All dogs go to heaven, but not all retired workhorses see green pastures. I’ve stumbled on far too many semi-trucks parked for good and left to rot, even though they looked to be in great shape when the driver hung up the keys. Fortunately, that hasn’t happened with 1997 Brickyard 400 winner Ricky Rudd’s iconic Tide-liveried NASCAR hauler. It’s been in the care of Earl Brooks for more than two decades, and after locating it on Google Maps following years of searching, I got the chance to sit down and talk with Mr. Brooks. As you’re about to see, he has some great memories with this old Ford.

“This story of how I acquired the Tide truck starts with my mentor in the trucking industry, Mr. G.C. Fleig, president of Fleig Leasing, Inc,” Brooks told me. “Mr. Fleig was a longtime supporter of NASCAR, and one of the original supporters of Mark Martin and Jeff Gordon. He was also close friends with Bill Davis Racing.

“Mr. Fleig introduced me to Buddy Stafford, owner of Piedmont Ford Trucks of Greensboro, North Carolina. Mr. Stafford was known to have flown many people to the races on his private plane. It was in knowing these two exceptional businessmen that my opportunity arose to buy the NASCAR transport trucks after they were turned in by the teams to get new ones.”

Already, you can tell that Brooks had quite the arrangement. He explained that he was visiting the Piedmont Ford service shop when he was approached by “a professional-looking gentleman” who turned out to be the truck’s former driver. When he learned that Brooks had purchased the rig, affectionately dubbed the “Tide Ride,” he instructed him to have the truck fully checked out.

When Brooks asked what the problem was, the man replied with something along the lines of, “No problem, but the cruise control was set at 120 mph because we’d all race each other to the next track.” He followed that up with a tale about being pulled over by an Arkansas state trooper, who clocked him at 103 mph after he’d slowed down some. When Brooks asked what that cost him, he responded: “Every souvenir I had in the truck.” Good ol’ boys, indeed.

The Tide Ride lives in Roxboro, North Carolina, and has for quite some time. Brooks owned a small trucking business and farmed tobacco when he purchased the Blue Oval, so it was used alongside his others to transport harvested crop to the market in Danville, Virginia. He told me that these race trucks helped his drivers take pride in their work, and because of that, they were more satisfied at the end of every long haul.

The truck itself is a 1993 Ford Aeromax with an N14 Cummins engine, a 13-speed transmission, and 706,733 miles on the clock. A company named Spevco out of Pfafftown, North Carolina, applied the paint—seven layers, not counting the clear coat—and it’s still holding up magnificently after years of sunlight, rain, and everything in between. Brooks notes that only a small portion of the clear coat shows any wear, adding that it was finished “before there was such a thing as wraps.”

If all this has you excited, Brooks asked me to mention that he’d potentially sell the Tide Ride—but only if you’re going to treat it well. He already turned down one offer from a fellow trucker who planned to use it for hauling logs. “I could not stand to sell it for that,” Brooks lamented. “If there is someone who wants to preserve NASCAR history, I would entertain an offer for the truck.”

Too bad I already have a classic Ford to keep me busy. Otherwise, this thing might be headed to the Ozarks to live with me.

Got a tip or question for the author? Contact them directly: caleb@thedrive.com. Or, if you’d like to make an offer on the Tide Ride, please reach out to Mr. Earl Brooks: piedmonthemp@gmail.com

In addition to the usual challenge of actually winning the Indy 500, for 2025 drivers and teams must now contend with a new and potentially decisive factor for this year’s edition of the Greatest Spectacle In Racing: the hybrid unit has its formal premiere at the 2.5 mile oval of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

IndyCar introduced its new hybrid drivetrain on July 2024 at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. Since then, it has raced on every type of racetrack, except a superspeedway. This is changing at the Indy 500, where competitors are trying to tame the hybrid unit and understand its effect on qualifying trim and, more importantly, the race on May 25.

While teams have been able to test the hybrid at IMS since last year, and everyone ran it during April’s Open Test, the formal practice for the Indianapolis 500 marks the point at which everything must work perfectly, as the most important race on IndyCar’s schedule approaches.

Added weight

For Josef Newgarden, the two -time reigning Indy 500 champion who strives for the three-peat driving Team Penske Chevrolet #2 car, the most important thing is not what the hybrid itself does, but the added mass to the cars.

“The big reason it’s driving differently is not necessarily the hybrid interacting with the car. It is the weight of the hybrid. That’s where you are getting all the comments”, Newgarden said on Wednesday after practice.

Newgarden commented on how the extra weight of the hybrid system challenges the tires, and forces teams to adjust the weight distribution. This is one of the main issues everyone is trying to solve before the green flag.

Josef Newgarden, Team Penske

Photo by: Penske Entertainment

“Why is the car different? It is just the weight is up. You’re 100, 110 pounds heavier. That’s a lot of mass percentage-wise that you are adding to this car. It’s saturating the tires more. It’s just moving around. The CG changes a little bit. It raises slightly. Your weight distribution is shifted depending on where teams are putting it. That’s what people are trying to figure out right now.”

