[hewittca]

I did a quick search and was surprised to not see any topics about this series. This morning, I stumbled upon an article posted on a NASCAR forum about the 1983 National Pickup Truck Racing Association (NPTRA). Apparently it was started by Buck Baker and they ran about 10 races in 1983 with the intention of selling the series to NASCAR at the end of the season. NASCAR did not pick up the series, however, and instead Rob Moroso purchased it and rebranded it as the ALL-PRO Pickup Truck Series which ran a short lived stint in '84. It wasn't until the early 90's that NASCAR revisited the idea of developing a national truck series, and by '94 they ran a few exhibition races with the Super Truck Series. 1995 was their first full season and is currently still running as the 3rd ranked national touring series for NASCAR.

I still remember as a kid hearing about the development of the NASCAR Super Truck series and was so psyched about it. I even remember going to Riverhead Raceway in the early 90's and someone ran a few exhibition laps in a truck very similar to the NPTRA trucks and I thought it was the most amazing thing ever, so I was surprised to find this article and see that they actually did try out this concept quite a few years earlier. For those of you that didn't already know about this, enjoy a blast from the past!