THOROLD - For 10 years, Chris Crawford’s main goal at a speedway was to wreck every car on the track. Now, all he wants to do is beat everyone to the finish line. From 2001 until 2010, Crawford criss-crossed all over Ontario to compete in demolition-derbies, until he found out, surprisingly, crashing cars is not easy on the body. So, in 2011, he started back in the Hoosier stock class at Merrittville and Humberstone speedways. “In racing it’s all about having the green light and winning the race in the shortest time,” said the 36-year-old Welland resident as he prepared his No. 4c 1978 Camaro for Saturday night’s feature at Merrittville, in which he placed ninth. “Derbies had no race clock and were all about strategy and planning hits if you wanted to do well. If you didn’t want to do well, you just hit the gas and rammed everyone. You had nothing invested in the car and could win anywhere from $500-$5,000. I had a blast and won a lot of derbies, but it just got to be too much on the back.” Crawford has been married to Patty for 13 years and they have two children: Samantha and Chris. During the week, Crawford is the operations manager at Thorold Auto Parts, and the company is a major sponsor of his race car. “Without Lenny and Frank Serravalle, I wouldn’t be able to race because they give me a job and resources for the car,” he said. “I cannot thank them enough for their help.” Back in 1998, Crawford spent three years racing in Hoosier stock and found success collecting multiple feature wins and the 1998 street stock track title at Humberstone. “It was either win or broke,” he said. “Me and my brother-in-law, Lloyd Chicocki, ran together and we would either win or be in the pits with broken parts. Points weren’t our main focus until we won the championship. It was so much work. It took the fun out of it. You always worried about where you finished and who was in front of you and behind you.” This year, Crawford is starting to turn heads with his driving skills, and he currently sits third in the point standings for the Hoosier stock track championship just behind the Brian’s Tires cars of Rob Murray and Brad Sheehan. “Last year we struggled, but this year we are very competitive,” he said. “The competition has changed a lot from 10 years ago. Everyone is so fast now.” In 2011, Crawford was given the Humberstone Speedway Sportsmanship Award for his gentlemanly ways. This was quite a change from his past 10 years of carnage and mayhem. “I like to work with the other drivers to stay on the track,” he said. “You don’t want to beat a guy because his car is in the garage. You can hold your head high when you beat someone fair and square.” Track notes: This Saturday night is the points finale for the track championships in the Lucas Oil Weekly Racing Series...
Posted on: Wed, 19 Mar 2014 22:27:09 +0000
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