| Race details | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Race 1 of 20 in the1995 NASCAR SuperTruck Series season | |||
 Layout ofPhoenix International Raceway | |||
| Date | February 5, 1995 (1995-02-05) | ||
| Official name | 18th Annual Skoal Bandit Copper World Classic | ||
| Location | Phoenix International Raceway,Avondale, Arizona | ||
| Course | Permanent racing facility | ||
| Course length | 1 miles (1.609 km) | ||
| Distance | 80 laps, 80 mi (128.748 km) | ||
| Average speed | 87.565 mph (140.922 km/h) | ||
| Pole position | |||
| Driver | Dale Earnhardt, Inc. | ||
| Most laps led | |||
| Driver | Mike Skinner | Richard Childress Racing | |
| Laps | 30 | ||
| Winner | |||
| No. 3 | Mike Skinner | Richard Childress Racing | |
| Television in the United States | |||
| Network | TNN | ||
| Announcers | Mike Joy,Buddy Baker,Ernie Irvan | ||
The1995 Skoal Bandit Copper World Classic was apickup truck race held on February 5, 1995 at thePhoenix International Raceway inAvondale, Arizona. It was the first event of the1995 NASCAR SuperTruck Series, the first season of what is now theNASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, and the first edition of what is now theCraftsman 150.
Ron Hornaday Jr. ofDale Earnhardt, Inc. won thepole position, whileMike Skinner ofRichard Childress Racing won the race after leading a race-high 30 laps.
Phoenix International Raceway, which opened in 1964, began hosting NASCARWinston Cup Series races in1988.[1] The track is 1-mile (1.6-kilometre) long; thebanking in turns 1–2 and the backstretch is 10–11degrees, while thedogleg and turns 3–4 are 8–9° and the frontstretch is 3°.[2]
The Truck Series was planned in 1991 and officially created in 1994.[3] During the year, seven exhibition races[4] were held and broadcast byTNN under theWinter Heat Series banner.[5] TNN returned to cover the Copper World Classic.[6] Regarding Phoenix being the site of the series' inaugural race, Ron Hornaday stated, "Phoenix fits right into a lot of these drivers' hands because they all came from short tracks."[7]
The race was one of five held for the 18th Annual Skoal Bandit Copper World Classic. Various drivers were attracted to the event, including Cup Series driversKen Schrader,Geoff Bodine andTerry Labonte,[8] the latter having won the Cup race at Phoenix in1994. Other drivers included off-road racing championRoger Mears[9] and formerNational Football League head coachJerry Glanville.[10][11] In the field of 33 drivers that competed in the race,[12] Hornaday, Mike Skinner,Joe Ruttman,Butch Miller,Jack Sprague,Rick Carelli,Bill Sedgwick,Scott Lagasse,Tobey Butler andSammy Swindell would eventually compete in all twenty races in the1995 season.[13]
Ron Hornaday won the pole with a lap speed of 123.665 miles per hour (199.020 km/h). Ken Schrader (122.695 mph (197.458 km/h)), Terry Labonte (122.324 mph (196.861 km/h)),Johnny Benson Jr. (122.266 mph (196.768 km/h)) andJoe Bessey (122.220 mph (196.694 km/h)) rounded out the top five.[9]
A crowd of 38,000 attended the race.[7]
Ron Hornaday led the first 23 laps of the race. During that timespan, twocaution flags were flown: on lap 4,Troy Beebe spun out in turn 2, and on lap 17,Gary Collins spun in turn 4. On lap 24, Terry Labonte look the lead, and after a lap, the third caution occurred when seven trucks (Tobey Butler,John Borneman,Bob Keselowski,Steve McEachern, Bill Sedgwick, Jerry Glanville andT. J. Clark) crashed in turn 4. Labonte led until lap 29, and Hornaday led for three laps. On lap 33, Mike Skinner claimed first, leading for 29 laps; Skinner lost the lead on lap 61, when a yellow flag for debris was flown. Labonte reclaimed the lead during the period. On lap 72, Sedgwick, Keselowski andBob Strait spun in the dogleg, bringing out another caution. Five laps later, the final yellow of the race was flown when Glanville,Kerry Teague,Scott Lagasse andP. J. Jones crashed in turn 4. When the green flag waved with two laps to go, Skinner retook the lead from Labonte,[10] and held off Labonte's attempted charge to win by .09 seconds.[14] Ken Schrader finished third, followed by Joe Bessey, Geoff Bodine, Jack Sprague, Butch Miller, Joe Ruttman, Hornaday and Johnny Benson. Six drivers did not finish the race:Rick Carelli (engine),Walker Evans (valve), Troy Beebe (suspension),Butch Gilliland (engine), Clark and Borneman (crashes).[10]
| Pos | Driver | Points | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mike Skinner | 180 | ||||||
| 2 | Terry Labonte | 170 (−10) | ||||||
| 3 | Ken Schrader | 165 (−15) | ||||||
| 4 | Joe Bessey | 160 (−20) | ||||||
| 5 | Geoff Bodine | 155 (−25) | ||||||
| 6 | Jack Sprague | 150 (−30) | ||||||
| 7 | Butch Miller | 146 (−34) | ||||||
| 8 | Joe Ruttman | 142 (−38) | ||||||
| 9 | Ron Hornaday Jr. | 138 (−42) | ||||||
| 10 | Johnny Benson Jr. | 134 (−46) | ||||||
Source:[10] | ||||||||