Northwest Florida Compact Truck Division for 2010

The Compact Truck Division, started this season at Northwest Florida Speedway in Blackman Florida, will be looking to advance and grow during the off season.  With several trucks in work already, and some already making it to the track during the 2009 race season, the time is here to begin looking towards the 2010 season with a full up division.

“It has promise as a great class” comments Bob Smith of PanhandleRacing.com, who is spearheading the effort to get the Compact Truck class going and established. “We’ve got the groundwork laid; now it’s time to get the trucks put together.”

A new website is up and running at www.panhandleracing.com/ct for the Compact Trucks. It will include all the information possible and available at the moment to include drivers, tracks running the trucks, a forum (still in work) for the truck class, rules, points information and much more as it grows.

The rules are rather simple with a lot of room to make the trucks look great. These are compact pickup trucks, typically Ford Ranger, Chevy S-10 and Dodge Dakota’s. The class is limited to a maximum of a 4.3L V-6 engine. Engines are mostly factory stock.

With these rules the class should be a less expensive rear wheel drive division with the look and feel of the pickups we all love. Maybe the compact truck aspect could even reflect on the reduction in size of our average on the road vehicles in response to spiraling fuel costs.

The division is a regular class at Northwest Florida Speedway, where Track Promoter Devin Jones was the first to take the class seriously and add them to the list of regular classes. Track Owner Billy Hoover at Southern Raceway in Milton Florida has also expressed interest in bringing the trucks in to run during 2010.

2009 was a very light year for the trucks. Many people were, and may still be, skeptical about investing the time and money into a new class. That is completely understandable, and wanting to see the class racing first makes a lot of sense to a lot of people. The inherent problem with that is that while everyone waits to see nobody builds. When nobody builds any then there are none to see racing.  It’s a vicious circle at best.

These trucks are abundant, and often available for just a few hundred dollars. With good promotion, a lot of information, and the commitment of drivers and tracks for 2010, the class is anticipated to roll with a good field of trucks.

On the table for the drivers is a separate point fund that should pay back every driver, who opts to buy into that fund, at the season’s end.  This will be in addition to any points or point funds by any track, it’s strictly a within the division benefit.

Sponsors are also being sought for the Compact Truck Division to boost payouts and increase the point fund while providing those who partner with the trucks a unique avenue of promotion. Anyone that may be interested in coming on board as a support of the Northwest Florida Compact Trucks may contact Bob Smith by email.

There will be a meeting coming up soon for those interested in the truck class. The date and location of the meeting is still being worked on and will be posted on the truck website and other places as soon as it is finalized.