Rick Crawford (racing driver)

This article is about the NASCAR driver. For the Arkansas politician, see Rick Crawford (politician). For the American endurance sports coach, see Rick Crawford (cycling).

Richard Hoyt Crawford Jr. (born July 26, 1958)^[1] is an American former professional stock car racing driver and convicted child sex offender. Crawford competed in the Craftsman Truck Series full-time from 1997 to 2009. He is the former promoter and manager of Mobile International Speedway.

Rick Crawford
Crawford (right) during a visit to Naval Air Station Sigonella in 2003
Born	Richard Hoyt Crawford Jr. (1958-07-26) July 26, 1958 (age 65) Mobile, Alabama, U.S.
Achievements	1989 Snowball Derby Winner
NASCAR Xfinity Series career
2 races run over 2 years
2012 position	139th
Best finish	134th (2011)
First race	2011 STP 300 (Chicagoland)
Last race	2012 Food City 250 (Bristol)
Wins Top tens Poles 0 0 0
NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series career
336 races run over 16 years
2013 position	119th
Best finish	2nd (2002)
First race	1997 Chevy Trucks Challenge (Orlando)
Last race	2012 Fred's 250 (Talladega)
First win	1998 Florida Dodge Dealers 400 (Homestead)
Last win	2006 Power Stroke Diesel 200 (ORP)
Wins Top tens Poles 5 160 6
Statistics current as of February 25, 2013.

Early career

Crawford began his racing career as a short-track racer in the southeastern United States. He won the 1989 running of the prestigious annual short track Snowball Derby race.^[2] He also won the track championship at Five Flags Speedway in 1981 and 1984, and won the championship at Mobile International Speedway in 1981, 1982, and 1984. After that, he moved to the Slim Jim All Pro Series, where he collected sixty-one top tens, and earned five victories. In 1993 and 1994, he attempted four Winston Cup Series races in the No. 84, but did not qualify for any of them.

Truck Series

In 1997, Crawford moved to the Craftsman Truck Series with his Circle Bar team. He qualified for every race, had ten top-tens, a top 5 at Texas Motor Speedway and finished 12th in the points. He was also runner-up to Kenny Irwin Jr. for the 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, with only five top-ten finishes and he dropped to eighteenth in the standings. Crawford started 1999 with two consecutive top-tens, but only wound up fourteenth in the points, scoring ten top-tens and four top fives.

In 2001, Crawford finished 8th in points, his first top-ten points finish, he would earn sixteen top tens and ten top fives. The 2002 season would prove to be Crawford's most successful to date, although winless for the season he had 17 top-ten finishes, a career high 12 top five finishes, two poles (at Dover and Phoenix), and finished second in the standings only 46 points behind champion Mike Bliss. 2003 saw him grab his second victory, at the Florida Dodge Dealers 250, in a memorable three-wide race to finish line at Daytona International Speedway. He finished the season seventh in points with 16 top tens and 10 top fives.

In 2004 in his first race after a massive crash at Atlanta Motor Speedway, in which Tina Gordon and Hank Parker Jr. were also involved, he picked up a win at Martinsville Speedway. He would finish the season with 9 top tens and 4 top fives, and fell to 12th in points. Despite a win at Loudon in 2005, Crawford 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. While he wrecked later in the race, he returned to the booth to cover the rest of the race, as the late Neil Bonnett once did at Talladega Superspeedway in 1993 after taking a wild ride into the tri-oval. He did score two poles at Atlanta and Martinsville and had 11 top tens and 3 top fives.

For the 2006 season, Crawford had five top-fives and thirteen top-ten finishes including a win on August 4 at O'Reilly Raceway Park, finishing 9th in the final standings, the win at O’Reilly was his final career victory. Rick had a consistent year in 2007 racking up 11 top 5 finishes, 18 top 10s and a near win at Mansfield Motorsports Park en route to a 5th place standing in the points championship. The eighteen top ten finishes would be a career high to date. In 2008 Crawford put together another solid season with thirteen top tens and seven top fives and a pole at Texas. He would end the season seventh in points. In 2009, now age 50, Crawford would again finish in the top ten in points at 10th. He scored seven top tens and three top fives and would win the pole at Martinsville for the second time in his career.

