RACING ‘ROUND THE VALLEY

By Dan Fleisher
VSP Racing Columnist

Tulare driver on the verge?

The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (formerly Craftsman) competition is rugged, intense, keen, and demanding, so my question is, “How does a young upstart from the farming town of Tulare buck the likes of Ron Hornaday, who has won only (sic) 44 main events and amazed earnings of $4,965,076, and Mike Skinner who has 26 wins and earned a meager $3,707,192? The answer is he doesn’t yet, except in one area, MONEY. The ‘he’ is Matt Crafton.

Money wise, Crafton has earned a hefty $2,818,141 in nine short years but can’t match the winning ways of the two veterans. He still has however, 17 years left before reaching the half-century old mark like the two wily veterans.

Young Matt is 33 years old, being born June 11th 1976, so he’s obviously not in the teeny-bopper range like Joey Lagano, but he doesn’t have gray whiskers like old man Hornaday and Skinner. Hornaday the Palmdale, CA resident, just celebrated his 51st birthday in June, while Skinner celebrated his 52nd birthday, also in June. Coincidently, Skinner is also a California hot-shoe residing in Ontario, after being born and raised in Susanville. Hey, what’s up with the similarities of all three being born in California and all in the month of June?

As a youngster, Crafton raced under the tutelage of his father, Danny, also a driver, and it didn’t take him long to learn an important lesson, “We built our own cars, and we didn’t have much money or equipment,” he recalled. “So if we tore up our cars, we couldn’t race again until we rebuilt them.”
After winning the NASCAR Featherlite Southwest Series championship in 2000, he immediately joined the Truck series and garnered a top-10 finish and a check for $11,325 in his initial and only start. Not a bad payday considering the quote in the above paragraph.

He joined ThorSportRacing the following year (2001) and has now taken the green flag 209 times for owner Bud Haefele. In each of the last two seasons, he’s earned top-ten finishes in the championship standings and is determined to repeat or better the position this year. He currently sits third (1,922), having recorded five top-five finishes, along with 10 top-ten finishes, behind only, you guessed it, Hornaday (2,098) and Skinner (1,924).

Crafton was second in the standings until Skinner leapfrogged over him last Saturday at O’Reilly Raceway Park with an impressive second-place finish to Hornaday. Meanwhile Crafton settled for a disappointing 16th-place ending after starting a strong fifth on the grid. The good news, he sits 119 points ahead of fourth-place veteran Todd Bodine. The win was Hornaday’s fourth consecutive, the first time the feat has been accomplished in Truck series history.

Crafton has been close to victory on several occasions only to encounter bad luck or a “red-hot” driver like Hornaday, but he did reach the winners’ circle at North Carolina in May of 2008. Ever the competitor, Crafton wants to win races, of course, but says the key to success is consistency. “It’s about being there at the end of the race…being in the contention and leaving yourself a change to win each time out,” he said. “I’m focused on being consistent each week, and winning the war instead of the battle.” Overall, he’s recorded 27 top-five and 98 top-ten finishes in his career, or 60% of each event started. I’d say that’s consistent.

The next battle takes place this Saturday (August 1) at Nashville, a 1.333-mile oval. Can he buck the trend and reach the winners’ circle? Check your local sports listing Sunday.

This writer can be reached at: danfleisher1@yahoo.com

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