Backstretch Motorsports

Rick Crawford, driver of the No. 14 Power Stroke Diesel by International Ford F-150, participated in NASCAR’s teleconference today in advance of this weekend’s Built Ford Tough 225 presented by the Greater Cincinnati Ford Dealers. Crawford is fifth in NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series point standings, just 74 markers behind the leader.

RICK CRAWFORD – No. 14 Power Stroke Diesel by International Ford F-150 – THE NASCAR CRAFTSMAN TRUCK SERIES COMES OFF A TWO-WEEK BREAK. CAN YOU TALK ABOUT HOW YOU PREPARE DURING THE BREAKS, ESPECIALLY WITH A TIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP RACE? “We’ve appreciated the two-week break. I think all the teams needed it. We battled hard through the first half of the season. The Ford Power Stroke Diesel by International Ford F-Series pick up has been performing well. I think it’s coming to potential now. We’re looking forward to going to Kentucky this weekend for the Built Ford Tough 225. In the couple of weeks that we’ve had off, I’ve been visiting some short tracks and I’ve done some testing at Darlington with the pickups.”

YOU MENTIONED YOU LOOKED AT SHORT TRACKS. DID YOU BUY ANY OF THEM? “I’m looking to buy one of them. Actually, I am interested in buying the Montgomery Speedway down in Alabama, as you know and make it into a racing complex. I’d like to give everybody in the southeast a nice short-track race at and several venues there at that particular property. Actually, I went to one of the finest-run short tracks in the nation this weekend at the Motor Mile in Polesky County, Virginia, and I think you’re aware of that particular speedway. Those fine folks there at the Motor Mile treated me with the utmost respect. I watched a fine show. And like we’ve all talked about short-track racing, I was in my truck leaving at a quarter to 11 and I watched 400 laps of racing, so that’s the kind of facility and the kind of show that I’d like to put on.”

DO YOU HAVE A TIMETABLE OF WHEN YOU MIGHT MAKE A MOVE ON MONTGOMERY SPEEDWAY? “Actually, I’m in a city conference on Thursday evening, this Thursday evening on July 17th. I feel like there might be some opposition there. I hope my reputation and my vision for having a race track back alive in Montgomery, Alabama, comes true, but if there is opposition, I want to be a friendly neighbor and a good neighbor, but like I say, if there is opposition there, then they can leave the race track closed.”

KYLE BUSCH ANNOUNCED HE WOULD BE RACING IN YOUR SERIES THIS WEEKEND. WHAT ARE YOU THOUGHTS? “I just like to catch him. It’s been fun racing against Kyle; I mean, I don’t think he’s hit me this year. It’s been fun racing against Kyle and I’ve watched him on the other Saturday and Sunday shows and I think that a lot of Nationwide drivers and Cup drivers probably would like for him to come back and run the trucks full time. I’m looking forward to it. I always like running against Kyle. I like running against all the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series competitors because I think we’ve got some of the best racing in NASCAR.”

KENTUCKY USUALLY HAS A BIG CROWD. ARE YOU EXCITED ABOUT THAT FOR THE FANS? “ Oh, yeah. Especially with it being a Ford race, The Built Ford Tough 225. I always look forward to going to Kentucky. My luck is not real good there even though we had a second-place finish one time and a fourth-place finish another time. I’m looking forward to going there. We tested our truck this past week at Darlington. It tested really well and our team is ready to go.”

YOU ARE TIED FOR THE MOST CAREER STARTS IN THE NASCAR CRAFTSMAN TRUCK SERIES. TO WHAT DO YOU ATTRIBUTE YOUR LONGEVITY? “I was a car racer. I raced locally at our local Thursday, Friday and Saturday night short tracks down south. Then I started venturing out, running the All Pro Series of NASCAR. At the end of the 1996 season, my boss, Tom Mitchell of Circle Bar Motel and RV Park in Ozona, Texas, came to me and said, ‘I’m in the trucking business. I service the truck service guys throughout the country. Why don’t we try this truck racing? It’s been around for a couple of years and maybe you’d like to do that.’ And I was ready to go. That’s the business he’s in, the trucking industry. Ford Power Stroke Diesel, our sponsor, is in the Super Duty Ford pickups. We’ve been with Ford for all of our starts. I’ve been with Tom Mitchell in all of our starts in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series and hopefully and I’ll end my career and Circle Bar Racing driving for Tom Mitchell.”