Crawford would start the 2010 season with a great deal of uncertainty. Longtime sponsor Circle Bar Motel and RV Park would cut back their sponsorship of the team dramatically and Crawford stated that he was unsure how many races they would be able to run without a new sponsor.^[3] He would run the first four races of the season with Circle Bar, scoring two top tens. However, prior to Kansas Crawford announced that he would not race for Circle Bar in the #14 truck and would instead race in the Ray Hackett Racing #76 truck with sponsorship from SUPERSEAL Construction Products. This would be the first race in his record 327 Camping World Truck Series starts that he would not be in the #14 and would not be racing under Circle Bar Racing. Crawford would qualify for that race 15th and finish 31st after an accident going for the lead. In August, Crawford would take yet another unfamiliar step in his career as he would join forces with Tagsby Racing to race in the EnjoyIllinois.com 225 at Chicagoland Speedway. This would be the first race in his career that he would race in a Chevrolet truck. Crawford would earn his 3rd top ten finish in 6 races with an 8th-place finish in the race. He ran in two more races with Tagsby to close out the season.

Crawford attempted to race with Tagsby Racing and make his 12th consecutive start in the season opening race at Daytona in 2011, but failed to qualify. Before 2011, Crawford was one of only 3 drivers to compete in all Camping World Truck Series races at Daytona.

Crawford is a former manager and promoter of Mobile International Raceway, and attempted the 2012 season-opening race at Daytona with Tagsby Racing.^[4] He would race with Mike Harmon Racing's 74 truck at Martinsville, finishing last. He would race two more races with Tagsby Racing in 2012 at Texas and Chicagoland, finishing 29th and 11th respectively. At Talladega later that year, he raced for BRG Motorsports. This was the first time he would race in a Toyota truck. In 2013, he attempted Daytona with MAKE Motorsports, but failed to qualify. After that, Crawford would stop racing for good.

Legacy

He raced in 210 consecutive races before missing the 2005 Built Ford Tough 225 race at Kentucky due to injuries sustained from a hard crash in practice. He had not missed a race since that date until failing to qualify at Daytona in February 2011. Prior to 2011, Crawford was one of the few drivers in the history of the sport with more than 50 starts who has never raced in any major series in NASCAR other than the Truck Series. However, that statistic was ended in 2011, when Crawford made his Nationwide Series debut driving for Jennifer Jo Cobb Racing at Chicagoland Speedway. He would then race his second and last Nationwide Series race with Mike Harmon Racing at Bristol in 2012.

Post-racing career

In March 2011 Crawford entered a multi-year contract to be the promoter and manager at Mobile International Speedway, his home track, in Irvington (Mobile), Alabama.

In March 2014 it was announced that Crawford would serve as crew chief for Team Stange Racing and driver Maryeve Dufault in the ARCA Racing Series.^[5]

On March 1, 2018, Crawford was arrested in Florida;^[6] he was charged for "attempted enticement of a minor," after being caught in an online undercover sting operation involving a Seminole County, Florida Sheriff's deputy working for an FBI sex crimes task force posing as a father offering commercial sexual exploitation of his nonexistent 12 year old daughter in exchange for cash.^[7][8] Crawford later pled not guilty to the charge and was released into the custody of his family until his trial.^[9] Crawford was convicted by a jury on August 30, 2018.^[10] On November 26, 2018, Crawford was sentenced to 10 years and 10 months in federal prison, a sentence that was later upheld on appeal in 2020.^[11]

Motorsports career results

NASCAR

(key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

Winston Cup Series

NASCAR Winston Cup Series results
Year	Team	No.	Make	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31	NWCC	Pts	Ref
1993	Circle Bar Racing	84	Ford	DAY	CAR	RCH	ATL DNQ	DAR	BRI	NWS	MAR	TAL	SON	CLT DNQ	DOV	POC	MCH	DAY	NHA	POC	TAL	GLN	MCH	BRI	DAR	RCH	DOV	MAR	NWS	CLT	CAR	PHO	ATL DNQ		NA	-	^[12]
1994				DAY Wth	CAR	RCH	ATL	DAR	BRI	NWS	MAR	TAL	SON	CLT	DOV	POC	MCH	DAY	NHA	POC	TAL	IND	GLN	MCH	BRI	DAR	RCH	DOV	MAR	NWS	CLT	CAR	PHO	ATL	NA	-	^[13]

