LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Rick Crawford: Seasons
built 255 days ago
Chief Steward Rick Crawford’s insightful event recaps that briefly entertained ACPBA pipers and drummers in the summer of 2004 are back this highland games season. Following each of the Games, Rick’s review of the event will be posted in conjunction with the competition results. Take a look back at the two 2004 events that Rick wrote about.
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Rick has been with the Circle Bar Team for 14 years, first in the All-Pro Series and in the CTS since 1997. Circle Bar Racing (the Super 8 Motel and Circle Bar RV Park centered in Ozona, Texas) and Rick Crawford first teamed up in 1991 when owner Tom Mitchell began sponsoring Crawford's NASCAR Slim Jim All-Pro Ford. Prior to this, Mitchell was involved in Indy Car Racing and the NASCAR Winston Cup Series. In 1997, Crawford and Circle Bar Racing moved up to the NASCAR Truck Series, and have been a part of it since. As a CTS rookie driver, Rick had a measure of success with 2 Top-5's and 10 Top-10's, finishing 12 th in the overall standings. His next season was highlighted by his first CTS victory at Homestead-Miami Speedway, but there were ups and downs-engine problems, racing luck.
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In 2001, Crawford finished 8th in points, his first top-ten points finish. The next season, he had 17 top-nine finishes, two poles, and finished second in the standings. 2003 saw him grab his second victory, at the Florida Dodge Dealers 250 at Daytona, and finished seventh in points. He picked up a win at Martinsville Speedway in 2004, but dropped to twelfth in points. Despite a win at Loudon, he finished seventeenth in points, mainly due to missing the first race of his Truck career after suffering injuries, ironically while practicing for the Built Ford Tough 225. Boris Said, who was scheduled to be a guest on the SPEED Channel's race coverage, was hired to drive the truck.
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Prior to the Craftsman Truck Series, Rick spent 12 seasons in the NASCAR Slim Jim All-Pro Series compiling 111 starts, 11 victories, and 61 Top-10 finishes. Crawford ... won the Late Model Division of the Snowball Derby at Five Flags Speedway in Pensacola, Fla in 1989. He also was the winner of two track championships at Pensacola and three at Mobile International Speedway in Alabama. Rick was also the 1981 and 1982 Alabama State Champion of short-track racing.
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In 1997, Crawford moved to the Craftsman Truck Series with his Circle Bar team. He qualified for every race, had ten top-tens and finished 12th in the points, runner-up to Kenny Irwin, Jr. for NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Rookie of the Year. The next season, he picked up his first career win at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Unfortunately, the team struggled to find consistency and he dropped to eighteenth in the standings. He started 1999 with two consecutive top-tens, but only wound up fourteenth in the points.
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Crawford has made his climb steadily in the CTS, driving the #14 Circle Bar Racing Ford F-150. In 2002, he fought his way to a second place finish in the Championship Standings, and started the 2003 season with an exciting, spectacular win at Daytona International Speedway-a victory that was voted by Speedchannel as the CTS' Greatest Finish. Rick crossed the finish line first - just a mere thousandth of a second in front - in one of the Series' closest-ever races. A victory at Daytona, whether in CTS, Busch or Cup, is the ultimate achievement for a racer.
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