Truex Has Been Doing His Homework

Seat time has long been considered most significant for a driver in preparing for an important race. Conventional trackside wisdom has been that the driver with the most time in his car at speed on the track -- tire testing, practicing or racing -- is the one most likely to win.

Now, however, seat time can mean sitting in a chair at home, working the controls in a simulated race, on a specific race track, against other drivers, computerized on a video screen.

That is one way Martin Truex Jr., and his boss and close friend, Dale Earnhardt Jr., prepare for their races, and no one can fault the results.

Truex, 23, a rookie from Mayetta, N.J., is the only NASCAR Busch series driver to have won more than one race this season and is the only true Busch driver to have won at all. All the other victories have been posted by so-called “Buschwhackers,� Nextel Cup regulars who step down to cherry-pick in the lesser series.

Earnhardt won the Daytona 500 and is leading in Nextel Cup points but in their latest meetings, both on the track and on the computer, Truex has defeated the more famous Junior.

Truex was a surprise winner over Earnhardt last Saturday in the Busch race at Talladega Superspeedway. It was the youngster’s second Busch triumph, the first having been on the tiny oval at Bristol, Tenn., in March.

“I couldn’t believe we finished ahead of Dale, but when I told him I had broken his [winning] streak at Talladega, he said, ‘No, you didn’t, because I own this car.’ �

Truex said that they had raced Talladega earlier in the week on the simulation screen. And who won?

“Oh, I beat him there too,� Truex said with a grin. “I beat him most everywhere we race. Sometimes we practice together -- it’s as close to getting out on the track as you can get.�

The two will do a computerized race at California Speedway this week, but only Truex will be in Saturday’s 300-mile Busch race at Fontana, Earnhardt saving himself for the Auto Club 500 Nextel Cup on Sunday. Truex will be driving the No. 8 Chance 2 Motorsports Chevy co-owned by Earnhardt and his stepmother, Teresa Earnhardt.

Busch qualifying starts at 1 p.m. today, followed by Nextel Cup at 3:10.

“We’ll have done a lot of laps on the [simulated] track before we get there with the cars,� Truex said. “The tracks are simulated perfectly and we have to set up our cars just the way we want them on the real track.

“We get everything as close as possible, things like the wings, shocks, sway bars, tire pressure, to make it handle the way we want it. It is very realistic. I know it sounds pretty crazy to think we can learn something from a computer race, but that is how the fighter pilots learn what to do and how to do it before they go up.�

Truex may be only 23 but he has been racing, and winning, since his father, Martin Sr., put him in a go-kart at 11.

“I had grown up watching my dad race on weekends in Busch North and modified races, but I had a tough time talking him into letting me have a kart,� Truex said. “He was still busy racing himself.

“When I was 18, we were racing against each other and in our third race I was faster than Dad. He said he was going to step back, give up racing himself and put all the family eggs in my basket.

“That meant a lot to me. To have somebody give up racing, knowing how much he loved it, who had raced all his life, to give it up completely. He’s still at my races, giving me advice and helping out. I really appreciate all he’s done for me.�

Truex got his big break when Rickie Gilmore, then an engine builder for Dale Earnhardt Inc. and now director of motorsports, heard about him from a mechanic on Truex’s Busch North team. Gilmore suggested Earnhardt take a look at him and as Truex says, “It went from there.�

“We really hit it off,� Truex said. “We don’t only drive race cars together, we hang out a lot about every day. We like to do the same things. I don’t take myself too seriously and neither does he. What I like most about Junior is that he doesn’t get caught up in the moment, no matter how much success he has. He’s just fun to be around.�

Truex acknowledges, however, that he has an extra incentive to be a winning driver.

“If it wasn’t for racing, I’d be working for my dad,� he said. “He’s in the commercial fishing industry and that sometimes means going out about 80 miles off Atlantic City, looking for clams when it’s 2 o’clock in the morning and it’s about 20 degrees. I’d definitely rather drive race cars than do that.�

NASCAR Everywhere

Jeff Gordon, who served as a judge in the Miss America pageant, will take his serve to another sport when he speaks out for USTA and Tennis Industry Assn. Gordon is one of a small number of athletes who are part of a program to “change perceptions about [tennis] and increase interest in playing it,� said a USTA official.

Earnhardt was the leader in quarterly voting for 2004 driver of the year. The Daytona 500 winner received 11 of 19 first-place votes from the Speed Channel panel. World of Outlaws sprint car champion Steve Kinser received four votes and finished second.

Earnhardt also has been named one of People magazine’s “Most Beautiful People� in the current issue. The magazine apparently has an attachment to Junior. In 2001 he was its “sexiest man� and in 2002 he was “most eligible bachelor.�

Last Laps

The Sprint Car Racing Assn., rained out two weeks ago at Barona Speedway Park, will try again Saturday night at the tiny dirt oval in Ramona. Teammates Rickie Gaunt and Charles Davis Jr. lead in series points after two races.

The USAC/CRA sprint car series returns to Perris Auto Speedway, where last Saturday night veteran Rip Williams won the main event over Troy Rutherford and Jeremy Sherman.

The American Speed Assn. will hold a five-race Pro-4 Series starting Saturday at Las Vegas. From there, the series will be at Mesa Marin in Bakersfield on July 17, Meridian, Idaho, on Sept. 1; Orange Show Speedway in San Bernardino on Oct. 9, and Lucas Oil I-10 Speedway in Blythe on Nov. 27.

Indy Racing League driver Greg Ray of Plano, Texas, has filed a breach of contract suit against A.J. Foyt, according to the Dallas Morning News. Ray maintains he was never paid for driving for Foyt in the IRL in 2002.

According to the lawsuit, Foyt “lied, stole money and placed Ray’s life in danger in lousy equipment.�

Hila Sweet’s California Racers Reunion will be held Saturday at Parnelli Jones’ racing museum, 2001 Earl St., Torrance, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Details: (310) 798-6436.

Motocross star Travis Pastrana will take his talents to another venue next weekend when he drives a Vermont SportsCar Subaru WRX in the 21st annual Rim of the World Rally in the hills of the Angeles National Forest west of Lancaster. The rally is Round 3 of the SCCA ProRally championships. There will be stages on May 8 and 9.