BOB CRAWFORD: "ONE MAN ARMY"
By Tommy Goudge - Southern Ontario Sprints.com
The 2008 season will mark Bob Crawford’s 6th year of racing with the
Southern Ontario Sprints, and if one word were to be used to define the
first 5 years of his sprint car career, that word would be “consistent”.
The 53 year old from Sutton, Ontario has never finished lower than 6th
in SOS points standings, and has finished no worse than 4th in each of
the last 3 seasons, including a 2nd place in 2006, just 18 points behind
that year’s champion, Warren Mahoney.
Crawford came to the sprint cars from the Can-Am TQ Midget series, a
division that has produced quite a few present-day SOS front runners.
When asked, Bob will say the learning curve changing from asphalt to
dirt was a steep, but it should be noted out that he scored a popular
victory at Ohsweken Speedway on July 30, 2004, just halfway through his
second season on the dirt.
Victory lane has eluded Crawford since that first visit in’04, but it is
never a surprise to see Bob up front and in contention at any SOS venue,
despite being what he calls a “one man army”. He does much of the work
and upkeep on his car himself, and has help from just a single crew
member on race days, as well as working with a smaller budget than many
other front-running competitors, all of which makes what he has
accomplished over the years that much more impressive.
Despite a season-best finish of 2nd at Brighton Speedway during the
Labour Day Classic weekend, Crawford recalls another event at Brighton
earlier in the season as his favourite moment of 2007: On June 9, Bob
had a tough heat and was only able to muster a 6th place finish, but in
the feature race things came together and Crawford charged from the 9th
row on the grid to finish in 4th. This performance and a charge from
21st to 8th in another Brighton event in July were 2 key moments which
helped to solidify his 4th place finish in the SOS points standings last
season.
Due to unfortunate circumstances, two of Bob’s long-time sponsors will
not be returning this season, but Carstar has helped out and have the
familiar red #10 looking great and ready for the entire SOS schedule,
which begins at the Brighton Speedway in Brighton, Ontario on Saturday,
May 10th. A staunch supporter of the Southern Ontario Sprints since
joining the sprint car division, Bob will also represent the club at
selected events at Ohsweken Speedway throughout the season, including
the Canadian Sprint Car Nationals in September. In what was an
impressive performance, Crawford narrowly missed making the feature at
the Nationals last season, despite having to repair damage from a
rollover earlier in the evening.
To find out when and where to find Bob Crawford and the Southern Ontario
Sprints this season, please visit www.SouthernOntarioSprints
one of the nicest guys to talk to in the pits after a race, regardless how things went. I remember seeing Bob years ago in an absolutely vicious crash in his TQ at Peterborough where he got airborne (sp?) and hit the large red pole that I think supported the pit gate. I was relieved when he made such a great recovery from the serious injuries he sustained.
I remember that quite well myself Mike, as I was in the stands with a friend who had never seen the TQ's before as he raced a LM on dirt at Brighton & he was amazed at the speeds they put down but could understand the power to weight ratio of them. Bob ran over another cars front wheel coming out of 4 right in front of us & went down along the wall hitting the post as you said & if memory serves me correct, it tore the cage off & he hit his head on that post pretty much putting him out for the year I think. The good thing is, the following year he came back & won the feature either the next year or the year after that as I can't remember exactly how long he was out of racing for at that point. Got a good shot of his car in the pits from the CNE days too & got them blown up to give to him around the time he came back. Finally, you are so correct that he is one of the nicest guys to talk to in the pits at the track too - no argument from me!
Bob is a gracious, soft spoken, and very nice guy...he's also a heck of a race car driver. It has been a lot of fun getting to know guys like Bob a little better this season.