Park’s Fuel-Proof Plan Works to Perfection

One man’s misfortune turned into celebration for another in the American Racing Wheels 200 when race leader Mike Bliss ran out of fuel with five laps remaining and Steve Park took over for the victory Friday night at California Speedway.

When Bliss’ Chevrolet rolled to a stop, he had an eight-truck length lead over Park. He had replaced Jack Sprague after Sprague had injured his foot in an accident while trying to clean the gutters at this home.

It was Park’s first win in 31 starts in a Craftsman Truck series race after having dropped down from what was once a promising career in Nextel Cup racing.

“I never doubted [myself],” said Park, who once drove for Dale Earnhardt Inc. and Richard Childress on the upper levels of NASCAR. “I think other people doubted me. I think that bothered me most, just listening to the doubters.”

A crowd estimated at 35,000 watched the night race.

Park, driving a Dodge, averaged 128 mph in a race that had five caution flags for 21 laps.

The win gave Park, 38, a sweep of NASCAR’s three major series. He won a Cup race in 2001 at Rockingham, N.C., the week after Dale Earnhardt had been killed in a last-lap accident in the Daytona 500. In 1997, he won three Busch races, a performance that led him to join DEI.

“Just to win in every major series in NASCAR, I’ve got to thank NASCAR for the opportunity,” Park said. “Growing up as a kid in New York, just to think you’d reach the level of Nextel Cup and then to win in that series. And then to win in the truck series, it’s unbelievable.”

Bobby Hamilton, defending series champion and winner of last week’s opening race at Daytona, closed fast to finish second in another Dodge. Ricky Craven, another refugee from Nextel Cup, was third and rookie Todd Kluever fourth, both in Fords.

Park, who started 25th and never led until Bliss handed it to him, said he had enough fuel left to do a couple of burnouts in celebration.

“Man, I wanted to win this race,” a dejected Bliss said. “I was going to donate the winnings to getting Jack [Sprague’s] gutters cleaned. We just had a little miscalculation on our fuel, but we figured we might as well roll the dice and see where we landed. You just use more fuel in these trucks when you lead and we came up short.”

Sprague started the race, despite his injury, in order to gain season points. Bliss, now a Nextel Cup driver who won the truck series in 2002, took over on the sixth lap during the first caution period.

“The truck was awesome and I hated getting out of it,” said Sprague, who has made a career out of the truck series. “It hurt my foot and I just couldn’t risk damaging it any more than it is because then I would be out for a long time and this team is a championship contender this season.”