Michael Crawford Motorsports Team Reflects on Quality, Deep Indy Pro Series Field in ‘07

Michael Crawford Motorsports Team Reflects on Quality, Deep Indy Pro Series Field in ‘07

Eighteen year-old second-year driver CR Crews of Dallas stood tenth on the second day of testing at Indianapolis Motor Speedway last week. His team, Michael Crawford Motorsports, is entering the month of May with the goal of putting CR into Victory Lane at the Brickyard on Carb Day (May 25th) when the Indy Pro Series contests its own late-May classic, the Freedom 100.

CR Crews (L) and Michael Crawford.
Photo: ShawnPayneIRL

Crews raced twelve times in 2006 in the Pro Series, twice with Michael Crawford’s team, in tenure as a journeyman driver seeking a ride. Since returning to the cockpit of the MCM car at Homestead/Miami Speedway this March, he’s gone on to record three more top-ten finishes to go along with the two top-ten’s he earned for the team last year.
The result is a spot in sixth place in the IPS championship points, a new career high for Crews, who doesn’t even turn nineteen years old for several months yet.
CR and his team owner Michael Crawford took time-out with IndyProRacer.com to recap their season so far, and look toward the future, with a question-and-answer exchange last month. Here’s what they said:
IndyProRacer.com: How do you feel after three races about your season so far?
Michael Crawford: I’m very grateful. The entire team appreciates CR showcasing our abilities. His maturity, consistency, and most importantly speed, makes him a huge asset.
Sixth in points of twenty-nine drivers is a very good way to start the season.
And I’m happy, but not satisfied. We did well in the first three races, but we could have done better. We missed the opportunity to test with CR at the Homestead Open Test.
We will all benefit when we can do more testing. CR gives great feedback and we need more opportunities to maximize the car. We can race with anyone in the series given equal footing.
So, I’m optimistic. We will win a race or two before it’s all over, if we can do the whole season together. I know that CR and his supporters are all working very hard to make this happen.
The team is doing everything that we can to keep CR. We can have a successful future together if we can stick together.
CR Crews: Things have gone well. We have completed every lap of the season so far.
At the same time we haven’t been in a position to compete for a win yet, so it’s a mix of emotion. We have done well but I know we can do so much better.
IndyProRacer.com: What areas do you think you and your team can improve on before the Freedom 100 race?
CR Crews: The biggest thing we are lacking is a budget. We need to have the resources to do some testing and improve our car and our team. Even with the budget being such a struggle we continue to take two matchsticks and make a bonfire.
Having said that, we are lacking very little in the way of personnel.
Typically teams and drivers put the blame on each other. This isn’t the case at MCM. I’m happy with every side of the crew from the engineer to the truck driver. I hope they feel the same about me.
We are just lacking the time together to develop like the other teams have. We are working day and night on finding the last little bit of speed we lack.
Sponsorship is what we need more than anything else. With a proper backer I absolutely know that we will be contending for wins in the Indy Pro Series this year.
Michael Crawford: Three things: Testing. Communication. Continuity.

CR Crews at St. Pete.
Photo: JimHainesIRL

IndyProRacer.com: How big are the three races at Indianapolis Motor Speedway as far as wanting to win them? Bigger than the others or “just another race”?
Michael Crawford: They are the biggest events on the schedule. A win at either would cement our team’s capabilities in the minds of our competitors and supporters.
There’s nothing like running a race in front of 80,000-100,000 people. The excitement of Carburetion Day is second only to the Indy 500. It’s our biggest day of the year and everyone is watching.
CR Crews: As far as the big picture goes the races in Indy do not mean more then any other race, they pay the same points.
The difference is everyone is from Indianapolis, so it is the one race that everyone’s friends and family will be watching.
It’s a pride thing you always want to do better in front of a home audience.
IndyProRacer.com: Are you concerned about how many accidents we’ve seen so far this year? Is that just par for the course with developing drivers, or is there too much free-lancing and risk-taking going on this year?
CR Crews: There are always going to be crashes, we started the season at two pretty difficult tracks so that didn’t help things.
There are some guys out there that can more easily financially replace equipment. Just by that very nature they may be taking more risk. I do not have that luxury. I need to finish races and take care of my equipment.
I do believe you will see the crashing slow down a bit as the season settles in, but I can promise it will not go away all together.
Michael Crawford: Two of our most difficult races occur early in the year. I think we’ll see fewer accidents as we go through the season.
That said, we have a lot of cars on the track, so incidents are going to happen more frequently than last year.
"It's the most competition the IPS has ever seen," says Michael Crawford

We also have the highest level of competition that the IndyPro Series has ever seen. The top drivers are going to be taking more risks and that will result in more accidents.
Am I concerned? Yes, I’m concerned any time someone gets injured.
Am I surprised? Not really. Lots of enthusiastic drivers equals lots of damage.
IndyProRacer.com: Has the large size of the fields in the races had any impact on your preparation or strategy for the races? Do you think there’s an optimum number of cars that might be the Pro Series goal in this regard?
CR Crews: We have 26 cars in the series right now. I don’t see a need for anymore.
I would like to see the cars in the back of the pack become more competitive, and the field to become tighter.
The only thing the number of entries has changed for us is, we have had to make sure we stay in the “meat” of the prize money, it’s where a large amount of our season budget is coming from. We can’t afford to lose anymore then we have to.
Michael Crawford: I don’t think our strategy changes with the size of the field.
We try everything and anything available to us to make the car fast.
It doesn’t really matter whether there are eleven cars or thirty cars on the track. We want to be up front.
It’s the nature of the game; winners run up front. Being up front also reduces our risk of being collected in an accident.
Personally, twenty-six cars are as many as I need to see on the track.
We have the best open-wheel racing series in North America. I don’t think we need to see thirty cars to claim success. The fields are huge this year.
More importantly, they are deep. There isn’t a team on the track that doesn’t deserve to be here.
IndyProRacer.com: What are you doing during the layoff between the last race and the Freedom 100 as to personal preparation? Car preparation? Team preparation?

Michael Crawford Motorsports.
Photo: ShawnPayneIRL

CR Crews: As much as we can, no one has taken an extra day off between the two races.  We need this time more then any other team out there; it’s giving us a chance to get caught up on the time we missed over the winter.
Expect a much improved Michael Crawford Motorsports when Indy rolls around.
Michael Crawford: First, we are recovering from the first three races.
We had some minor crash damage and needed to repair and replace some parts upon our return.
Second, we’re prepping the cars as much as possible.
Third, we have a new (to us) trailer. We’ve spent some time sorting out our various spares and supplies.
We need to be ready for the summer swing. June, July and August are going to be just crazy.

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Tuesday, May 1, 2007

By Allan Brewer - IndyProRacer.com