Gary Collins (born January 24, 1960) is an American stock car racing driver. Now retired, he competed primarily in the NASCAR Winston West Series, however he also ran selected races in the NASCAR Winston Cup Series and NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, and was among the drivers selected to compete in the first NASCAR exhibition race held in Australia in 1988.

Racing career The son of Marion Collins, owner of Mesa Marin Raceway, Collins ran a total of four NASCAR Winston Cup Series races in his career; all four were combination races with the Winston West Series. His Winston Cup Series debut came at Phoenix International Raceway in the 1988 Checker 500, where he started 39th and finished 33rd in a family-owned Oldsmobile. He would run two more races at Phoenix, in 1990 and 1991, posting a best finish of 33rd in the 1990 event; his final Winston Cup start came at Sears Point International Raceway in the 1994 Save Mart Supermarkets 300, where he finished fortieth while driving a Ford for Venable Racing.

Collins was one of the drivers selected to compete in the Goodyear NASCAR 500, the first exhibition race held by NASCAR in Australia; he set the tenth fastest time in qualifying, and finished nineteenth in the event, crashing out on lap eighty.

During the winter of 1993, Collins and his family-owned race team constructed the first-ever prototype NASCAR SuperTruck Series presented by Craftsman chassis, demonstrating that the concept, developed by Collins in conjunction with off-road racing veterans Scoop Vessels and Jim Venable, was feasible. He was one of the drivers selected to compete in the four preliminary events that established the viability of the SuperTruck Series; in the second, held at Saugus Speedway, he was flagged the winner of the event, when the race was shortened five laps before its scheduled finish due to rain. In 1995, Collins also ran four of the first six SuperTruck Series events in a family-owned No. 74 Chevrolet, posting a best finish of tenth in his final race in the series at Evergreen Speedway.

In NASCAR's lower-level series, in the Winston West Series, Collins won two races of 43 he competed in between 1988 and 2001; his wins came at Mesa Marin Raceway in 1994, driving for Venable, and at Tucson Speedway in 1997 while running for his family team. his best points finish in the series came in 1995, when he finished fifteenth in the final standings, having competed in seven of fifteen events. Collins also ran a limited number of Featherlite Southwest Tour events, running eighteen races between 1987 and 1997, with a best finish of third at Mesa Marin in 1989.

Following his racing career, Collins joined NTS Motorsports, becoming director of competition for the team's efforts in the SRL Southwest Tour, the successor to the Featherlite Southwest Tour.

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.)

Winston Cup Series NASCAR Winston Cup 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 26 27 28 29 30 31 Pts Ref 1988 Collins Motorsports 24 Olds DAY RCH CAR ATL DAR BRI NWS MAR TAL CLT DOV RSD POC MCH DAY POC TAL GLN MCH BRI DAR RCH DOV MAR CLT NWS CAR PHO33 ATL 80th 64 1990 Collins Motorsports 29 Olds DAY RCH CAR ATL DAR BRI NWS MAR TAL CLT DOV SON POC MCH DAY POC TAL GLN MCH BRI DAR RCH DOV MAR NWS CLT CAR PHO33 ATL 91st 64 1991 DAY RCH CAR ATL DAR BRI NWS MAR TAL CLT DOV SON POC MCH DAY POC TAL GLN MCH BRI DAR RCH DOV MAR NWS CLT CAR PHO42 ATL 91st 37 1994 Venable Racing 20 Ford DAY CAR RCH ATL DAR BRI NWS MAR TAL SON40 CLT DOV POC MCH DAY NHA POC TAL IND GLN MCH BRI DAR RCH DOV MAR NWS CLT CAR PHO ATL 79th 43

SuperTruck Series NASCAR SuperTruck 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 Pts Ref 1995 Collins Motorsports 74 Chevy PHO20 TUS21 SGS MMR20 POR EVG10 I70 LVL BRI MLW CNS HPT IRP FLM RCH MAR NWS SON MMR PHO 42nd 440

References

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