Race Weekend Central

Rick Crawford Driver Diary: Until We Meet Again

2007 was a good year for the Circle Bar Racing team and the No. 14 Power Stroke Diesel Ford by International. It was a great year for Circle Bar Racing to have two of its trucks, with our teammate David Starr in the top 10 in the points and the No. 14 truck in the top five in the points. We had a good strong finish at Homestead with third place, and it was just a good year for us. My hat’s off to [Ron] Hornaday for winning the championship and [Mike] Skinner for second. Those guys had great years, and earned top finishes all year, and ultimately deserved to battle it out for a championship.

The banquet was painless. It was short and sweet. My owner’s daughter, Lisa Mitchell, received the top-finishing Ford award for the No. 14 truck from Ford Racing. That was a pretty neat moment for her. She gave a speech thanking everybody at Ford Motor Company and International and all of our sponsors and everybody that worked on the crew for a great year – and especially from her Dad. I received a top-five award in the year-end points and that was pretty neat. I got to be on stage and that’s a good place to be at the end of the year, on stage. That’s what everybody shoots for, so I’d say it was a good year for us.

We just got back from the Snowball Derby, but that didn’t go quite as planned. We built Adam a brand new racecar with Maxx Force Diesel Engines on the side of his Ford Fusion, and we were expecting high marks. We had a Russ Miley engine in the car, which had a lot of power. We went and tested it once at Jefferson, Ga. at Peach State Speedway the Wednesday prior to Thankgsiving. Dad even took it around for a few laps – and Dad didn’t like it! So, we worked on it over Thanksgiving weekend and took it to the Snowball Derby.

We got there on Tuesday to get some extra time on the racetrack because it was a new racecar. Dad drove it again and Dad still didn’t like it… so I’m disappointed in myself, and I hate it for Adam. He didn’t make the Snowball Derby, but he gave it a valiant effort. It wasn’t because of a lack of effort by Bob Moore, Gator Morris, Mike Williamson, Jimbo Lee and everybody on his team.

Mike Davis, our hauler driver for our No. 10 truck, towed our rig down there. We were pretty impressive on every aspect but racing. It just didn’t work out for us. We’re going to regroup on that particular car over the winter and make some changes to it, and hopefully Adam gets back in form for the 2008 late model season.

Everyone else has been enjoying the holidays but for us, it’s “what holiday?” I’m working on some deals right now and some proposals to find a driver for the No. 10 truck, and trying to put an offer together for Ford Motor Company and International and Circle Bar Racing so I’ve been pretty busy this week and next week. Hopefully, we’ll find out all the answers early in the week because Wednesday we leave to go to Circle Bar headquarters in Ozona, Texas.

That will be Kevin “Cowboy” Starland and Adam Crawford and myself. We’re going to do a little hunting out there and enjoy the Texas canyons at the ranch that the boss owns, and also the Lazy 2 Ranch that Lisa Mitchell owns. We’re going to enjoy some time with family, and that will last all the way until Christmas.

We don’t really have any other plans for the offseason. Right now, it’s pretty quiet, but I would like to send my well wishes to our troops and to everybody involved with our race team at Circle Bar Racing and all of our sponsors. To everybody involved with Rick Crawford and Circle Bar Racing and especially our troops overseas, the families of our race team and other race teams and the officials and everybody at NASCAR, I’d like to wish a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year – and hopefully 2008 can be as good as 2007.

About the author

The Frontstretch Staff is made up of a group of talented men and women spread out all over the United States and Canada. Residing in 15 states throughout the country, plus Ontario, and widely ranging in age, the staff showcases a wide variety of diverse opinions that will keep you coming back for more week in and week out.

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