December 20, 2005
Business travel took me to Charlotte for a day, so I took the opportunity to visit a few of my friends just north of there, Finlay Motorsports in Mooresville and Crawford Race cars / Howard-Boss Motorsports over in Denver, NC. It is so neat to be able to take the time to visit everyone away from the race tracks.

My first stop was to see Kimberly at Finlay. Driving up I-77 I was a few miles short of the Mooresville exit when the Finlay transporter went by going south. They were on the way to Daytona for testing with their new Ford Crawford Daytona Prototypes. So the cars wouldn’t be at the shop when I arrived. Finlay Motorsports is on Rolling Hill Drive, right in the middle of the Motorsports Park in Mooresville. I have been here several time before, but it’s still wild to imagine all the race car shops that are there. But Kimberly was there, so we had time to chat & I got a tour of the shop.

Although the Daytona Prototypes weren’t there, the two new Ford Mustangs for Grand-Am Cup were there. These are chassis numbers 010 and 013. I found it amusing, to myself, that there is a chassis #013. Many sports car manufacturers decide to skip that number with their serial numbers. The cars are still plain white as new. One of the motors was out, which I find kind of weird, but didn’t think to ask, I assumed it’s because the crews were tinkering and learning as much as they could.

There is a nice open area in the front for working on the DP’s. It’s a typical race shop with other little racing goodies stashed throughout, such as a few karts for racing in the Charlotte area (or elsewhere!). I inquired what had happened to the two BMW Riley chassis the team had raced this year. There they were, out in the back work area. Along with the 2005 Grand-Am Cup BMW car and another road race car I’m not familiar with, an open cockpit version you might see raced in a SCCA class. It’s used for practice they said. But the BMW Rileys are for sale for anyone interested in a winning car to buy!

The other nice touch was Kimberly provided me a couple of Finlay Motorsports Make-A-Wish shirts for Jacob and me. I can tell you my shirt fit great that evening when I wore it out to the business dinner I had that night.

Then it was off to Crawford & Crawford Composites Manufacturing, Crawford Race Cars, and Howard-Boss Motorsports. It’s about a half hour drive out to Denver, but certainly very close to the hotbed of Motorsports!

I haven’t been to the Crawford’s for many months, so to drive up and see the new building with the center courtyard area and walls and fencing, is pretty impressive to say the least.

The building on the right is the original Crawford & Crawford Composites and Crawford Race Cars. On the left is the new building to be used for the Howard-Boss Motorsports race car teams. They’ll still have the three cars (#’s 2, 4 & 20). But 2006 will see a much different approach from Howard-Boss Motorsports. The details aren’t worked out yet on everything, but one thing is important – Butch Leitzinger and Andy Wallace will challenge for the Rolex Grand American Road Racing Association present by Crown Royal Special Reserve in the #4 Boss Snowplow car. That’ll send a message out to the Rolex series competitors – the bar has been raised again in 2006. This will be a very serious year for competition in the Daytona Prototype class. Why all the competition, to get some more of these:

These banners are a gift from Action Performance I believe, who does the graphics for the race cars. Win a race, and they provide a banner marking the event. There is room on the wall for a few more banners in 2006!

When I arrived, there was a brand new Crawford Daytona Prototype car, still in it’s black carbon fiber stealth look, sitting on the set-up stand. The rear deck was off. I snuck a peek into the engine bay, at it’s a new Lexus sitting back there! The chassis is # 015. Since that time, it has now been made public that this was the second car for Cheever Racing. Pretty neat that I had the chance to see the car just as it was being made public.

I asked Jan Crawford, that could she have imagined that it was almost two years ago that Jacob and I visited her and the Crawford team for the first time. And that during that visit, we had Jacob and Andy Wallace standing inside the middle of the body parts that were to become chassis #001, the #2 Citgo car. And could she have imaged, that here we are two years later, with chassis #015; could she have imagined reaching that mile mark in just two short years? We pretty much agreed it’s been very good growth beyond their expectations. And, now with the teams and drivers that will be racing in Crawford Race Cars in 2006, with all the motor combinations of Pontiac, Lexus, Ford, & Porsche, the plans have arrived!

I also spent a few minutes with Andy Scriven, what a busy time it’s been. In addition to the Daytona Prototypes, Andy has also been deep into the GT class Infiniti project as well. The designs and details are nearing completion, and they appear to be on track to have the first two cars competing in the Miami-Homestead race. But it is doubtful they’ll have a car at the 24 hours at Daytona to show the fans. Too bad, as Jacob is really looking forward to this effort by Team HLM and Crawford Race Cars.

The Rolex and Grand-Am Cup teams are so gracious with their time and energy for us fans. I suggest that if you have any teams in your area, make a point to stop in and say hello! As was said to me as I said my goodbyes – “It’s great to have the fans around!” And it’s great to be able to be around you as well! Thanks!

Dan “Sput” Dodge
www.garra-fans.com
http://photobucket.com/albums/v246/GARRA20/Finlay%20and%20Crawford%20Dec05/

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