Throwback Hornaday wins record fourth Truck title

AVONDALE, Ariz. -- It was less than an hour before the start of the Lucas Oil 150 at Phoenix International Raceway, and Jimmie Johnson finally was asked a few questions about winning a fourth NASCAR championship that did not pertain to himself.

Years ago, when Johnson was just starting out in NASCAR, it was Ron Hornaday who invited the young racer into his home and provided Johnson with a couch on which to sleep. That story is a familiar one and has been told many times, but it's worth telling again and again.

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Race winner Kevin Harvick celebrates with Truck champ Ron Hornaday at Phoenix.

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Who knew then that either tenant or landlord would capture four championships?

Johnson gets the lion's share of the publicity these days as he hunts down his own fourth Cup Series trophy, but Hornaday beat him to the four-title punch Friday night by clinching the 2009 Camping World Truck Series championship at PIR. He also won Truck titles in 1996, 1998 and 2007, respectively.

That puts Hornaday in rarified NASCAR air. Johnson likely will join the exclusive four-championship club soon enough -- although with only a 73-point lead over Mark Martin and two Cup races still remaining, it's not a complete lock.

But at least until Johnson's fourth becomes official, Hornaday joins an elite group of NASCAR royalty who own four titles or more. Only Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt, with seven each, have won more. Only Jeff Gordon has won as many in one of NASCAR's three national touring series.

"I'm just happy for him," Johnson said prior to Hornaday's clinching party Friday, shortly after qualifying third for this Sunday's Cup race. "I saw him earlier and asked him if he was having fun. He looked at me with a crazy look and said, 'I always have fun.'

"Well, that is true."

Home, sweet, home

Johnson, of course, is not the only member of the racing fraternity to have benefited from Hornaday's generosity. While he can appear gruff at times on the outside, Hornaday is all heart on the inside.

His past two championships have come while driving for owner Kevin Harvick, another former couch dweller at the Hornaday home. In fact, there was a time when Johnson slept on one couch there and Harvick on another.

"When I was on a couch, Harvick's [sleeping] bag was over on the couch next to the one I was staying on," Johnson said. "We'd pass each other [going to and] from race weekends and stuff like that. So to have that opportunity to give back to Ron is pretty special for him, too."

Friday was special because not only did Hornaday clinch his championship, but also because his boss, Harvick, won the race. They did a duel burnout on the PIR frontstretch to celebrate -- or at least to start the celebration. For Hornaday, even though both he and DeLana Harvick (Kevin's wife and co-owner of Hornaday's No. 33 Chevrolet) were battling a touch of the flu Friday, the party is likely to stretch all the way to next weekend's suddenly anticlimactic season finale at Homestead.

"We can race a little different down there now. We can just have some fun," Hornaday said.

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Of course, as Johnson pointed out, Hornaday always does.

It was only second time in the history of the Truck Series that the title has been clinched prior to the season finale. And in doing so, Hornaday also became the oldest touring series champion in NASCAR history at what was described to him by a spokesman as 51 years, 4 months and 21 days.

To which Hornaday asked: "Geez, do you have the hours, too?"

Built for the Trucks

Hornaday has tried competing at NASCAR's higher touring series. He ran the last of his 45 Sprint Cup races in 2003, and has only occasionally run in the Nationwide Series in recent years (although he owns four Nationwide wins and 64 top-10 finishes).

The Truck Series always has seemed the best fit for Hornaday, a blue-collar guy who admits an affinity for cold beer and a weakness for taking in racers down on their luck or simply holding on while they hope for a big break.

You never know what the future may hold for any of them.

Who knew back in the day when Johnson and Harvick were sleeping over that any of them, Hornaday included, would soar to the heights that they have on NASCAR's tracks? Who knew Hornaday would go on to win a record 45 Truck races (no one else has won more than 27) despite chasing bigger (or so he thought initially) but not necessarily better dreams in Nationwide and Cup from 2000 through 2005, when he returned to the Truck Series and began driving for the Harvicks.

"His home as we all know, has been open to drivers, crew members, everyone alike," Johnson said. "They've supported a lot of young people coming back to North Carolina. On top of the appeal he has because of being such a hard-nosed driver, he has a big heart, he and [wife] Lindy both."

Harvick added Friday: "What you see is what you get with Ron and Lindy. It's just one big, great family and if you want to be a part of it, come on over."

It is the heart -- and all that goes along with it -- that will be Hornaday's greatest legacy when he finally quits racing, which doesn't appear to be on the horizon anytime soon.

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"I think if you look at just the Truck Series alone, he'll go down in history as probably the best, the greatest ever," Johnson said. "When you look at what he has done in the sport in general, from Winston West racing and the late models on the West Coast all the way through Truck, Cup and Nationwide, he has done it all and was very competitive in all of those series.

"I think his legacy is going to be better defined as time goes on, but he's going to be known for more than just what he has done in the Truck Series. I see guys today that talk about late models that he built for them. ... There are so many people that you affect and touch and work with over time, that I think Ron will be known as the greatest ever. I think the best ever in a truck, but he has done so much more. I think people that are close to him respect him more for the man he is than just what he has accomplished in a car."

Or a truck.

The couches have been more important. Someone asked Hornaday about them Friday night, and he broke into a grin.

"I have to tell you the truth about the couches. They only slept there because they couldn't make it upstairs," Hornaday said.

Well, warm one up again then, because Hornaday said he planned to head home Saturday to visit his ailing mother-in-law, who just survived major surgery, and no doubt some major celebrating was to be on tap. This is a guy who knows how to celebrate life as much or more than all the race wins and championships, though he has gotten pretty good at all of the above through the years.

The opinions expressed are solely those of the writer.