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Hornaday Has Plans To Honor Dad At Daytona

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By MARTIN FENNELLY

mfennelly@tampatrib.com

Published: February 12, 2009

DAYTONA BEACH - There are laws against scattering someone's ashes any old place you want. That goes for Daytona International Speedway. So everybody turn their head: Ron Hornaday Jr. owes his dad.

"He never got an opportunity to go to Daytona," Hornaday said a few weeks ago. "I've got a little bit of his ashes that I'm going to spread in the lake, so don't be watching me, because I don't think it's legal."

Ron Hornaday Jr., 50, drives trucks. He's very good at it, having won three championships in NASCAR's national truck division and nearly a fourth last season.

"I'm not one to lay back," Hornaday said. "I don't care if it's a half-mile race or a 500-mile race, I'm going. I'm a hard charger."

So was his dad.

"He taught me to work on everything I ever knew," Hornaday said. "Taught me my first 9/16th wrench, taught me how to work hard."

Ron Hornaday Sr. was 77 when he died just before last Christmas.

"He had been sick for a year, and he never told anybody," Ron Jr. said. "It was cancer, but they really didn't know where it was. We lost my mom the year we lost Dale Earnhardt.

"My dad kept everything inside. He just felt he needed to be up there with her. Not until the last month did I know about it. I was there for his last breath."

Ron Hornaday Sr. was born in California. He was a good racer on NASCAR's Pacific Coast stock-car circuit, winning two championships, but he didn't make a real living from it. He dreamed of running at Daytona.

"He did Ontario, Riverside when the big boys come out from the East, but never really more than that," Ron Jr. said. "He was busy putting food on the table for his kids."

Ron Sr. was a Ford parts and service manager for more than 40 years. He raised six children with his wife Helen. Every time Ron Jr. looked in the garage at the house there was a race car in it.

"I got my dad's toolbox when he passed away ... And I'm building a '66 El Camino with the tools my father left me. It's a good remembrance of what he's done for me."

He raced his dad once, decades ago at their home track in Saugus, Calif.

"A father-and-son type deal," Hornaday said. "He ended up beating me. It was a lot of fun. No one let up. He just had a better car."

The 2009 truck season begins Friday night with 250 miles at Daytona. Ron Hornaday Jr. has never won at Daytona.

"I don't care if it's on a bicycle. I'm not going to quit until I win here."

Ron Sr. had paid off his house, his taxes, paid off everything. He was ready.

"He's in a better place," the son said. "He'll be there with my mom and Dale Earnhardt and they're going to all go racing together."

The son came to Daytona to win. He had this other idea, too.

"It's very illegal to do that," Ron Jr. said with a smile.

Wink. Nod.

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