SEASON IN REVIEW
Palmdale, California driver Lance Hooper picked up his first LASTCAR Truck Series Championship in 2001, scoring three last-place finishes in eighteen starts during a twenty-four race season.
The 1996 K&N Pro Series West Champion with five series wins, Hooper was competing in his second Truck Series season. He finished a career-best 19th in points in 2001 and picked up his first and only Top Ten at Nazareth on August 26, where his #73 County Building Centers Chevrolet finished 10th in the Chevy Silverado 200. He also made his first Cup Series start in four years at Atlanta, finishing 42nd in the #47 J.J. Baker Custom Homes Chevrolet, and made a pair of Busch races, including a last-place run at Milwaukee on July 1 when his #07 Baby Go Boom Chevrolet lost the ignition after 3 laps.
Hooper failed to qualify for the season opener at Daytona and raced for six different teams, but picked up eight DNFs in eighteen starts, including three last-place finishes. His first last-place run of the year came at Milwaukee on June 30, during his first start for ThorSport Motorsports owner Duke Thorson, who just picked up a rookie named Matt Crafton. Hooper’s #22 Fast Track Driveway Sealer Chevrolet lost the ignition that day after 3 laps of the GNC Live Well 200.
Hooper’s second last-place finish came two races later at Kentucky on July 14, driving the same #73 that gave him his Top Ten at Nazareth one month later. Hooper’s #73 County Building Centers Chevrolet lost the engine 5 laps into the Kroger 225. The third finish came ten races after that at Phoenix, when Hooper was driving for Tom Mazzuchi, the team owner of 1999 LASTCAR Truck Series Champion Phil Bonifield’s #23 Chevrolets. In the October 26 running of the Chevy Silverado 150, Hooper’s #23 National Wild Turkey Federation Chevrolet lost the brakes without completing a single lap.
Hooper continued to race in NASCAR through 2009, the year he made his 80th and final Truck Series start at Homestead, where he finished 33rd in the #73 Trans Pecos Trucking / County Building Centers Chevrolet. He also appeared in both runnings of the NASCAR Thunder Special in Suzuka City, Japan with a best finish of 11th in 1996.
OTHER LASTCAR HEADLINES
Both the 1983 LASTCAR Cup Series and 2007 LASTCAR Nationwide Series Champion Morgan Shepherd joined the growing list of drivers with starts - and last-place finishes - in all three of NASCAR’s top divisions. In his sixth series start at Martinsville on April 7, Shepherd’s #21 Genzman Racing Ford suffered a brake failure after 31 laps of the Advance Auto Parts 250. To date, Shepherd has made 55 Truck Series starts, most recently at Fontana in 2008.
Oakland, California racer Bill Lester became the first African-American driver to finish last in a Truck Series race at Gateway on May when his Bobby Hamilton-owned #4 31-W Insulation Dodge fell out with handling problems after the opening lap of the Ram Tough 200. Lester made 142 Truck Series starts from 2000 through 2007, and in 2006 became the first African-American driver to qualify for a Cup Series race in two decades, racing at Atlanta and Michigan with a career-best 32nd in the latter.
Prior to becoming president of Joe Gibbs Racing, J.D. Gibbs made eight Truck Series starts from 2000 through 2002 after a brief five-race stint in the Busch Series. Gibbs scored his first and only last-place finish in NASCAR at Richmond on September 6 when his #48 Hot Rod Magazine Chevrolet was involved I a two-truck accident after 17 laps of the Kroger 200.
Jason White joined the Truck Series in 2001 and finished a season-best 13th at Martinsville driving for David Hodson. He picked up his first last-place finish in his last start of the season on July 7, the inaugural O’Reilly Auto Parts 250 at Kansas Speedway, when his #93 Troxell Motorsports Dodge lost the engine after 4 laps. That race is more well known as the lone NASCAR victory for 21-year-old Ricky Hendrick, son of prolific NASCAR Cup Series owner Rick. Ricky finished 6th in the series standings and briefly raced in Busch before handing over his #5 GMAC Chevrolet to eventual 2003 NASCAR Busch Series Grand National Division Champion Brian Vickers. Ricky never finished last in any of his NASCAR starts. Tragically, Ricky and nine others lost their lives in a private plane crash on October 24, 2004.
CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS
1st) Lance Hooper (3)
2nd) Stan Boyd, Larry Gunselman, Jerry Miller (2)
3rd) Barry Bodine, Phil Bonifield, Gene Christensen, Bobby Coffey, Morris Coffman, Michael Dokken, J.D. Gibbs, Bill Lester, Donnie Neuenberger, Jonathon Price, Ricky Sanders, Sammy Sanders, Dale Shaw, Morgan Shepherd, Jason White (1)
