Femmefan Goes Racing! A Chat with Rick Crawford

First in a Series of Exclusive Femmefan Interviews with NASCAR CTS Drivers

By Valerie J. Wood

The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series (CTS) could well be the best professional racing in the USA today. The politics and mega-money of the Cup Series has not yet made its way into the Craftsman Truck Series and, while there are a few cherry pickers (most noticeably the Roush drivers), there is not nearly the overwhelming infiltration of Buschwhackers as seen in the NASCAR Busch Series. If you like hard-edged, serious and down-to-earth racing, don’t miss seeing hype and pretension, and want to see some all out, go-for-broke old-fashioned racing action on the track, look no farther than the next CTS race.

Recently, we caught up with Rick Crawford at Dover International Speedway, known as the “Monster Mile” to race fans. We chatted a bit with Rick and talked about his season and how things are going to date. Femmefan profiled Rick last season, midway thru the year, and this charismatic and intense racer is as determined as ever to lead his team to the front.

A hot, humid and sweltering day, with thunderstorms in the area, met us in the truck infield at Dover the day before qualifying. With typical Southern hospitality, Rick invited us into the air-conditioned sanctity of the team’s hauler for a cool drink of PowerAde and an update on the season thus far. There was only the briefest of interruptions one time, when his cell phone (playingSweet HomeAlabamaof course—what else for this Mobile native?) quietly rang.

Now in his 15 th year in partnership with Circle Bar Racing, Crawford and crew chief Kevin “Cowboy” Starland know well the value of having a good, solid crew working on the truck both behind the wall and pitting the truck. Rick is particularly pleased about the blend of talented personnel that Circle Bar has brought together for the team, and how well the combination has started meshing together. Add that to the highly-regarded savvy of crew chief Starland and the indisputable racing ability and skill of Rick Crawford, and you get a strong, race-to-race contender for the remaining 2/3 of the season.

On this Dover weekend, the #14 truck was strong and swift from the time it was rolled off the hauler, and Rick had it in the top 10 in practice speeds throughout the day. The Circle Bar Truck Corral Ford F-150 qualified to a 4 th place starting position for the AAA Insurance 200 race. Crawford piloted the #14 truck to an 8 th place finish—a most respectable day, indeed for the team, which was fighting to get back into the Top 10 in Points for the series.

Crawford credits the team’s strong start and success this year largely to being prepared and racing smart. He knows the power and strength of positivity and is ever wary of ever taking an overconfident attitude. He knows how racing goes, with its ups and downs, no matter how you prepare sometimes.

Preparation – in racing and in life – is important to Crawford. He speaks with a father’s natural pride about his son, Adam, who is learning to build and race late-modelcars, driving at Rick’s home track in Mobile. Adam is the 4 th generation of Crawford men to have raced on the ½ mile track. No silver-spoon attitude here. While his son will have quality, competitive equipment, he isn’t being set up in a turn-key car to jump in and flip the starter switch to drive. He’ll learn – and by learning the right way, will be a far better, smarter and complete driver for doing so. Fans can keep track of Adam’s racing progress at www.adamcrawfordracing.com.

With his typical, gentle humor, as we talked about what it takes for a team to be successful and win in this sport, he noted that ‘you only go around once, so you do the best that you can. Every day teaches something.’ After all, learning is about dedication, knowledge, perseverance, and sacrifice. Crawford smiled and added, in his strong Southern drawl, with a twinkling glint of humor sparking in his blue eyes, ‘Life is like a roll of toilet paper.’ He paused, deliberately, with Forrest Gumpian delivery, and finished, ‘the less you have on the roll, the faster it goes.’

Note: The next race (Texas Motor Speedway’s Forth Worth 400K on June 9, 2006) found Crawford starting 5 th and finishing up with a solid 3 rd spot on the podium. A satisfying night for the Circle Bar race team. And, Rick lead 33 laps in the race, which had to be an added bonus for a team that is quietly building momentum. Circle Bar’s home is in Texas, which was an added plus for the team’s morale. The 3 rd place finish has propelled Rick into 9 th on the Championship Standings list; up 3 placed from last week after Dover. Next race is at Michigan International Speedway on Saturday, June 17, 2006.

For information on Valerie Wood's novel, Enforcer, visit http://www.enforcer.fcpages.com/ (Official Website for Enforcer) or http://www.1stbooks.com/bookview/14441 (Publisher's Website/read an excerpt).

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