BILL "STUMP" LEWIS Atlanta 2002

Bill "Stump" Lewis, transport driver for the No. 77 Jasper Engines Taurus, won the final segment and overall championship in the International Truck Challenge, which was held earlier this morning at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

The championship was the third straight in as many weeks for drivers connected with Jasper Motorsports. Jeff Fultz won the NASCAR All-Pro Series title last weekend and Boris Said won the Trans-Am Series crown two weeks ago.

BILL "STUMP" LEWIS, Transport Driver --77-- Jasper Engines Taurus

THIS IS PRETTY BIG IN YOUR FRATERNITY ISN'T IT?

"This is a pretty big deal for all of us truck drivers. I had a 10-point lead going into today, but they did this course a little bit differently in that they factored in speed. The only way you could get a perfect score was to do everything right within 110 seconds, but even the people who laid out the course couldn't get the truck around in less than 120 seconds and hit all the right points. I made it through and only messed up in one area, but I did it in 116 seconds and that was good enough to win. It was real fast. In fact, they said I had the rear axle and the trailer off the ground when I threw it into one turn, but it was fun. The best thing about this is that it gives you bragging rights for a year and I've got 'em."

YOU KEPT THE JASPER WINNING STREAK GOING FOLLOWING FULTZ AND SAID.

"Yeah, I'm the third and hopefully we can get Dave in the winner's circle here tomorrow."

WHERE DID YOU LEARN TO DRIVE THESE TRUCKS?

"I started driving tractor-trailers when I was 14-15 years old. Me and my father worked for a construction company in Cambridge, Maryland and had dump trucks and all kinds of stuff. My father was a foreman there and I got to mess around with the trucks all the time. There was this big field along side where we worked and he said, 'If you want to learn how to drive a tractor-trailer, just go out there and practice. When you can learn how to back it up, you can drive a truck.' And I've been driving them ever since."