Daytona 500

Year	Team	Manufacturer	Start	Finish
1994	Circle Bar Racing	Ford	Wth

Nationwide Series

NASCAR Nationwide Series results
Year	Team	No.	Make	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31	32	33	34	NNSC	Pts	Ref
2011	JJC Racing	13	Ford	DAY	PHO	LVS	BRI	CAL	TEX	TAL	NSH	RCH	DAR	DOV	IOW	CLT	CHI 36	MCH	ROA	DAY	KEN	NHA	NSH	IRP	IOW	GLN	CGV	BRI	ATL	RCH	CHI	DOV	KAN	CLT	TEX	PHO	HOM	134th	0^1	^[14]
2012	Mike Harmon Racing	74	Chevy	DAY	PHO	LVS	BRI	CAL	TEX	RCH	TAL	DAR	IOW	CLT	DOV	MCH	ROA	KEN	DAY	NHA	CHI	IND	IOW	GLN	CGV	BRI 36	ATL	RCH	CHI	KEN	DOV	CLT	KAN	TEX	PHO	HOM		139th	0^1	^[15]

Camping World Truck Series

NASCAR Camping World Truck Series results
Year	Team	No.	Make	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	NCWTC	Pts	Ref
1997	Circle Bar Racing	14	Ford	WDW 11	TUS 12	HOM 18	PHO 21	POR 8	EVG 23	I70 15	NHA 6	TEX 3	BRI 6	NZH 18	MLW 34	LVL 16	CNS 6	HPT 8	IRP 13	FLM 15	NSV 8	GLN 14	RCH 34	MAR 24	SON 25	MMR 6	CAL 10	PHO 13	LVS 10		12th	3149	^[16]
1998				WDW 29	HOM 1	PHO 5	POR 27	EVG 21	I70 18	GLN 14	TEX 26	BRI 38	MLW 26	NZH 29	CAL 15	PPR 11	IRP 34	NHA 22	FLM 15	NSV 3	HPT 15	LVL 25	RCH 11	MEM 5	GTY 7	MAR 15	SON 29	MMR 27	PHO 16	LVS 14	18th	2956	^[17]
1999				HOM 8	PHO 6	EVG 12	MMR 22	MAR 33	MEM 22	PPR 8	I70 27	BRI 21	TEX 12	PIR 16	GLN 10	MLW 3	NSV 14	NZH 17	MCH 29	NHA 5	IRP 12	GTY 9	HPT 4	RCH 12	LVS 8	LVL 7	TEX 23	CAL 35			14th	3018	^[18]
2000				DAY 34	HOM 7	PHO 10	MMR 9	MAR 15	PIR 5	GTY 12	MEM 6	PPR 13	EVG 14	TEX 8	KEN 10	GLN 9	MLW 14	NHA 13	NZH 13	MCH 7	IRP 31	NSV 10	CIC 28	RCH 16	DOV 3	TEX 6	CAL 12				11th	3053	^[19]
2001				DAY 10	HOM 8	MMR 19	MAR 7	GTY 4	DAR 4	PPR 9	DOV 14*	TEX 20	MEM 16	MLW 25	KAN 8	KEN 27	NHA 27	IRP 6	NSH 3	CIC 5*	NZH 4	RCH 5	SBO 24	TEX 2	LVS 5	PHO 3	CAL 2*				8th	3320	^[20]
2002				DAY 24	DAR 5	MAR 3	GTY 4	PPR 6	DOV 3	TEX 4	MEM 9	MLW 14	KAN 12*	KEN 4	NHA 17	MCH 9	IRP 11	NSH 2	RCH 4	TEX 4*	SBO 3	LVS 6	CAL 5	PHO 3	HOM 7						2nd	3313	^[21]
2003				DAY 1*	DAR 7	MMR 6	MAR 6	CLT 3	DOV 8*	TEX 14	MEM 11	MLW 3	KAN 23	KEN 11	GTW 5	MCH 12	IRP 14	NSH 3	BRI 3	RCH 6	NHA 18	CAL 4	LVS 36	SBO 5	TEX 9	MAR 4	PHO 11	HOM 2			7th	3578	^[22]
