Hornaday, Sprague put aside run-ins for team

CONCORD, N.C. -- Sometimes fate has a funny way of throwing people together in the most unlikely of situations.

Take the fact that Jack Sprague and Ron Hornaday, former sheet metal sheering and fender foiling foes in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, will be teammates this weekend at Darlington for the NASCAR Busch Series' darlingtonraceway.com 200 on Saturday.

			Ron Hornaday

Sprague and Hornaday as teammates? That's a far cry from their rough-and-tumble times in the formative days of the Craftsman Truck Series, for sure.

When Ricky Hendrick was injured during the Busch Series race at Las Vegas earlier this month, he needed minor surgery to repair his hampered right shoulder and is expected to be out for at least a month. That was the fateful moment that tossed Sprague, driver of the No. 24 NetZero Chevrolet for Rick Hendrick Motorsports, and Hornaday together as teammates.

Hornaday will pilot the No. 5 GMAC Financial Services Chevrolet while the younger Hendrick is on the mend.

"First of all, everyone thinks that Jack and I don't like each other," Hornaday said. "We have an understanding and respect for each other because we're both competitors who want to win.

"In the Truck Series days, for some reason, we both had two competitive trucks with two high-profile owners that wanted to go in the same spot. We seemed to have a tendency to run into each other.

"I know we both made a lot of work for guys on our teams."

Sprague has been the same with Hendrick for the past seven years and won a record three NCTS championships. Hornaday was driving for Dale Earnhardt Inc. during his NCTS days and won two championships before moving up to the Busch Series when DEI dissolved the Truck Series team.

Then, DEI pulled out of the Busch Series at the end of the 2000 season and released Hornaday to make room for Michael Waltrip to drive its new, and third, Winston Cup Series car. Hornaday spent last season driving for A.J. Foyt Racing in Winston Cup until he was released last fall and is currently not under contract with a team and is looking for a steady ride.

A few years ago, battles between Sprague and Hornaday kept the fans out of their seats and on their feet and made for some heavy media coverage, as well. There was more than one instance that the two seemed drawn toward each other like magnets were attached under the fenders of their trucks.

"It's never been a real big deal for me," Hornaday said. "I always had a lot of fun running into Jack so much because he took it to heart. He always thought I was doing it to him; I was just doing it to win races.

			Jack Sprague

"Jack used to be one of those quickie hot heads that I could get riled up pretty easily. Once I got him 'flustrated,' I had him where I could drive by.

"Through the years, I've talked to him about getting that attitude out of his system and to quit worrying about other people and to worry about his race car. It seems to have worked for both of us, too."

Sprague, who is currently leading the Busch Series points, and Hornaday will now work together on and off the track. Sprague said this opportunity finally answers a question he's always wondered about.

"I think it's a pretty cool deal," Sprague said. "I've always thought it would be pretty cool if Ron and I were teammates. It's very unfortunate that it had to be this way with Ricky getting hurt. I think it will be a lot of fun and it will help the program.

"It's a plus for everyone and I think Ricky will see that when he gets back, too. I kind of figured when he got hurt that the logical choice would be Ron so I wasn't too shocked when they came and told me."

"I don't think you'll see us beating and banging on each other by any stretch of the imagination this time. Heck, we work for the same man now."

For two guys that never seemed to agree on anything, there is one item on which they can come to a quick agreement. Of all their battles, which one was their most memorable?

"I don't have to bring it up, Jack always does," Hornaday said with a laugh. "It was at Indianapolis Raceway Park in 1998 and we were both running good that night.

"The in-car camera showed where his truck got loose in the corner and then tagged me. I know he didn't do it on purpose, but I could have played it out that he did.

"We both got booed for a lot of races."

Sprague echoed the same sentiments of his part-time teammate.

"We would get together one time a year and something bad would happen," Sprague said. "But, the biggest was at IRP in 1998. Lonnie Rush was leading, Ron was running second and I was third.

"We were headed into Turn 3 and I went low to go around Ron and he went low to go around Lonnie. We got together and he ended up in the fence.

"Fans wanted to kill me after that race."