WHAT DO YOU ATTRIBUTE TO YOUR LEVEL OF CONSISTENCY AFTER ALL THESE YEARS? “I like to win. I like to be competitive. I have a pretty hard drive to be competing in racing. I’m not one of those that ride around and write a book to say where I raced at. I want to race hard; I want to be a hard racer. I want to give my sponsors what they’re paying for. I want to give my owner what he’s proud of his team and what he deserves. I want to give the fans what they paid to see. So, if takes putting on a show, that’s what I want to do and that’s what I’ve always done and hopefully everybody has enjoyed that.”

IT SEEMS THIS YEAR, YOU’VE BEEN JUST A TICK OFF. IF THERE’S ONE THING YOU COULD PUT YOUR FINGER ON WHAT’S MISSING, WHAT WOULD THAT BE? “I can tell you’ve been keeping an eye on me. And I’ve often said that our team hasn’t reached potential yet. But we’re getting real close. Kevin Starland, the Circle Bar Racing Team, Roush Yates Engines, our Ford trucks from the factory have stepped up their program, but we’re coming around. We’re trying something new this year, to me, to Kevin and I believe we’re hitting on it. I believe we might reach our potential this weekend, but I feel really good about driving it now. I’m having fun now. I’m having fun driving my truck. I’m having fun competing in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series and I think you see that by our points performance.”

WHAT WOULD IT MEAN TO YOU TO WIN A CHAMPIONSHIP? “That would probably put the trophy at the head table and it would be a welcomed site. We’re trying to do that for Circle Bar Racing and Ford Power Stroke Diesel, the Ford F-150 brand and for Rick Crawford. I have to add my name in there last because I’d love to be called a NASCAR champion when it’s all over.”

WHAT MAKES THE TRUCK SERIES SO STRONG AND COMPETITIVE? “Just being candid about it, I don’t think anyone wanted to lead the points. I’ve had a shot at leading, Hornaday’s had a shot a leading, Johnny Benson’s had a shot at leading, Todd Bodine’s had a shot at leading the points. Every time somebody gets in the lead for the points, something always happens. I enjoyed leading for the week that I was actually leading. I got to talk about it with my friends and the team, and they was all hyped up. We were high-fiving through the shop and that didn’t last very long. Now, we’re not necessarily struggling, but we’re having to catch back up. It’s due to a lot of strong teams, some have had trouble, but the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series is very strong in competition. It’s all coming together. Week-in and week-out, we have tough races and we’re tough trucks. We’re all competitive, so it’s going to be a tight points battle all the way to the end.”

HOW HARD IS IT FOR A DRIVER AND TEAM TO KEEP FOCUS WITH BREAKS THROUGHOUT THE SEASON? IF YOU’RE ON A ROLL HOW HARD IS IT NOT TO STOP? IF YOU’RE NOT ON A ROLL, HOW DO YOU GET ON ONE? “I think being on a roll is not hard to keep momentum going. I think the hardest thing in the world is to deal with the agony of defeat. When you have a defeat or you have agony in your last race, the quickest way to get over it is to get quickly to another race. Our last race was Memphis. We had a fourth-place finish, so that was a pretty good day for us. I felt like we had a second- or third-place truck, but we’ll take fourth. It was a good points day for us. We had a good test, like I said, a couple of weeks later at Darlington. Now we’re ready to go to Kentucky. It’s harder to get over the agony of defeat than to keep the momentum going.”

DO YOU FEEL LIKE YOU HAVE CHANGED MUCH OVER THE YEARS AS A DRIVER? “No, no, I really don’t. I might have gotten smarter. I’d like to say that I’m aggressively smooth, being a veteran in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, but other than that, I don’t think I’ve changed. I try to give the fans their money’s worth and I’ve always said that. If Elvis Presley got on stage and didn’t put on a show or didn’t move, everybody would be sitting at home listening to records.”

THERE HAVE BEEN MANY FIRST-TIME WINNERS THIS YEAR. HAVE YOU EVER SEEN A YEAR LIKE THIS IN THE SERIES? “No, but I was a first-time winner at one point in time in the 1998 season. That particular year, I think a few drivers had their first-time wins that year. I’m very proud to be in a series that a guy can celebrate his first win in NASCAR and NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series. They deserve it. At one point in time, I was a rookie in the series and felt welcomed to come in and enjoy the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series. I feel the same way about the rookies coming in because I always thought that a rookie in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series has proved himself somewhere else in the United States in some other form of racing. I welcome them to come in. It always adds to the competition and it always adds to the race and the final value of the race.”