2004				DAY 4	ATL 34	MAR 1	MFD 7	CLT 7	DOV 2	TEX 15	MEM 19	MLW 9	KAN 3	KEN 16	GTW 25	MCH 32	IRP 8	NSH 24	BRI 17	RCH 24	NHA 25	LVS 11	CAL 12	TEX 7	MAR 16	PHO 11	DAR 18	HOM 28			12th	3030	^[23]
2005				DAY 36	CAL 14	ATL 29*	MAR 21	GTY 5	MFD 6	CLT 25	DOV 11	TEX 19	MCH 6	MLW 8	KAN 10	KEN INQ^†	MEM 11	IRP 6	NSH 10	BRI 21	RCH 28	NHA 1	LVS 7	MAR 16	ATL 32	TEX 8	PHO 4	HOM 27			16th	2917	^[24]
2006				DAY 8	CAL 8	ATL 10	MAR 26	GTY 24	CLT 11	MFD 12	DOV 8	TEX 3	MCH 6	MLW 9	KAN 2	KEN 2	MEM 13	IRP 1*	NSH 28	BRI 13	NHA 7	LVS 14	TAL 15	MAR 9	ATL 5	TEX 33	PHO 33	HOM 15			9th	3252	^[25]
2007				DAY 10	CAL 9	ATL 4	MAR 3	KAN 2	CLT 10	MFD 23*	DOV 23	TEX 3	MCH 6	MLW 5	MEM 28	KEN 30	IRP 4	NSH 6	BRI 5	GTW 11	NHA 6	LVS 9	TAL 2	MAR 5	ATL 12	TEX 5	PHO 12	HOM 3			5th	3523	^[26]
2008				DAY 5	CAL 14	ATL 11	MAR 3	KAN 9	CLT 5	MFD 13	DOV 9	TEX 21	MCH 11	MLW 8	MEM 4	KEN 14	IRP 12	NSH 23	BRI 5	GTW 8	NHA 5	LVS 6	TAL 28	MAR 3	ATL 12	TEX 11	PHO 9	HOM 33			7th	3315	^[27]
2009				DAY 21	CAL 14	ATL 16	MAR 5	KAN 14	CLT 11	DOV 19	TEX 5	MCH 12	MLW 12	MEM 11	KEN 17	IRP 11	NSH 7	BRI 19	CHI 4	IOW 17	GTW 10	NHA 10	LVS 11	MAR 15	TAL 21	TEX 10	PHO 14	HOM 17			10th	3161	^[28]
2010				DAY 28	ATL 9	MAR 19	NSH 10																								32nd	848	^[29]
	Ray Hackett Racing	76	Ford					KAN 31	DOV	CLT	TEX	MCH	IOW	GTY	IRP	POC	NSH	DAR	BRI
	Tagsby Racing	73	Chevy																	CHI 8	KEN	NHA	LVS 32	MAR	TAL	TEX 17	PHO	HOM
2011				DAY DNQ	PHO DNQ	DAR	MAR	NSH	DOV	CLT	KAN	TEX	KEN	IOW	NSH	IRP	POC	MCH	BRI	ATL	CHI	NHA	KEN	LVS	TAL	MAR	TEX 24	HOM			66th	20	^[30]
2012				DAY 25						TEX 29	KEN	IOW	CHI 11	POC	MCH	BRI	ATL	IOW	KEN	LVS											41st	96	^[31]
	Mike Harmon Racing	74	Chevy		MAR 36	CAR	KAN	CLT	DOV
	BRG Motorsports	20	Toyota																		TAL 23	MAR	TEX	PHO	HOM
2013	MAKE Motorsports	50	Chevy	DAY DNQ	MAR	CAR	KAN	CLT	DOV	TEX	KEN	IOW	ELD	POC	MCH	BRI	MSP	IOW	CHI	LVS	TAL	MAR	TEX	PHO	HOM						NA	-	^[32]
^† - Qualified but replaced by Boris Said

Whelen Euro Series - Elite 1

NASCAR Whelen Euro Series - Elite 1 results
Year	Team	No.	Make	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	NWES	Pts	Ref
2013	Scorpus Racing	19	Chevy	NOG	NOG	DIJ	DIJ	BRH	BRH	TOU 17	TOU 7	MNZ	MNZ	BUG	BUG	33rd	-	^[33]

