The track record for all the stock tracks can be found on this page. There is also recommended garage settings too.
http://mtm2.com/~tracks/settings.cgi?stock=all
Mostly, it just takes practice.
And, by the way, the bearfoot truck usually means the other players are using a custom truck - that you don't have in your game, if you do have it, then you'd see that instead. Bearfoot is just the truck you see when you don't have the custom truck. Sort of like a default truck.
As for coming in last, don't worry about it. I do it all the time