Ricky Gonzalez

Richard "Ricky" Gonzalez (born February 3, 1966) is an American professional stock car racing driver who competed in one NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race in 2004 and a number of ARCA Re/Max Series races from 2004 to 2007. He became the first Hispanic-American driver to compete in ARCA.[1]

Not to be confused with Rick Gonzalez.
Ricky Gonzalez
Nationality American
BornRichard Gonzalez
(1966-02-04) February 4, 1966
South Plainfield, New Jersey
ARCA Re/Max Series career
Debut season2004
Former teamsWayne Peterson Racing, Richardson-Netzloff-Harmon Racing, Darrell Basham Racing
Starts12
Wins0
Poles0
Best finish25th in 2005
Finished last season106th (2007)
NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series career
1 race run over 1 year
Best finish98th (2004)
First race2004 UAW/GM Ohio 250 (Mansfield)
Wins Top tens Poles
0 0 0
Last updated on: June 26, 2020.

Racing career

Early career and Truck Series

Gonzalez began getting interested in racing when he watched a race at Flemington Speedway that his father's friend was competing in.[2] Gonzalez started racing motorcross bikes and then moved up the racing ladder, where he next would race go-karts, microstocks, and legends cars. He then competed in the American Race Trucks Series and the now-defunct NASCAR Goody's Dash Series. In order to have enough money to move up the ranks, Gonzalez had to sell his old equipment from the previous series he raced in as well as his own personal motorcycle.[3][2]

Gonzalez reached the Craftsman Truck Series in 2004 and would attempt two races for Troxell Racing in a partnership with Rick Ware Racing.[3] Driving their No. 93 Dodge, he failed to qualify in his first attempt at Martinsville. In the next race at Mansfield, which was his other start, he did qualify for the race and finished 26th, nine laps down.

Gonzalez's next race of the year was scheduled to be in the Busch Series' race at IRP, the Kroger 200, in August. It would have been his debut in that series. He was to drive for a team called Coqui Motorsports. This planned start did not happen, and Gonzalez would never get to make a start in the Busch Series. Also, Coqui was a new team that had never made any Busch starts before, and never would get to after this deal fell through.[4] Gonzalez would not make another start in the Truck Series either, and the rest of his stock car starts came in the ARCA Re/Max Series.

ARCA

He made his ARCA debut at Chicago in Wayne Peterson Racing's No. 06 Chevrolet, and would make one other start in that car in the next race at Salem. He crashed out of both races and would finish 27th and 26th, respectively. With these starts, Gonzalez became the first Hispanic American to start an ARCA race.[1] In 2005, Gonzalez would run full-time and for rookie of the year with the Peterson team split between their various entries (No. 6, No. 16 and No. 06). He was not eligible to run at Daytona, so his first start of the year came in the second race of the season at Nashville, which he did not qualify for along with a staggering twelve other races. The Peterson team was underfunded and had to start and park in a large number of Gonzalez's starts. In the race at Pocono which Gonzalez was going to run the full race in, he was running in the top 10 until he suffered a broken transmission and radiator and did not finish the race.[2] For the final two races of the season, Gonzalez fielded his own team instead. Although he had his own car and equipment, he still used Peterson's car numbers (No. 06 at Salem and No. 16 at Talladega) and owner points. Gonzalez's team partnered with Lafferty Motorsports to field his Talladega entry.[1]

Gonzalez would not make any NASCAR or ARCA starts in 2006, but did return in 2007 in ARCA, when he attempted three races. He first returned to the Peterson team, with a DNQ in the No. 0 at Nashville. The first race in which he did qualify for was at the Milwaukee Mile, where the team got to run the full race in Darrell Basham's No. 94 car thanks to support from Richardson-Netzloff-Harmon Racing (co-owned by driver Mike Harmon, who at the time was competing in ARCA full-time). Although Gonzalez finished eight laps down, he picked up a solid 18th-place finish. He returned to the same car the following race at Gateway, which was without RNH support. Gonzalez failed to qualify the No. 94, but was given a chance to return to the Peterson No. 0 again when team owner-driver Wayne Peterson stepped out of the start and park ride for Gonzalez, who would do the same. This would end up being Gonzalez's last ARCA start.

