Hornaday Smoothes Over Rocky Road

Ron Hornaday Jr. began his racing career in Southern California, so it is appropriate his final race as a regular in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series is taking place at California Speedway on Saturday.

The Palmdale native, who has driven a truck owned by seven-time Winston Cup champion Dale Earnhardt to two points championships and two fourth-place finishes in the series’ five-year existence, is seventh in the points standings heading into the 1 p.m. event, which will be televised on ESPN.

He will compete for Earnhardt in the NASCAR Busch series next year.

“I couldn’t think of a better place to have the final race,” said Hornaday. “It’s a great track. It’s a very wide track, and it’s the fastest track we race on.”

His final year on the tour has been perhaps his toughest. Hornaday was forced to find a new crew chief after Fred Graves left Nov. 30, 1998 to work for his son, Andy, on Terry Labonte’s Winston Cup team.

Sandy Jones initially replaced Graves, and Hornaday began with two victories and two fourth-place finishes. However, Hornaday had only one top-five finish in the next 15 races, with an average finish of almost 15th place.

Steve Hmiel was named as an interim replacement for Jones one day before the Aug. 28 race at Heartland Park in Topeka, Kan., and Hornaday has not been out of the top10 since. He finished sixth at Topeka, second at Richmond, Va., third at Las Vegas, sixth at Louisville, Ky., and sixth at Texas Motor Speedway.

“This was a tough year,” Hornaday said. “There is a reason why we call this a team, though. You can’t say our success depends upon any one member of the team.”

Hornaday said the entire team will be moving up with him to the Busch series.

Hornaday found himself involved in controversy after a bumping incident between Earnhardt and Labonte on the final lap of a Winston Cup race Aug. 28 at Bristol, Conn. Labonte spun out while leading Earnhardt after they made contact, and Earnhardt won the race. Andy Graves insinuated that the bumping was a payback for hiring his father away from Hornaday.

“There was no call for him to bring my name into that,” Hornaday said, “And I did get an apology from him. We are friends and have remained friends.”

The team has been pulling double-duty because of the Busch effort. Hornaday will compete in two Busch races this year, then the crew will replace the car’s 1999 Chevrolet Monte Carlo body with a 2000 body.

The transition has not been difficult, Hornaday said, despite the differences between the vehicles.

“Racing’s racing,” Hornaday said. “[Busch cars] drive a whole lot better than a truck. They have more downforce.”

Although Hornaday isn’t involved, there is a battle for the truck series’ championship between Greg Biffle (3,588 points), Jack Sprague (3,567) and Dennis Setzer (3,563). Hornaday edged out Sprague for the 1998 championship by three points, which was the closest finish in NASCAR touring series history.

Hornaday, who finished ninth in 1997 and third in 1998 at the two-mile banked oval, has accumulated 91 top-10 finishes--including 25 victories--during his five years as a truck-series regular. He won a NASCAR Featherlite Southwest series race Oct. 16 at Bakersfield’s Mesa Marin Speedway and finished third in a NASCAR Winston West race Oct. 17 at Mesa Marin.

“We had fun, just had a blast,” Hornaday said about the Bakersfield race. “We raced with some old friends and some old rivals.”

Hornaday said his perspective about his employer hasn’t changed in five years.

“It was an honor to get the first phone call to drive for Dale,” he said. “It was the biggest surprise of my life.

“I’ll do whatever I have to do for Dale. I’ll sweep floors for him. I’ve just been honored to work for him.

“I just race to win, and do whatever I have to do. It’s my office, and I sit behind a wheel like you sit behind a desk.”