2/20/05… Bobby Hamilton started out the 2005 series pretty much the way he wound up the 2004 campaign, on top of the heap.

To say that the race was wild would be an understatement. The event was filled with spectacular airborne crashes that left fans wondering what was coming next. There were angry moments and hard feelings between drivers and crews in the pit area as well as out on the track.

The Truck Series has always been a little on the wild side compared to the other two major series in NASCAR, but the actions surrounding Friday night's season opener were just short of ridiculous.

The ending of the event wasn't an exception. An eight truck pileup ensued on the last lap propelling Jimmy Spencer across the finish line taking the checkered flag. NASCAR decided that they didn't want Spencer taking the win and gave it to Bobby Hamilton. Spencer was celebrating with his crew in Victory Circle while Hamilton and his crew were fuming on Pit road. Suddenly, they switched places, putting Hamilton in the winners circle and sending Spencer and his crew back the garage area with their tails hanging low. I honestly don't believe we've heard the last of this debacle, by any means. One of these days these controlling NASCAR officials are going to go too far out on the proverbial limb, and all hell is going to break loose. After changing the pecking order and giving Hamilton the win, they listed Spencer as finishing second. Following Spencer across the finish line in the top ten were Todd Bodine, Ricky Craven, Ted Musgrave, Ken Weaver, Brad Keselowski, David Starr, Wayne Edwards, and Johnny Benson. You may notice that the top five finishers were all former Cup drivers, with Cup driver Benson bringing up the rear in the top ten. The top ten starters and how they finished:

1. Kerry Earnhardt -- #15 Chevy -- finished 35th
2. Dennis Setzer -- #46 Chevy -- finished 16th
3. Robert Huffman -- #12 Toyota -- finished 19th
4. Bill Lester -- #22 Toyota -- finished 29th
5. Tracy Hines -- #15 Chevy -- finished 22nd
6. Todd Bodine -- #66 Toyota -- finished 3rd
7. *Shigeaki Hattori -- #9 Toyota -- finished 34th
8. *Reagan Smith -- #19 Chevy -- finished 33rd
9. Chad Chaffin -- #30 Toyota -- finished 21st
10. Brendan Gaughan -- #77 Dodge -- finished 30th

The next event in the truck series is at the California Speedway this coming Friday night, February 25th. The event will be televised live on the SPEED channel beginning at 9 pm eastern.

Last season, the California event was in October, but this year the schedule has been changed quite a bit. Last season's winner of the event was Todd Bodine, followed across the finish line in the top ten by Ted Musgrave, Jack Sprague, David Starr, Bobby Hamilton, rookie David Reutimann, Johnny Benson, Steve Park, Dennis Setzer, and Carl Edwards.

Travis Kvapil won the Bud Pole Award in the #24 Line-X Toyota with a track record speed of 189.669 miles per hour. There were four caution periods for a total of 21 laps out of the 100 lap event on the two mile California oval.

2/27/05… The man of the hour this week seems to be Steve Park. The former Cup driver has survived a beleaguered driving career, to say the least. I remember vividly when he lost control coming out of the fourth turn at Texas Motor Speedway years ago and slammed the outside wall, getting knocked unconscious, then careened into the inside wall much further down the track suffering a badly broken leg that took him out of the driver's seat for the remainder of that season.

He got back on track after that and scored a couple of wins, then his steering wheel came of at Martinsville and he was T-boned by Larry Foyt, who was speeding along side of the field to get to the front of the pack in the lap down inside restart row. Park was knocked unconscious again, suffering a major concussion, and was out of racing for a couple of years, never to really race a cup car successfully again.

This season he ended up in the Craftsman Truck Series, where a lot of so-called "Washed up" Cup drivers tent to end up. He joins several other former Cup Series drivers who have lost their Cup driving jobs for a variety of reasons. When the Truck Series was first on the drawing boards back in 1995, I wonder if NASCAR knew that it would become a magnet for discarded Cup drivers.

Regardless off all his former troubles, Steve Park was Dale Earnhardt Sr.'s choice for a driver when he was starting out with the Dale Earnhardt Inc. (DEI) teams, and that's a distinction that no one can ever take away from him. He got the call from Dale, no one else did. I'm really happy to see him find a niche in the Truck Series and start out being competitive in a series that contains so many fiercely competitive drivers. When you win in that series, you have earned it!

Park's win at California, puts him in some pretty great company of drivers who have won events in all three of NASCAR's major series; Cup, Busch and Truck. Park has now elevated the number to ten, joining Greg Biffle, Bobby Hamilton, Terry Labonte, Kevin Harvick, Mark Martin, Jamie McMurray, Ken Schrader, Jimmy Spencer, and Tony Stewart.

Following Park across the finish line in the top ten at Fontana were Bobby Hamilton, Ricky Craven, rookie Todd Kluever, Ted Musgrave, Matt Crafton, Jimmy Spencer, Ron Hornaday, Robert Huffman, and Dennis Setzer. The top ten starters and how they finished:

1. Mike Skinner -- #5 Toyota -- finished 18th
2. David Starr -- #75 Chevy -- finished 27th
3. David Reutimann -- #17 Toyota -- finished 13th
4. Robert Huffman -- #12 Toyota -- finished 9th
5. Brandon Whitt -- #38 Toyota -- finished 23rd
6. Jimmy Spencer -- #2 Dodge -- finished 7th
7. *Todd Kluever -- #50 Ford -- finished 4th
8. Johnny Benson -- #23 Toyota -- finished 12th
9. Terry Cook -- #10 Ford -- finished 15th
10. Matt Crafton -- #88 Chevy -- finished 6th

Bobby Hamilton is on track to defend his 2004 Craftsman Truck Series title. He won at Daytona and came in second at Fontana, which leaves him at the top of the heap. Ricky Craven moved up two spots to second, a mere -25 points down from the top. Jimmy Spencer dropped one spot out of second to third listed now with a -34. Ted Musgrave moved up one spot to fourth listed with a -45, while Matt Crafton moved up seven spots to round out the top five with a -75. Steve Park moved up a whopping 17 spots with his win and is now in sixth, listed with a -76. Johnny Benson moved up two spots to seventh listed with a -84 followed, by David Reutimann who moved up three spots to eighth listed with a -99. Dennis Setzer moved up seven spots to ninth listed with a -101, followed by Casey Atwood who moved up five spots to round out the top ten listed with a -104. Seven of the top ten drivers are former Cup Series drivers, while one is a former Busch Series driver.

The next event on the Truck Series schedule is at the Atlanta Motor Speedway on a Friday, March 18th. It will be a 230 lap 200 mile event and will be televised live on the SPEED Channel at 9 p.m. eastern.

Last season's winner at Atlanta was Bobby Hamilton. He was followed across the finish line in the top ten by Mike Skinner, rookie David Reutimann, Travis Kvapil, Matt Crafton, Shane Hmiel, Carl Edwards, Ted Musgrave, Chad Chaffin, and Ken Schrader.

Rookie David Reutimann won the Bud Pole Award in the #17 NTN Bearings Toyota with a speed of 179.452 miles per hour. There were four caution periods for a total of 26 laps out of the 133 lap event on the 1.5 mile oval.