Keep on TRUCKIN'

The setting of the celebration of the 10th anniversary of Terry Cook's first Craftsman Truck Series victory said as much about the growth of the series since 1998 as the words uttered by the participants.

Johnny Benson (23) holds off hard-charging competitors during Saturday's Toyota Tundra 200 at Nashville Superspeedway. Since its inception, the Craftsman Truck Series has showcased some of the most competitive racing in NASCAR's top divisions. NASCAR The event was held in the media center at Nashville Superspeedway, a state-of-the-art press facility with TV monitors and comfortable work stations with all the latest technological amenities.

It was a far cry from the old tracks, such as Flemington Speedway in New Jersey, where Cook got that memorable first victory. Flemington no longer exists as a racetrack. After hosting events since 1915, it closed in November 2002, and the property was sold to real estate developers. Other short tracks that hosted truck races in the early days of the Truck Series have been replaced by events at superspeedways that also host NASCAR's Sprint Cup and Nationwide Series races. There are 22 tracks that once hosted the Truck Series and are no longer on the schedule.

Still, many veteran drivers, including Cook, have fond memories of the old tracks like Flemington. He smiled as he recalled the events of Aug. 8, 1998.

"It was an exciting day," he said. "It was a square track that you race like a circle, a racy place. I'm sad to see it go away. There aren't many asphalt racetracks in the great state of New Jersey."

He recalled a late-race battle with Stacy Compton. "We ran side-by-side for five or 10 laps, and he wound up in the outside wall. I never touched him, though."

Then he faced another challenge, trying to hold off Ron Hornaday on a late-race restart. Then, as now, Hornaday was the king of restarts, almost always getting the jump on his competitors when the green flag was unfurled to signal the resumption of racing.

"Of all people to have to beat for first win," Cook said. "But I got a good start and got away from him."

Cook's victory was the first for team owner Duke Thorson, and one of the first for a smaller independent team. But in the early days, the racing format, which called for halftime breaks that eliminated the need for big pit crews, allowed the smaller teams a better chance to compete for victories.

"We had one engine and one truck," Cook said. "With the halftime breaks, we'd only take four people to the track."

Hornaday's strength in the series is evidenced by the fact that he won the first Flemington race in 1995. He was the truck champion in 1998 and is now the defending series title-holder. He said change came to the series because of its popularity. From the beginning, it has been known for side-byside, slam-bang racing.

"NASCAR had a five- and 10-year plan in the beginning, and they exceeded that the first year," Hornaday said. "Everybody got on the bandwagon and wanted to put these races at their tracks. At first, they said they never wanted to run a track over a mile; now we're at mile-and-a-half, two-mile tracks. You've got to praise NASCAR for what they've done."

Cook appreciates the growth, too. But he also misses places like Louisville Motor Speedway, a third-mile track in Kentucky. "It was three turns and a jump," he said. And the old Evergreen Speedway in Washington.

"We worked out of a chicken barn there," he said.

One of his favorites was the old fairgrounds track in Nashville, a short track that also hosted Cup races in its heyday.

"That was a racy place," he said. "But it is nice to come to a beautiful place like Nashville Superspeedway. It has first-class amenities in the motorcoach lot and a great pit road, but to lose those little racetracks does give you a sore spot."