Back in the 1990s, road course racing was on the Camping World Truck Series schedule. Then it disappeared. Now it’s back with a trip to Canada this weekend for a race at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park.

“The trucks haven’t seen it in a while, and it’s a lot of fun,” Hornaday said. “On the different venue tracks we went to before, now going up to Canada is going to really make it special because we know the fans up there just love racing.  The trucks really put on a great show.  When they run over the ripple strips, how heavy the trucks are, The tires come off the ground, just the sparks off the exhaust.  It’s just exciting to go to a road course.”

He notes that it’ll be different than what it was like before due to the longer straightaways that CTMP is known for.  He says that’s why the full day of testing on Friday will be key.

“When Nelson went up there and did a test, it’s just watching what NASCAR has put out to really learn the lay of the land, but to get up there on an open test day and get to learn the racetrack and where to shift, where not so shift, how far you can drive it in, stuff like that,” he commented. “So there’s a lot to learn at a new venue racetrack.”

Hornaday is one of two drivers in the field that ran on the road courses when they used to be on the schedule and he hopes that experience will be come into play.

“You keep saying that week in and week out when you get to the racetrack, and these kids are proving you wrong because the equipment they’re in,” Hornaday said. “They’re just talented drivers nowadays and they’re in great equipment.  Hopefully it does.  I’m going to try to put everything I’ve got that I know of and try to beat these kids out there.

“The Truck Series has definitely changed a lot.  The days with the Jack Spragues and the Mike Skinners, now you’re racing against a lot of these guys as kids and people you looked up to racing.  Yeah, it’s a little different racing style right now, a little give-and-take and a lot of respect and non-respect.  It’s just a matter of going up there and learning the racetrack and seeing what we can pull out this weekend.”

In anticipation for the event, Hornaday spoke with one of the track owners and road course expert Ron Fellows and learned some things to set himself up for the weekend.

“It’s going to be one of them racetracks where it’s really not hard braking but there’s some technical parts in the back and the long straightaway,” he said. “So it’s all going to be how much do you cover the brakes up and how much do you leave open.  If you cool the brakes down too much you get the chatter in the brakes and stuff like that.”

He also tried out the track through computer online simulation and noted that he will need at least three or four spotters and the first day will be used partly to set them in the right places.

This weekend, NASCAR Camping World Truck Series history will be made as the trucks will head north of the border to race at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park in Bowmanville, Ontario, Canada.

“It’s been a great opportunity,” track co-owner Ron Fellows commented on Wednesday. “The Canadian Tire Motorsports Park is probably the most important international raceway.  It’s a track I grew up not only learning how to race on, but a big part of my life was spent there as a kid watching races, and to be part of the ownership with Carlo Fidani has been a privilege, and it’s been a great learning experience, as well.”

In December 2012, it was announced that Ron Fellows and partners Carlo Fidani and Alan Boughton bought the track formally known as Mosport from it’s previous owners. The track is an important piece of not only Canadian road course history, but North America road racing history. Past events at Mosport include the American LeMans Series as well as famed two-wheeled events. The Canadian Tire Series runs two races on the road course a year.

Fellow stated that comparing then to now, they have made a lot of progress in a short amount of time. That started right when Fellows took over ownership as he began to make changes to the speedway.

The first change they made was adding a new tunnel above turn nine to therefore improve the infrastructure of the track and allow people to be able to get around easier. They took out what Fellows called the “mouse tunnel” and put in a tunnel wide enough for two tractor trailers to fit through side-by-side.

To improve the experience for the fans, they’ve done grading to improve the sight lines, created some new areas for camping, and there’s a road that connects all the facilities together now so fans don’t have to go on to the public road to get from one end to the other.

They’ve also put in a new registration center and new event center, which features a media center, a spot for VIPs, timing and scoring and administration all under one roof.

“Every once in a while I guess you’ve got to stop and smell the coffee,” he says. “But yes, we’ve made a lot of improvements, but I think we’ll all rest a lot easier when we get to Sunday night and hopefully it’s a great weekend, we get great attendance, and I think that’s when we’ll relax.  Yes, we’ve come a long way when you look at the facility, but we want to continue to grow and move forward.

“When you’re sort of in it on a day-to-day basis, I don’t go up to the track day-to-day but certainly on the phone and actively working relative to the track every day.  You literally don’t see it because you’re constantly looking forward and trying to make things better, but at some point we’ll likely look back and say, yeah, that’s pretty cool.  For sure we look at the new events center, it’s close to 30,000 square feet.  It has transformed the place, as has the entranceway, as has the new tunnel, a lot of the grooming of the hills.  My partner Carlo Fidani and his vision has just been a tremendous asset.”

Road course racing is something that has continued to grow in the NASCAR ranks, with road courses added over the years to both the Sprint Cup Series and the Nationwide Series. As a result, there are some series regulars that can run right up there with the “road course ringers”.

“If you look at how things have changed, in the first Cup race I did in I believe it was ’98 in the Caterpillar car for Buzz McCall, you could count on one hand pretty much who you were going to have to race against,” Fellows comments. “Now you look at certainly in the Cup grid, I’ve been in that two-dozen group, and in Cup it’s easily 26, 28 guys capable.  There’s just a lot more emphasis put on the racing in general, whether it’s a road course, a short track, superspeedway, or mile-and-a-half.  It just doesn’t seem to matter.  If you’re good, you’re going to be good at everything.”

Also added to that is the fact that some drivers are trying to get a jump start on the competition whether through racing in another series, or by doing some online racing.

Fellows says that the track itself should be put on a good race as there’s a lot of opportunities to pass with the corners being long and sweeping. He points out that the long Andretti straight up the hill into turn eight and turn three are two of the most opportune corners.

“The Canadian Tire Motorsports Park, like most Grand Prix courses, long, fast corners, more elevation than Watkins Glen, probably just a little bit faster at cornering, but very, very similar,” he says. “Two tracks that were built in a similar era, and that’s probably the closest comparison for sure would be Watkins Glen.”

Whether the event will grow in the future and whether we could see the Nationwide Series joining the trucks isn’t on the radar right now.

“It’s really not our call,” Fellows stated. “To be honest with you, absolutely, we want to continue to grow.  We’re really fortunate to have this opportunity with NASCAR, working with the NASCAR folks has been fantastic, and they have been incredibly helpful to Myles Brandt and our staff.  I can’t say enough good things about what it’s been like dealing with the NASCAR team.

“You know, we just want to do the best job possible this year, and who knows what the future can hold, and that’s really our focus right now.”