Personal life

Gonzalez is of Puerto Rican descent and was a member of NASCAR's Diversity Council when he was competing in the sport.[4] After being born in Aguada, Puerto Rico,[2] he moved to South Plainfield, New Jersey. In his Truck Series debut in 2004 at Martinsville, Gonzalez was sponsored by two local businesses, one of which was located in his hometown of South Plainfield and the other one was in Manville, New Jersey.[3] When he ran full-time in ARCA in 2005, he moved from New Jersey to Mooresville, North Carolina (near where most NASCAR teams are based) with the hopes of getting a ride in the NASCAR Busch or Truck Series again, which did not end up happening.[2]

Motorsports career results

NASCAR

(key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

Craftsman Truck Series
NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series results
Year Team No. Make 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 NCTC Pts Ref
2004 Troxell Racing 93 Dodge DAY ATL MAR
DNQ		 MFD
26		 CLT DOV TEX MEM MLW KAN KEN GTW MCH IRP NSH BRI RCH NHA LVS CAL TEX MAR PHO DAR HOM 98th 85 [5]

ARCA Re/Max Series

(key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

ARCA Re/Max Series results
Year Team No. Make 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 ARMC Pts Ref
2004 Wayne Peterson Racing 06 Chevy DAY NSH SLM KEN TOL CLT KAN POC MCH SBO BLN KEN GTW POC LER NSH ISF TOL DSF CHI
27		 SLM
26		 TAL 114th 195 [6]
2005 6 DAY NSH
DNQ		 SLM
32		 KEN
DNQ		 TOL
DNQ		 LAN
DNQ		 MCH
DNQ		 KAN 25th 1885 [7]
16 MIL
34		 POC
20		 DSF
38
06 KEN
DNQ		 BLN
DNQ		 POC
31		 GTW
35		 LER
DNQ		 NSH
38		 MCH
DNQ		 ISF
33		 TOL
DNQ		 CHI
DNQ
Ricky Gonzalez 06 Chevy SLM
DNQ
16 TAL
DNQ
2007 Wayne Peterson Racing 0 Chevy DAY USA NSH SLM KAN WIN KEN TOL IOW POC MCH BLN KEN POC NSH
DNQ		 ISF GTW
38		 106th 205 [8]
Richardson-Netzloff-Harmon Racing 94 Chevy MIL
18
Darrell Basham Racing 94 Chevy GTW
DNQ		 DSF CHI SLM TAL TOL
gollark: Also, isn't `Vec` in scope anyway?
gollark: https://doc.rust-lang.org/std/option/enum.Option.html and also pattern matching mostly.
gollark: Options are just monoids in the category of endofunctors.
gollark: mildly nicer.
gollark: This would be mk

References
  1. "Ricky Gonzalez to debut at Talladega". Motorsport.com. September 27, 2005. Retrieved June 26, 2020.
  2. Martorano, Dion (June 26, 2005). "Going in Circles with Ricky Gonzalez". TheInsideGroove. WordPress. Retrieved July 6, 2020.
  3. Tyler, Marty (March 26, 2004). "Big Boost For NASCAR Diversity: Ricky Gonzalez to Run Craftsman Truck Event At Martinsville". Cision PRWeb. Vocus PRW Holdings. Retrieved July 6, 2020.
  4. "AutoEval Sponsors Ricky Gonzalez, NASCAR Driver". Cision PRWeb. Vocus PRW Holdings. August 5, 2004. Retrieved June 26, 2020.
  5. "Ricky Gonzalez – 2004 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved June 26, 2020.
  6. "Ricky Gonzalez – 2004 ARCA Re/Max Series Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved June 26, 2020.
  7. "Ricky Gonzalez – 2005 ARCA Re/Max Series Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved July 5, 2020.
  8. "Ricky Gonzalez – 2007 ARCA Re/Max Series Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved July 5, 2020.
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