2008 NASCAR Truck Champion Johnny Benson Jr. Finds More Time to Compete with the ISMA Supers in 2009 Beginning at Waterford
Oswego, NY – Last year Johnny Benson Jr. was extremely busy most race weekends as he pursued a NASCAR Craftsman (now Camping World) Truck championship. But, he did manage to eke out some time to compete in the winged supermodifieds, which are his second love. This year he has announced that he’ll be hitting the ISMA trail on eight occasions due to less schedule conflicts between the two series. His first appearance in his new 21 will be at Waterford Speedbowl Saturday, May 23rd.
While the two divisions he will compete in are like night and day, Benson’s affinity to the powerful supermodifieds comes naturally. Benson’s father is a former supermodified champion and was the winner of the 1966 Classic at Oswego Speedway. Prior to his limited number of runs in the Lichty car in the past few seasons, Benson had no prior open wheel experience, but he indicated in a past interview that he loves racing in the ISMA supermodified division.
“It’s a lot of fun racing with the ISMA guys,” says Benson. “There’s no mirrors and no spotters, and its good, clean racing. Each car is unique and there aren’t a lot of rules for the cars compared to what I’m running in weekly now, so it’s a lot of fun. I’ve never driven an open wheel car before this and now I’ve spent enough time in one of these cars to say I had to put my own car together.”
Benson’s own car was debuted at Berlin Raceway which one might call his “stomping grounds” last September. It carries the number 21, which his father’s car carried back decades ago. While Johnny had a limited feature run due to new car “bugs”, the car looked to be a potential winner right out of the box.
Benson’s career accomplishments include winning the 1993 American Speed Association championship, the 1995 NASCAR Nationwide Series championship, and the 1996 NASCAR Nextel Cup Series Rookie of the Year title. Benson has one career Nextel Cup Series victory, coming in the 2002 fall race at Rockingham. Benson nearly won the 2000 Daytona 500, losing the lead to eventual winner Dale Jarrett on lap-196 of 200. Benson is one of 17 different drivers to have won a race in the Nextel Cup Series, the Nationwide Series, and the NASCAR Truck Series.
Heading into the newly named 2009 Camping World Truck Series competition, Benson is currently 5th in points as he heads into Charlotte. He’s driving the Red Horse Racing number 1 truck with crew chief Trip Bruce.
While Benson is already on race number 5 of the 25-race Camping World series, he’s also looking forward to the ISMA opener on Waterford and the seven other shows he plans on making in 2009. And, you can bet he’ll be looking to be a winner in this division too!
Sources: Carol Haynes/ISMA PR