenix Raceway is a 1-mile, low-banked tri-oval race track located in Avondale, Arizona, near Phoenix. The motorsport track opened in 1964 and currently hosts two NASCAR race weekends annually including the final championship race since 2020 ...

Avondale, Arizona Avondale is a city in Maricopa County, Arizona, United States, adjacent to Phoenix. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 89,334, up from 76,238 in 2010 and 35,883 in 2000. Avondale, incorporated in 1946, has experienced rap ...

. It was the first event of the 1995 NASCAR SuperTruck Series, the first season of what is now the NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series, and the first edition of what is now the Lucas Oil 150. Ron Hornaday Jr. of

Dale Earnhardt, Inc. Dale Earnhardt, Inc. (DEI) was a race team founded by Dale Earnhardt and his wife, Teresa Earnhardt, to compete in the NASCAR series, the highest level of competition for professional stock car racing in the United States. From 1998 to 2009, th ...

won the

pole position In a motorsports race, the pole position is usually the best and "statistically the most advantageous" starting position on the track. The pole position is usually earned by the driver with the best qualifying times in the trials before the rac ...

, while Mike Skinner of

Richard Childress Racing Richard Childress Racing (RCR) is an American professional stock car racing team that currently competes in the NASCAR Cup Series and the NASCAR Xfinity Series. The team is based in Welcome, North Carolina, and is owned and operated by Richard Ch ...

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. 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. Because ...

in turns 1–2 and the backstretch is 10–11 degrees, while the dogleg 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, Geoff Bodine and Terry Labonte, 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; Nels ...

. Other drivers included off-road racing champion Roger Mears and former

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head coach Jerry Glanville. 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. Raci ...

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, Tobey Butler and Sammy Swindell 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 () 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 th ...

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 E ...

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

Kerry Teague Kerry Wayne Teague (January 12, 1961 – September 11, 2021) was an American stock car racing driver. He competed in NASCAR competition in the Winston Cup Series and SuperTruck Series. Career Teague competed in the short-lived Sportsman Series i ...

, Scott Lagasse and P. J. Jones 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 (engine), Clark and Borneman (crashes).

Results

Race results

Standings after the race

References

{{NASCAR on TNN Skoal Bandit Copper World Classic Skoal Bandit Copper World Classic NASCAR races at Phoenix Raceway