WHAT DO YOU FEEL A SECOND TEAM HAS DONE FOR CIRCLE BAR RACING? “We started the second team to enhance the performance of the 14 truck. We believe that between myself, Kevin Starland, Lisa Mitchell, Tom Mitchell that some more additional information was needed and to run for a championship. It’s only a year-and-a-half old and we have Brendan Gaughan as a teammate in the MAXX Force Diesel by International and it has allowed more information to be shared by Bryan Berry and Kevin Starland, the crew chiefs for the teams, and I think you see that coming to show in our points race for the championship.”

WHAT DOES IT FEEL LIKE TO BE THE LONE ALABAMA RACER IN THE NASCAR SERIES? “Oh, I’m pretty proud about that. As far as NASCAR, we used to use the Talladega Speedway four or five years ago for testing when the trucks started going to superspeedways. I would get asked the question, ‘When are you coming to Talladega?’ When you showed up at Talladega, that was the question, ‘When are the trucks going to race here?’ So, when the trucks finally came to run at Talladega, I’m probably the proudest guy on the planet. What a venue you have there to put on a race for the truck series. I don’t think we’ve let the fans down at all. The fans can come out and watch the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race at the big and bold superspeedway at Talladega and they’ll see one fine show, but they’ll also see an Alabamian very proud.”

YOU SOUNDED A LITTLE PESSIMISTIC ABOUT THE PURCHASE OF MONTGOMERY SPEEDWAY? WILL THIS DEAL GET DONE? “Well I hope it gets done. I mean, the track just didn’t appear yesterday. I mean, we’re not moving into a neighborhood yesterday, and a half-mile, fine facility with some of the greatest lighting that could put a half-mile short-track race on television and produce some big racing and produce some names that could be attracted by some of the NASCAR teams. That’s what I look forward to opening up Montgomery Speedway for. Second of all, I mean, the track is 55 years old. It’s rich in history. It was always. It was built in 1953. The first race was in 1954 and it’s always been an asphalt track. So, I hate to say it, but the community knew it was a race track before they ever moved there. And so I just hate the race track had been shut down for a year or so, and I would just like to resurrect racing right deep in the middle of Alabama. And I think it’s produced some great stars of NASCAR and I think it could produce more in the future. But, also, let’s talk about this. I want to be a good neighbor. I’m not the bull here that is firm about I’m going to open up a race track regardless. I’d like to – if there’s an opposition of a race track being in Montgomery – I’d like to be able to give the chance to prove the reputation of Rick Crawford, his promoting ability, his vision of seeing a race track in Montgomery, and, you know, I’d like to give everybody a ticket, a free ticket that’s on the opposition to come see what I’ve done.”

WHEN DID YOU START THINKING ABOUT RE-OPENING OF THE MONTGOMERY SPEEDWAY? “I’ve known Andy Hillenburg for quite awhile. I mean, I realize his vision in Rockingham. I’ve been to the drag races at the Rockingham Dragway across the street. I thought maybe we could have a truck race sometime at The Rock. And, you know, our trucks have been over to The Rock and tested several times. I think it would be a really fun race track. Only thing I can say about Andy Hillenburg is I always see him smiling. So I hope they say that about Rick Crawford after he purchases a race track, too. But, no, I haven’t really talked about some of the things. This is not something that Rick Crawford has thought about in the last two or three months. I’ve run this across my mind here for the last 10 years. And I’ve talked to several people that have been very fortunate in short-track racing and also that hadn’t done so well. But I tend to listen to more people that’s done it right than people that’s done it wrong. So I think I’ve learned from the best. We can start with Bob Harmon. I’ve learned from Lee Fields in the Mobile Speedway. Bob Harmon is All-Pro Series. He was a NASCAR owner back in the late ’60s, early ’70s. My grandfather was the first generation of my family that raced cars, a NASCAR member back in the ’50s. So this is nothing new that Rick Crawford would like to own and promote a race track. I have a lot of great ideas from a lot of good people, and we’ll go ahead and say from Ken Schrader to Humpy Wheeler to Bruton Smith, I’ve talked to all of them. It’s something that and let’s always keep in mind, I’m not doing something to lose at it. I’m not doing something also to fail at. So once I set my mind to promotions or looking at another avenue in racing then I always like to succeed.”