When the teams of the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series concluded the American Racing Wheels 200, at the California Speedway, the Gatorade victory lane was packed with human emotion for New York driver Steve Park who, likely, pulled off one of the big racing comebacks that we've seen in quite some time. It was a moment shared by an estimated 35,000 in the grandstands who cheered wildly as Park drove under the checkers. Everyone was well aware of how important this moment was to his career.
Park pulled his Jasper Engine and Transmission/Orleans Hotel and Casino Dodge Ram into victory lane to celebrate his first NASCAR win in four years. In fact, his last win was to the very day, February 25th, at a NASCAR Nextel Cup race in Rockingham, North Carolina. The Craftsman Truck win at Fontana, California enrolled Park into a very exclusive club: he is now one of ten drivers who have won a race in NASCAR's three national touring series.
Park has spent the past four years riding on a professional and personal rollercoaster. That previous 2001 victory came one week after the death of his good friend, mentor and employer Dale Earnhardt who believed in Park enough to put him in a Dale Earnhardt Inc, DEI, NASCAR Busch Series ride and then later a Nextel Cup ride.
It first appeared that Park was in the process of establishing a very bright future in NASCAR's premiere level. But all of that came to a sudden halt in September 2001 when Park was seriously injured in a crash at Darlington Raceway. It was the second such crash that left Park sitting on the sidelines during a lengthy recovery period. Once he made his way back to the driver's seat there were more racing setbacks including a long string of substandard finishes and many DNFs, did not finish. Many racing observers openly wondered if Park's days with DEI, and for that matter NASCAR's premiere level, were seriously numbered. Park soon discovered that he was the subject matter of garage rumors and began to feel even more pressure.
Park displayed a brief flash of his former racing brilliance when he won the Bud Pole for the Nextel Cup at the California Speedway in 2003. However, that return to prominence was extremely short lived when he crashed on the very first lap of the race. It wasn't much longer after that when DEI made the announcement everyone knew was coming. Park was now looking for a ride.
Prior to the 2004 season, when Brendan Gaughan left his family owned Orleans Racing truck to pursue Nextel Cup opportunities, Park was selected to take over the seat. Orleans Motorsports owner Michael Gaughan truly believed that Park could reignite the spark that made him a good race driver to begin with. While there were no trips to victory lane during 2004, there were plenty of impressive finishes and that made Gaughan want to keep Park in the driver's seat for 2005. Then, on the evening of February 25th under the lights of the California Speedway, Gaughan's belief in his driver became a reality.
During his post race interview Park addressed the issue of his comeback saying "I never doubted that I could make it back to victory lane. I think other people doubted me and it hurt me more than anything else just having to listen to the doubters. I kept saying man I feel great, I know I can win races and all I needed was an opportunity. Mr. Gaughan gave me an opportunity in the Orleans Dodge, along with Brendan, and here we sit in victory lane. I'm really happy about it. I thought I was pretty much finished with my career. Then they gave me an opportunity to be in a competitive truck and now I've won in all three major NASCAR series. That's pretty remarkable."
The comeback win almost didn't happen. Park only led five laps of the race: the final five laps to be exact. He inherited the lead when Mike Bliss ran out of gas and had to duck into the pits for a splash of fuel. That incident became yet another story angle that made the American Racing Wheels 200 so interesting.
Bliss was driving the number 16 Chevy Trucks sponsored Chevrolet Silverado normally piloted by Jack Sprague. Sprague was nursing a broken heel sustained after a fall, from the roof of his home, while cleaning out his rain gutters. Bliss ran the qualifying laps and secured the team an 11th starting position for the race. Sprague, in the name of maintaining his series points standings, started the race despite the pain in his foot. However, because he did not qualify the truck, this was viewed as a driver change and Sprague, per the NASCAR rule book, was relocated to the rear of the starting field.
The plan was to put Bliss back into the truck following the first caution flag of the race. Fortunately for Sprague, an early race crash allowed Bliss to take over the seat on lap six. The lengthy pit stop, for the driver change, again put the team at the rear of the field and Bliss had his work cut out for him. Bliss roared through the field and cracked the top five by lap 62. It was at this point when another caution came out due to a stalled truck at the entrance to pit road. The race leaders came down pit road for gas and tires except for Bliss who then inherited the lead.
The final caution flag of the race came out on lap 77 after early race leader David Starr slammed into the backstretch wall and then collected Johnny Benson. Both drivers were having strong nights and were running in the top five at the time of the crash.
After much radio discussion between Bliss and crew chief Mike Showalter, the team decided to stay out and roll the dice, for the remaining 19 laps, to try to secure the win. The dice came up snake eyes and Bliss coasted into the pits on lap 95. The fuel mileage miscue left the team with a disappointing 22nd place finish.
In some post race comments Bliss said "we just had a little miscalculation on our fuel. We just figured that we might as well roll the dice to see where we landed." Laughing, Bliss added "I was planning to donate the winnings to get Jack's gutters cleaned."
Bobby Hamilton, still fresh from his series opening win at Daytona the week before, finished second and had to overcome early race adversity. "We lost a lap early in the race because we were running hot. A plastic tear off, (from another driver's helmet shield), landed on our grill and we found ourselves in a position of having to race our way back through the field twice to make up a lap. I'm glad for Steve and Michael Gaughan, they're real good people. Again Dodge finished one-two so it turned out to be a good night."
Ricky Craven, driving the Superchips-Roush Racing Ford, had another good Craftsman Truck Series finish with a third. "This was a lot of fun," Craven said adding "the Superchips crew came through at the end with a great pit stop when we really needed it. It was a good points night for us. I'm also really happy for Steve, that's really cool."
Gatorade Rookie of the Year contender Todd Kluever impressed a lot of racing observers with his fourth place finish. The newest member of the Jack Roush Racing stable was clearly happy and said "man, it feels so good. My guys were jumping around like we had won the race. There are a lot of guys back in the shop right now, the fab shop, body shop and truck shop, who are working really hard right now because Daytona went so bad for us and hopefully this is a little bit of sweet medicine for them. The team finished third and fourth. Our trucks are always the same and that's really cool. I can't say enough about those guys. We unloaded really well here and that makes my job so much easier and allows me to concentrate on learning the race track."
Series veteran, and multiple California Speedway winner, Ted Musgrave brought his Jim Smith owned, Mopar sponsored, Dodge to a fifth place finish in the American Racing Wheels 200. Race circumstances being what they were Musgrave said he was pleased with the finish adding "it's pretty amazing coming from the back. The competition is getting pretty tough these days and track position means a lot here. We were lucky. We got a lap down and were able to get the lap back and stay ahead of the leaders. Coming from the back is real tough nowadays and with this top five we're working our points now. We've always been in a points hole at the beginning of past seasons but we're off to a good start now."
