SEASON IN REVIEW
Paris, Texas driver Loni Richardson picked up his first LASTCAR Truck Series Championship in 2002, scoring three last-place finishes in seven starts during a twenty-five race season. In doing so, Richardson set a record for fewest starts by a LASTCAR Truck Series Champion that Richardson would himself break during his second title season in 2004.
Richard was competing in his second Truck Series season. He ran just four races the year before, finishing no better than 28th at Gateway in his only start of the year as an owner-driver, running the #0 Intensitee Custom Racewear Chevrolet. In his other three starts, he raced in both Tom Mazzuchi’s #23, once driven by 1999 LASTCAR Truck Series Champion Phil Bonifield, and Joey Sonntag’s #73 that was driven by 2001 LASTCAR Truck Series Champion Lance Hooper.
In 2002, Richardson again made one start in his #0 at Las Vegas, but scored all three of the season’s last-place finishes in Sonntag’s #73. With no other driver scoring more than two last-place finishes all year, Richardson clinched the LASTCAR title despite eight DNQs simply by finishing last in three of his first four starts.
Richardson’s first last-place finish came at Darlington on March 15, where his #73 Universal Technical Institute Chevrolet suffered electrical problems after 2 laps of the Craftsman Anniversary 200. The next occurred the following race at Martinsville on April 13 where the #73 Intensitee Custom Racewear / UTI Chevrolet lost the engine after 62 laps of the Advance Auto Parts 250. The third occurred two races later in the final Truck Series race at Pikes Peak on May 19, where this time the ignition failed after 16 laps of the Rocky Mountain 200.
In 2003, Richardson raced in his own equipment for three races, finishing last yet again at Fontana on September 20, 2003 when his #0 Fire Spec / Toyota of Paris Chevrolet lost the engine after 6 laps. The following year, Richardson made just five more starts, but still scored his second LASTCAR crown.
OTHER LASTCAR HEADLINES
NASCAR Busch Series veteran Bobby Dotter finished last for the first time in the season-opening Daytona 250 on February 15 when his #08 Albertson’s / CDS Chevrolet lost the engine after 26 laps. In 2008, Dotter would gain an ownership interest in the #0 Truck Series team owned by Gene Christensen, which scored thirteen last-place finishes that season alone.
Three Canadian drivers finished last in 2002, starting at Milwaukee on June 29 when Owen Sound, Ontario’s Jason Thom suffered a vibration in his #81 Ware Racing Enterprises Dodge after 3 laps of the GNC Live Well 200. The other two made LASTCAR history of their own, becoming the first brother-sister duo to finish last in consecutive NASCAR races. On August 2, Toronto, Ontario driver Teri MacDonald trailed the field at Indianapolis Raceway Park when her #93 NRG Chevrolet lost the engine after 32 laps of the Power Stroke Diesel 200. The following week on August 10, brother Randy MacDonald of Oshawa, Ontario, an infrequent Cup and Busch Series racer, finished last at Nashville when the engine let go on his #72 U.S. Security Chevrolet after 6 laps of the Federated Auto Parts 200. It was the only last-place finish of Teri’s career, but Randy finished last twice more in 2003 and 2007.
Carl Edwards was a Truck Series rookie in 2002 when he finished last for the first time at Las Vegas on October 13 after his #63 Mittler Brothers Machine & Tool Ford lost he engine after the opening lap of the Las Vegas 350. Edwards would go on to win six races over the next two seasons, finishing 8th and 4th in the standings, paving the way to his arrival in the Cup Series in late 2004 and his first win the at Atlanta the following March.
CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS
1st) Loni Richardson (3)
2nd) Michael Dokken (2)
3rd) Brad Bennett, Rick Bogart, Bobby Coffey, Bobby Dotter, Carl Edwards, Wayne Edwards, Lance Hooper, Eric Jones, Patrick Lawler, Bill Lester, Randy MacDonald, Teri MacDonald, Lance Norick, Michael Ritch, Brian Rose, Morgan Shepherd, Jason Thom (1)
