NASCAR Craftsman Truck Stevens Beil/Genuine Car Parts 200 Preview: #16, Ron Hornaday

7 August 1997

By Champion Sports Group
 
 #16 Ron Hornaday, NAPA Brakes Chevrolet
 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series
 Stevens Beil/Genuine Car Parts 200
 Flemington Speedway
  
              RED HOT HORNADAY ROARS INTO FLEMINGTON

FLEMINGTON, NJ - Hornaday recorded win number six of the year this past week 
at Indianapolis Raceway Park in Indianapolis, Ind. The win for the NAPA 
BRAKES team was a hard fought one. Hornaday qualified Dale Earnhardt's Chevy 
truck in the second spot and battled pole winner Jimmy Hensley (No. 43) 
throughout the 200 lap event.

 - Hornaday tried several times to take the top spot from Hensley. It was not 
until the last restart of the event (lap 200) that Hornaday was able to get 
alongside Hensley. Hornaday passed Hensley with one lap remaining and went on 
to win.

 - Hornaday has 16 wins in the NASCAR Truck Series. He is tied with Mike 
Skinner (1993 Champion) for the Truck Series win record.

 - Red Hot Hornaday has six wins in 16 races. He has five wins, six top-ten 
finishes, and has also led 633 of the possible 1338 laps (47%) in the last 
seven events. He is fourth in the points standings, 104 markers behind leader 
Rich Bickle.

 - The NAPA team heads to Flemington Speedway in Flemington, N.J., for this
 Saturday's 200 lap event on the flat .623 mile speedway. Crew chief Fred 
Graves has designated the Chevy truck named "Melissa" for this race. Melissa 
has four wins on the short tracks this year (Tucson, Ariz., Bristol, Tenn., 
Louisville, Ky., and Erie,  Col.). She has won ten times in her career.

NAPA BRAKES driver Ron Hornaday on last week's race in Indianapolis:

"We had another great race. Jimmy Hensley had this one won, but you can never 
give up. As they say, 'it's not over until it's over'. This NAPA team gave me 
another great Chevy truck. NAPA President Bob McKenna was here to see us 
win--that was special."

Comments on this weekend's event at Flemington:

"Flemington is an odd tack. It's basically square and flat--but you drive it 
like an oval. There will be some bumping to get position. Hopefully, the NAPA 
Chevy will be up front and out of the mess. We need another good finish to 
keep gaining points."

                     Ron Hornaday Flemington Statistics

                Date     St   Fn   Laps    Money Won   Status
                8/10/96    9    6  204(204)   6,423     Running 
                8/19/95    3    1  151(151)  29,330     Running

Ron Hornaday is currently fourth in NASCAR Truck Series points