On paper, it sounded like a wonderful idea to Landfield, Smith, Venable, and Vessels. But around the time, the idea of pick-up truck racing was laughable to fans and media critics, who felt the series would just be a novelty act for the powers that be in Daytona Beach, Florida.
Some fans and media joked that the truck racing gimmick would bring on the advent of such off-shoot series like a station-wagon or minivan division. Funny now, but back then, not so much to these four men and NASCAR.
NASCAR President Bill France Jr. did not take the idea lightly from the four racers. Instead, the benevolent dictator of stock car racing approved of the atypical racing series, calling for four, 20-lap demonstration races to be held in 1994.
Racing fans would get their first look at the trucks when they were on display at Daytona International Speedway during Speedweeks '94 held that February. Slowly but surely, the series would gain some acceptance among the traditionalists of the sport.
On July 30th, the NASCAR world forever changed with the first demonstration race of these racing trucks, known at the time as "Supertrucks."
Competing at the half-mile paved oval at Mesa Marin Raceway in Bakersfield, Calif., there were only a measley number of trucks on the track, with P.J. Jones driving his No. 1 Vessels Stallion Ford F-150 to victory in front of a six-truck field.
These races generally had entries fieled by the founders of the Truck Series, thus translating to low entry turnouts.
Deeming the trial runs successful, NASCAR would have the Supertrucks compete in three Winter Heat events at the .375-mile Tucson Raceway Park.
From Nov. 20, 1994 to Jan. 8, 1995, three 200-lap contests were raced at the famed Southwestern facility to the tune of larger fields and fan turnouts.
Instead of the sparse, six truck races seen during the '94 racing season, Tucson hosted 18 truck fields. Cup and BGN team owners were beginning to take this "novelty" act more seriously, pondering the benefits of having a Truck team to lure more sponsors into their operations.
This time, there were drivers with diverse driving backgrounds competing in these events. After all, where else would you see Winston West racing stars like Rick Carrelli and Ron Hornaday Jr. driving against an IndyCar faces like Robby Gordon and P.J. Jones?
Or how about BGN talent Johnny Benson Jr. going door-to-door against Cup veteran Ken Schrader?
Arizona fans were delighted to these three events held during NASCAR's Winter Heat shows, and were they ever action-packed!
Carelli stunk up the Nov. 20 show by leading 107 of the 200 laps for Winter Heat race No. 1, driving his No. 6 Total Petroleum Chevy truck to a 1.2 second victory over Jones and Hornaday.
It would not be the last time that Carelli would mix it up with Jones and Hornaday, as these three drivers would become full-time competitors in the Truck ranks in '95.
Winter Heat Race No. 2, held on Dec. 11, saw the unofficial Truck debut of a future series legend in Mike Skinner from Susanville, Calif.
A Golden State racer looking for his big break in NASCAR after years working odd-end jobs, from working the pits for Rusty Wallace in the mid 1980s to sweeping the floors of Petty Enterprises, Skinner caught the eye of Cup team owner Richard Childress.
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