Kenny Bruce: Ricky Craven thankful for his 'presence' in NASCAR Hall of Fame
CHARLOTTE, N.C. – William H.G. France, Bill France Jr., Richard Petty, Junior Johnson and Dale Earnhardt will be inducted into the 2010 NASCAR Hall of Fame later this year.
Ricky Craven’s already there, in a manner of speaking.
Craven, the affable New England native whose own driving career was cut short by injury, was the winner in the Cup series’ closest finish, edging Kurt Busch by 0.002 second at Darlington in 2003. The winning car already resides in the hall, for now tucked in amid the drywall, soon-to-be-completed wiring and other assorted parts and pieces of the multimillion-dollar project slated to open to the public in May.
“I never would have considered being in the position I’m in because of the [Darlington] finish,” said Craven, whose car will be housed in the “Greatest Finishes Theater” area of the hall. “The finish has created a lot of excitement and a lot of discussion, and I’m thankful of that.
“And I’m very thankful that [team owner] Cal [Wells] built the car and gave it to me as a gift. But I guess I’m mostly thankful that I can contribute a little bit and the fans can enjoy it.”
It’s nothing short of amazing that the car, which was also the last Pontiac to win a Cup race, is still around at all. Craven said it was the same car he ran at Darlington the previous year, “but it ended up in a heap.”
It was a part of what Craven describes as “favorite-car syndrome,” and because the damage suffered the previous year at Darlington wasn’t terminal, he said, it was rebuilt and brought back the following year. That, he explained, is why the car scheduled to be on display in the hall doesn’t appear “race used.”
“There are certain cars that you feel more comfortable in, and they react to changes better, and they become your favorite car,” Craven said. “Drivers sometimes become dependent on it to the point where they exhaust the team. This car gets used and used and used. … But that’s really the case with this car. We wore this car out. Cal rebuilt it and presented it to me as a gift.”
Having one of his cars featured in the NASCAR Hall of Fame isn’t something Craven said he expected, although he admitted that he was no different from any other impressionable kid when he was growing up in Newberry, Maine. He became absorbed in NASCAR, which was broadcast only occasionally on television at that time, as well as the Boston Red Sox.
“I loved to drive,” Craven, a two-time winner in Cup, said. “I drove everything in the yard, when my parents weren’t home. Well, they allowed me to, I think.
“NASCAR provided me with an opportunity, something to shoot for. I’m growing up and watching (the 1976 Daytona 500), and I was heart-broken that Richard Petty couldn’t get that car started and get it across the line in front of David Pearson. I was also a Carlton Fisk fan, the Boston Red Sox catcher, and as you grow up playing sports, watching sports, you dream about hitting the game-winning home run in the bottom of the ninth [inning] or you think about being Richard Petty or David Pearson in the Daytona 500.”
Craven no longer has to dream. His career as a driver may have been cut short, but he still managed to leave his mark in a sport he loves dearly.
“This [Hall of Fame] is outstanding …. It exceeds what I expected,” he said. “I think that will be the impression most people will take from here. It will be a great source of history, and that 2003 finish will be a little bit of that history. I’m glad I could be a part of it.”