“You add 100 pounds to this thing, it’s almost like adding 200, 250 pounds to a stock car. If you said, Hey, guys, we’re going to bolt 250 pounds to these stock cars, see what you think, I bet they would all go, Okay, this drives differently, and now we have to counteract it.”

Hybrids will be more important at Indy than any other race

IndyCar has already used the hybrid on road and street courses, as well as on different kinds of ovals at Iowa Speedway, WWT Raceway, and the Milwaukee Mile last year. However, according to Newgarden, the impact it will have on racing will be unlike anything seen at other facilities.

“The hybrid itself and the utilization, I have said this. I do think it’s very important here. It’s more important at this track than anywhere we’ve gone because of the drag level. We’ve not run in a superspeedway configuration yet with this hybrid, so it’s very, very low drag on the cars. Because of that, they’re very power-sensitive.”

“Any time you use something to add power, you feel the magnification of it here more than anywhere else. When you are using the hybrid on the straightaway, it makes a very big difference.”

When to deploy and when to regen

Indycar Hybrid decal

Photo by: Penske Entertainment

The way drivers deploy and regenerate the hybrid during the Indianapolis 500 could also impact the outcome, especially if the race ends in a close finish, as has been seen many times before.

“Where are you are regenerating it and where you are using it, to either pass or defend or for whatever situation, I think there’s repercussions for burning it, and there’s certainly reward for utilizing it correctly,” Newgarden concluded.

Who will master the hybrid for the first time in the Indy 500? The answer will come in less than ten days.

Photos from Indianapolis 500 – Practice 4

We have ourselves an abbreviated odds board this week. We’re actually lopping off nearly a third of the usual field of entries.

By Ericka Gillespie

Fort Gregg-Adams Public Affairs

FORT GREGG-ADAMS, Va. — NASCAR driver Justin Allgaier rolled into the installation on Wednesday to unveil a new patriotic paint scheme on his No. 7 Hellmann’s Chevrolet — this time with a special twist.

The event, held at Fort Gregg-Adams Commissary and hosted by DeCA supplier Unilever, featured a life-size racing car simulator wrapped in the new livery. The scheme proudly sported the Defense Commissary Agency logo, which will also appear on Allgaier’s car during the May 24 race at Charlotte Motor Speedway — just ahead of Memorial Day weekend.

“This partnership with DeCA and Unilever means a lot, especially going into Memorial Day,” Allgaier said. “It’s a way for us to honor the military community and thank them for their service and sacrifice.”

Families and fans gathered for a festive afternoon that included face painting, a balloon animal artist, live DJ music, prize giveaways, and a food station offering free deli sandwiches, chips and drinks.

Allgaier, a veteran driver with more than a dozen career wins in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, will carry the DeCA logo into competition at Charlotte Motor Speedway, where patriotic paint schemes are a Memorial Day tradition.

“This is more than just a paint scheme,” Allgaier said. “It’s about recognizing the men and women who serve — and making sure they know they’re appreciated both on and off the track.”

Image: https://www.abnewswire.com/upload/2025/05/4264d59a86bbb94cf10ba5ef66867f46.jpg

SSR Motorsports has taken on the role of distributor for QJMotor products in the U.S. Zhejiang Qianjiang Motorcycle Co., Ltd. (QJMotor) [https://global.qjmotor.com/], the parent company of Benelli Motorcycles, is a global leader in motorcycle design, engineering and manufacturing that produces a comprehensive line of street models. QJ models, which have been available in the U.S. since the spring, complement SSR’s popular line of on-road motorcycles, off-road motorcycles and side-by-sides.

“QJMotor has models that are right for the U.S. market and hit some key price points and model segments,” said Greg Blackwell, SSR’s vice president of sales and marketing.

The initial QJ lineup features 11 models, from the SRF135 street mini to the mighty SRT750X adventure bike.

Image: https://www.abnewswire.com/upload/2025/05/db53d7b728e94ce9731c5a4749c11556.jpg

QJMotor SRF 135

“Dealers are signing up with SSR to sell QJ because we can supply dealer demand; we have the inventory ready to ship,” Blackwell said. “We’ll also help the dealers promote QJ in their own market. QJ models look great and perform even better.”

SSR is adding new QJ dealerships each week as the network – and product offerings – grow.

Along with its well-known off-road and on-road models, SSR is embracing QJ’s international marketing strategy by focusing on the QJMOTOR brand while still selling Benelli models, with special pricing available.

Image: https://www.abnewswire.com/upload/2025/05/895de2be91f2ad4c50b12e2f7b340747.jpg

QJMotor [https://global.qjmotor.com/] SRT 750X

True to the SSR way, current Benelli riders can count on the company for any necessary warranty work, and SSR continues to stock replacement parts through its national network of SSR dealers.

Media Contact
Company Name: QJMOTOR
Email:Send Email [https://www.abnewswire.com/email_contact_us.php?pr=ssr-motorsports-chosen-as-us-distributor-for-qjmotor]
Address:No. 169 Jimping Rd. Wenling
City: Taizhou city
State: Zhejiang
Country: China
Website: https://global.qjmotor.com/

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