SEASON IN REVIEW
Santa Ana, California driver John Kinder picked up the inaugural LASTCAR Truck Series Championship in 1995, scoring three last-place finishes in twelve starts during a twenty race season. He beat T.J. Clark in a bottom-five tiebreaker 7-5.
The 20-year-old Kinder pulled double-duty in 1995, competing in six races for his family’s #21 Gordon Woods Industrial Welding Pontiac in the K&N Pro Series West as well as his twelve Truck Series starts for owner Bill Stroppe in his #14 Fords. Kinder wasn’t in the 33-truck field for the inaugural Truck Series points race at Phoenix on February 5, the Skoal Bandit Copper World Classic, and instead made his debut at Saugus Speedway in Saugus, California on April 15. Involved in two accidents during the Scott Irvan Chevrolet / Craftsman 200, Kinder fell out with fatigue after 117 laps, but was edged by three-time World of Outlaws champion Sammy Swindell for last-place in the 24-truck field.
Kinder’s first last-place finish came eight races later on July 15 at the Colorado National Speedway in Erie, Colorado, where his #14 Stroppe Motorsports Ford suffered an ignition failure after 17 laps of the Total Petroleum 200. His next finish came two races later on August 3, where this time the engine let go after 13 laps of the Action Packed Racing Card 150 at Indianapolis Raceway Park. The third finish came two races after that at Richmond on September 7, where another engine failed after 35 laps of the Fas Mart Supertruck Shootout.
T.J. Clark tied Kinder’s three last-place runs in the season finale at Phoenix on October 28 when his #23 ASE / Mega Power Chevrolet crashed 10 laps into the GM Goodwrench / Delco Battery 200, but with five Bottom Fives in thirteen starts, he lost the LASTCAR title to Kinder. Kinder and Clark held the Truck Series last-place lead for less than a year before Mike Hurlbert passed them both on his way to a LASTCAR championship in 1996.
Kinder never raced in the Truck Series after 1995 and returned to the K&N Pro Series West, where he scored 5 Top Fives and 14 Top Tens over the next two seasons. He then moved to race in both ARCA and the X-1R Pro Cup Series, most recently in 2003, and even raced in NASCAR’s 1997 exhibition race in Suzuka, Japan, finishing 17th for owner Dick Midgley.
OTHER LASTCAR HEADLINES
In the Truck Series’ first points race at Phoenix, the February 5 Skoal Copper World Classic, the first last-place finish went to 46-year-old El Cajon, California driver John Borneman, whose #8 MJ Soffe Chevrolet crashed after 22 laps of the event. Borneman came into the race with eight Cup Series starts from 1977 through 1981, all of them at Riverside and Ontario, and a K&N Pro Series West win at Evergreen Speedway in 1978. Though Borneman made just one more Truck Series start, the 1995 season finale at Phoenix, his son Johnny Borneman, III has been active in both the Truck Series, the Nationwide Series, and the K&N Pro Series West.
At the I-70 Speedway on May 27, Ron Esau became the first driver to finish last in a Dodge during a NASCAR points race since March 1, 1981, when Cup Series driver and 1966 LASTCAR Cup Champion Buddy Arrington’s #67 Reid Trailer Sales Dodge fell out with engine problems 34 laps into the Carolina 500 at Rockingham. Esau’s #26 Barbary Coast Dodge fell out with handling problems after 11 laps of the Western Auto 200.
On November 4, one more exhibition race was run at the Homestead-Miami Speedway. The NASCAR Supertruck 25, won by Geoffrey Bodine, saw Michael Dokken finish last as the 10-truck race’s only retiree. The engine let go on his #64 Badcock Chevrolet after 20 laps. As with the seven preseason races, this exhibition race is not counted in the overall LASTCAR standings.
Mike Skinner won the inaugural NASCAR Truck Series Championship in 1995, winning 8 races in Richard Childress’ #3 GM Goodwrench Chevrolet. As of this writing, Skinner has made 231 Truck Series starts though 2012, and though he is the 2005 LASTCAR Cup Series Champion, he has never once finished last in a Truck Series race.
CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS
1st) T.J. Clark [4 B5s], John Kinder [7 B5s] (3)
2nd) Ron Esau, Sammy Swindell (2)
3rd) Dave Ashley, John Borneman, Frank Davis, Dennis Dyer, Garrett Evans, Stan Fox, Mike Hurlbert, Scott Lagasse, John Nemechek, Bob Strait (1)
