The winds of change are blowing in the racing world...and they're none too kind for Mopar lovers who follow NASCAR's Craftsman Truck Series

For one thing, Sears has already let NASCAR know that they won't be renewing Craftsman Tools' title-sponsorship deal, which the series has come to be known by. Mention "Craftsman Trucks," and what comes to mind?  As of this writing, there hasn't been any word on who'll replace Craftsman Tools as the series title sponsor.

A couple of weeks ago, Ma Mopar said it was pulling out of the Truck Series after this season. They've only been sponsoring one team this year--Bobby Hamilton Racing-Virginia, which ran two trucks up until the end of August, then parked one of 'em--but the flow of factory money and tech support to Truck racers ends as the end of the '08 season.

If you do see Dodges running in that series next year, they'll be run by "independents" who are scraping up every last dollar and available part to run as many races as they can.

It's sort of what happened after the factory money for Dodges and Plymouths in NASCAR's Winston Cup Series dried up back in the '70s. Back then,  the big-bucks STP sponsor deal--and a rule change that let the '74 Charger run for another year--kept Richard Petty in the title chase, once the ChryCo support (money and parts)  went away.