References

1. Rick Crawford Career Statistics
2. "Snowball Derby Central". Third Turn. Retrieved November 17, 2011.
3. . Archived from the original on 2011-07-11. Retrieved 2010-04-28.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
4. Adamcyzk, Jay (February 4, 2012). . Jayski' Silly Season Site. ESPN. Archived from the original on October 12, 2014. Retrieved 2012-02-04.
5. "Crawford Named Dufault's ARCA Crew Chief". National Speed Sport News. March 10, 2014. Retrieved 2014-03-10.
6. "Seminole Sheriff's Office". March 1, 2018. Retrieved 2018-03-01.
7. Jordan, Jerry (March 1, 2018). "Former truck series driver Rick Crawford busted for attempted child enticement". KickinTheTires.net. Kickin' the Tires. Retrieved March 3, 2018.
8. Bonkowski, Jerry (March 5, 2018). "Former Truck series driver Rick Crawford arrested in child sex sting". nascar.nbcsports.com. Retrieved March 8, 2018.
9. Bonkowski, Jerry (March 8, 2018). "Former driver Rick Crawford to be released into home confinement in child sex case". nascar.nbcsports.com. Retrieved March 9, 2018.
10. Pockrass, Bob (August 30, 2018). "Ex-driver Crawford found guilty of enticing minor". ESPN.
11. McFadin, Daniel (November 26, 2018). "Rick Crawford sentenced to 130 months in attempted enticement of a minor case". NBC Sports. from the original on November 8, 2020. Retrieved January 25, 2021.
12. "Rick Crawford – 1993 NASCAR Winston Cup Results". Racing-Reference. Retrieved October 21, 2015.
13. "Rick Crawford – 1994 NASCAR Winston Cup Results". Racing-Reference. Retrieved October 21, 2015.
14. "Rick Crawford – 2011 NASCAR Nationwide Series Results". Racing-Reference. Retrieved October 21, 2015.
15. "Rick Crawford – 2012 NASCAR Nationwide Series Results". Racing-Reference. Retrieved October 21, 2015.
16. "Rick Crawford – 1997 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Results". Racing-Reference. Retrieved October 21, 2015.
17. "Rick Crawford – 1998 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Results". Racing-Reference. Retrieved October 21, 2015.
18. "Rick Crawford – 1999 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Results". Racing-Reference. Retrieved October 21, 2015.
19. "Rick Crawford – 2000 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Results". Racing-Reference. Retrieved October 21, 2015.
20. "Rick Crawford – 2001 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Results". Racing-Reference. Retrieved October 21, 2015.
21. "Rick Crawford – 2002 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Results". Racing-Reference. Retrieved October 21, 2015.
22. "Rick Crawford – 2003 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Results". Racing-Reference. Retrieved October 21, 2015.
23. "Rick Crawford – 2004 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Results". Racing-Reference. Retrieved October 21, 2015.
24. "Rick Crawford – 2005 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Results". Racing-Reference. Retrieved October 21, 2015.
25. "Rick Crawford – 2006 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Results". Racing-Reference. Retrieved October 21, 2015.
26. "Rick Crawford – 2007 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Results". Racing-Reference. Retrieved October 21, 2015.
27. "Rick Crawford – 2008 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Results". Racing-Reference. Retrieved October 21, 2015.
28. "Rick Crawford – 2009 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Results". Racing-Reference. Retrieved October 21, 2015.
29. "Rick Crawford – 2010 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Results". Racing-Reference. Retrieved October 21, 2015.
30. "Rick Crawford – 2011 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Results". Racing-Reference. Retrieved October 21, 2015.
31. "Rick Crawford – 2012 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Results". Racing-Reference. Retrieved October 21, 2015.
32. "Rick Crawford – 2013 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Results". Racing-Reference. Retrieved October 21, 2015.
33. "Rick Crawford – 2013 Whelen Euro Elite 1 Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved August 11, 2023.

External links

• Official website
• Rick Crawford driver statistics at Racing-Reference
• Rick Crawford at NASCAR.com

Achievements
Preceded by Ted Musgrave	Snowball Derby Winner 1989	Succeeded by Rich Bickle