To hear Rick Crawford (#14 Circle Bar Truck Corral Ford) tell it, competing in 200 consecutive NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series races was the furthest thing from his mind when he took the green flag at Walt Disney World Speedway in Florida on Jan. 19, 1997. Crawford showed up with one truck, one engine and a short track crew and with 71 trucks entered he was pleased to qualify for the 36-truck field. He wound up finishing a solid 11th. “We weren’t thinking about making 200 starts,” said Crawford. “We were thinking about making one.” But the Alabama native is still on-track 198 races later. He’ll make his record 200th series start in Friday’s American Racing Wheels 200 at California Speedway. The streak includes victories at Homestead-Miami Speedway in 1998, Daytona International Speedway in 2003 and Martinsville Speedway a year ago. Crawford, winner of more than $3 million, came within 46 points of the 2002 championship in finishing second to Mike Bliss. What makes Crawford’s feat even more intriguing is that the 46-year-old veteran has run every race for the same owner, Texas entrepreneur Tom Mitchell. Crawford’s truck will carry a special paint scheme this week and a logo saluting owner Mitchell. The one-race colors feature a metal background to represent the iron man status of driver and owner. The metal is blended with the retro blue color that traces its roots to the Mitchell-Crawford NASCAR All Pro Series entries from 14 years ago. Mitchell, who lives in the west Texas town of Ozona and operates what many call a “truckers’ oasis” on Interstate 10, never has attended a race but follows the fortunes of the team via satellite TV and frequent telephone updates from his driver. “He’s a business associate as much as an owner,” said Crawford. “He’s absent but very much a part of the team. Keeping the string alive has been a challenge for Crawford and his team. He’s overcome mechanical problems, illness and injury, most recently last April following an accident at Atlanta Motor Speedway that left Crawford with a broken foot. “If we had raced the next week it might have ended the streak,” he said. “As it turned out, we had a few weeks off before we raced again. I’ll never forget that day (at Martinsville); I limped to get in the truck and I jumped out of it in Victory Lane.” Crawford dodged another bullet last week at Daytona International Speedway when his truck was crowded off the track and slid through the grass but came to rest on all four wheels. Crawford drove the Ford back to pit road. “Somehow the truck righted itself without hitting anything and we’re ready to go to California,” he said. Rick Crawford truly is an iron man – in his never-give-up attitude as well as the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series record book.
NEWS & NOTES, PART II
Record start for defending series champion … No defending champion had opened the season with a victory until Bobby Hamilton (#04 Bailey’s Dodge) prevailed in a final-lap duel with Jimmy Spencer (#2 Team ASE Dodge) on Feb. 18 at Daytona International Speedway. Hamilton now counts four victories at the 2.5-mile superspeedway; one as a driver and three as team owner. He’s the sixth different Daytona winner.
Etc. … Seven competitors have filed for this year’s Raybestos Rookie of the Year Award. Among them is Kerry Earnhardt (#15 Kraft Foods/Stater Bros. Chevrolet), who won the Daytona Bud Pole. … A record 17 different drivers led the Florida Dodge Dealers 250 – nearly half the starting field. The old mark was 13, also at Daytona. … Two competitors, Crawford and Terry Cook (#10 Power Stroke Diesel by International Ford), have participated in all eight NASCAR Craftsman Truck races at California Speedway. Cook has completed 731 laps and 1,462 miles of the 800 laps and 1,600 mile run. … The third-fastest race in series history was run at California Speedway in 2003. Ted Musgrave (#1 Mopar Dodge) won at an average speed of 145.925 mph. … This week’s race will be the first at the track in NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series competition since 1999 for two-time champion Ron Hornaday Jr., whose best performance is a third in 1998. … Freshman Shige Hattori (#9 Aisin/Aisin AW Toyota) has been to California Speedway before but in open-wheel racing. Hattori finished fourth in a 1998 Indy Lights race and 30th in the track’s 2002 Indy Racing League finale.
ON THE RIGHT TRACK
Musgrave not quite perfect but just about … Musgrave will be gunning for his fourth win in five appearances at California Speedway. Musgrave posted consecutive victories beginning in 2001 and finished second a year ago to Todd Bodine (#66 Fiddle Back Racing Toyota) when the caution flag spoiled his final lap challenge. He has led five consecutive editions of the American Racing Wheels 200, a series record at California Speedway. Musgrave’s Ultra Motorsports team has won four times at the track and was one-two in 2002 with Musgrave and Jason Leffler.
Bodine anxious to defend his victory … The defending winner won’t be in the same seat as a year ago but that doesn’t bother Bodine, who also won the track’s inaugural NASCAR Busch Series race in 1997. Bodine led the most laps of Daytona’s season-opening race and finished third for his new team owned by Tom Eldredge and directed by veteran crew chief Tony Furr. Don’t count out Sprague in California … Jack Sprague’s (#16 Chevy Trucks Chevrolet) return to fulltime series competition in 2004 included a third-place finish at California Speedway, the three-time champion’s fourth top five at the track. Sprague won back-to-back in 1998-99, clinching his second title with the latter victory. Friday’s race will be Sprague’s 199th on the series.
10 YEARS TOUGH
California Speedway is among seven currently scheduled tracks that did not exist when the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series began in 1995. The Fontana facility – which succeeded Riverside International Raceway and the Ontario Motor Speedway as Los Angeles area stops for the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series – staged its first NASCAR Craftsman Truck race in 1997. Mike Bliss, driving Jim Smith’s #2 Team ASE Ford, led 93 of 100 laps to beat Mike Wallace to the checkered flag.
FROM THE ARCHIVES
Retired NASCAR NEXTEL Cup star Ernie Irvan never won a NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race, although he co-owned winning trucks driven by Joe Ruttman and Boris Said. One of Irvan’s two second-place finishes came at California Speedway in 1998.
FAST FACTS
What: American Racing Wheels 200 (Race 2 of 25).
Where: California Speedway.
When: 9:15 p.m. ET, Friday, Feb. 25.
Track layout: 2-mile paved.
Race length: 200 miles/100 laps.
Posted awards: $618,610.
TV: SPEED Channel, 9:15 p.m. ET.
Radio: MRN, XM Satellite.
2004 winner: Todd Bodine.
2004 polesitter: Travis Kvapil.
Pre-race schedule (all times local): Thursday – Practice 2:00 p.m. to 3 p.m. and 3:50 p.m. to 5 p.m. Friday – Qualifying 10:00 a.m. Trucks impounded after qualifying.(NASCAR PR)(2-25-2005)
