Winning Truck Race Would Be Real Bliss

Mike Bliss, one of the original NASCAR Craftsman Truck drivers who drives for one of the founders of the fast-growing series--Jimmy Smith--won his fifth pole of the season Friday at California Speedway.

Now he wants his first victory.

Bliss averaged 173.198 mph around the mildly banked, two-mile oval in his Ford F-150 pickup and will start in the front row in today’s No Fear Challenge 200 alongside series leader Jack Sprague.

“We’ve won at least one race every year with our truck and we want to keep that streak going,” Bliss said. “But we’re running out of chances.”

Only two races remain after today’s 200 mile race--Nov. 1 at Phoenix and Nov. 9 at Las Vegas.

Bliss also has turned the fastest lap anywhere for trucks, 175.667, July 5 at Texas Motor Speedway. Bliss was leading that race near the halfway point when he cut a tire and finished fifth.

“We won’t be happy until we win a race,” team manager Barry Dodson said. “We’ve won the last two poles, but we haven’t rung the bell yet. This was only the start of our week.”

Smith, a former off-road racer who helped create the truck series three years ago, lives in Orange and said, “It was really special for me to see Mike take the pole. I’ve been racing around Southern California my entire life and to see it happen right here, at such a great facility only 30 miles from my home, was just phenomenal.”

Bliss said his objectives were to win today’s race, then come back and win the Craftsman Truck series next year.

“If we were to win the series, I could see picking up this team and taking it straight to the Winston Cup in 1999,” Smith said. “That’s how good I feel about the driver and the manager and the entire crew.”

Smith also qualified his second driver, Eric Norris, who slipped in the 32nd and last position with a lap at 168.248. Norris, son of actor-martial arts expert Chuck Norris, was making only the second start of his career.

Sprague, who holds a 53-point lead over Rich Bickle, was second fastest in his Chevrolet at 172.994.

“I couldn’t keep it down in the corners,” said Sprague, a former Busch Grand National driver from Spring Lake, Mich., who has won three times this year. “It was a little too tight, and it cost me the pole.”

Lance Norick, whose Dodge truck is sponsored by the NHL and the Kings, was a surprise third-place qualifier at 172.113 mph.

“We put a new motor in the truck, the first one since our team switched to Dodge,” Norick said. “It’s amazing what a new motor can do for you. My first lap, I was conservative and it wasn’t so fast, then the second lap was a banzai lap and it paid off.”

Ernie Irvan, disdaining a week off from his Winston Cup duties, took over driving chores in his Ford truck and qualified eighth at 171.506. Irvan will be driving the truck for the third time this year. He finished second last month at Martinsville, Va.

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In qualifying for Sunday’s Busch Grand National race, Steve Park took the pole with a lap at 175.157 mph in a Chevrolet. Bobby Labonte, who finished second behind his brother Terry in last week’s Winston Cup race at Talladega, Ala., was second fastest at 174.783.

Terry Labonte, the reigning Winston Cup champion, failed to earn one of the 25 starting positions when he ran only 171.756, but he is expected to be in the 43-car field for the Kenwood Home & Car Audio 300 anyway.