COLUMBUS, Ohio. (Sept. 6, 2004) — Truckers and motor sports enthusiasts waiting for news that European-style heavy-duty truck racing is ready to roll in Canada and the U.S., sit tight but don’t hold your breath.

The Super Truck Racing Association of North America (STRANA) says the rest of the 2004 season will be devoted to further development of the trucks and formation of 2005 racing teams. Next year is now targeted as the first season for the Tonka Racing Series.

A test session took place at the Road Atlanta track in late June, just a few miles from where the race trucks are built, by Élan Motorsports Technologies, in Braselton, Ga. And on-track demonstrations were held at Portland International Raceway, Portland, Ore., in late July in conjunction with an American Le Mans Series race. STRANA will show off the trucks at two other ALMS race weekends this year: Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wis. on Aug. 20-22, and Road Atlanta on Sept. 23-25. Road Atlanta will also host a test day for prospective STRANA teams on October 20.

“As we have done since the beginning, STRANA will take the time to allow our product, and the teams that wish to participate, sufficient time to develop,” said series executive director and former IndyCar driver Brian Till. “We are disappointed not to be racing in 2004 but know that taking one more year for development will ultimately provide a better series of events in 2005.

“Too much time and energy has been put into developing this series not to do it right, and we believe people will respect that in the long run,” he said.

Sponsors and suppliers of the Tonka Super Truck Racing Series and STRANA include Tonka, Haldex, Alcoa, ArvinMeritor, ZF Group NAO, Stack, Spal, Shields, K&N, Fluidyne High Performance, ATL, Racing Radios, TruckSkin, Stand-21, Detroit Locker and Pittsburgh Power.