NASCAR Craftsman Trucks will be a series that West Michigan fans follow closely in 2008. The mention of Stacy Compton’s #4 Open Joist Dodge truck should have a familiar ring to it, too. The Grand Rapids-based Universal Forest Products, Inc., has renewed its marketing alliance with [Arrington-] Bobby Hamilton Racing this season, and it will be promoting its Open Joist product on the truck. Open Joist is a versatile, open-web, all-wood floor truss. Universal broke into Craftsman Trucks last year with BHR, which lost its founder, Bobby Hamilton Sr., in January of 2007 to cancer. The team drove on despite losing Hamilton, who won the 2004 championship. Last year proved to be a year transitional season in which a handful of drivers took turns racing the Open Joist truck, but things are looking up in 2008. Compton has been hired to race full-time, and after clocking in fifth fastest last weekend in a Daytona test session, he said he is confident 2008 will be a competitive one for him and his team.(Grand Rapids Press)(1-18-2008)
