ThorSport Racing will reach an exclusive milestone in the Paramount Health Insurance 200 at Michigan International Speedway on Saturday. When the green flag drops over the team’s two trucks, the #13 ThorSport Racing Chevrolet driven by Tracy Hines and the #88 Menards Chevrolet driven by Matt Crafton, it will mark the 200th time the team has participated in a NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race. Only five other Truck Series teams have reached that milestone: #1/#2-Ultra Motorsports, #29-K-Automotive, #75-Spears Motorsports, #14-Circle Bar Racing, and #50/#99-Roush Racing.
Starting off as a one-truck effort, team owners Duke and Rhonda Thorson selected Sandusky Speedway champion Terry Cook as the driver for a limited three-race schedule in 1996. A strong debut at The Milwaukee Mile landed Cook in 12th position at the finish, and gave everyone enthusiasm for more races in 1997. In one of the most competitive seasons in the history of the NCTS, Cook and the upstart team expanded their schedule to 15 races and earned their first series pole at Flemington Speedway. The first full season for the team came in 1998, when the team and Cook earned their first series win, again at Flemington, three top-5 finishes, and the team’s second pole position at Louisville (Ky.) Motor Speedway. When Cook moved on to another ride at the end of the 2000 season, the Thorsons selected the reigning NASCAR Southwest Series champion Matt Crafton to take over. Crafton’s first race resulted in a ninth-place finish at the two-mile California Speedway, and he continued with the strong runs throughout the 2001 season, collecting 11 top-10 finishes in his rookie season.
Crafton got the call to pilot a Truck for a new team owned by NASCAR Nextel Cup Series star Kevin Harvick in 2004, which allowed the team to hire another champion driver. This time, the team selected two-time United States Auto Club national champion Tracy Hines. Hines came in and immediately scored his first career top-5 finish in the team’s home race at Mansfield (Oh.) Motorsports Speedway.
Having expanded to a two-truck team in 2004, Crafton has returned to the team’s #88 Chevrolet, allowing Hines to move over to the #13 Chevrolet. A driver Thorson is proud to have worked with was an out of work open wheel racer that drove for the team in a one-off race at Homestead-Miami Speedway at the end of the 2003 season. That driver found work in 2004 and ended up winning the sport’s biggest race, the Indianapolis 500.director of competition.(PR)(6-16-2005)
