Erin Crocker Returns to the Dirt

Once hailed as the NASCAR Danica, Erin Crocker is back in winged sprint world trying to make the finals of the Knoxville Nationals.

Crocker will start 12th in the "D Main" at Knoxville tonight (Saturday). I'm a little foggy, but I think the top two from the "D Main" advance to the final where the prize is $150,000 and an Indy 500 winner-esque stature among winged sprint drivers.

Crocker has been in sprint cars before. In 2003 she became the first woman ever to qualify for the Knoxville Nationals finals and was named Knoxville Nationals Rookie of the Year that year. In the following years, both open-wheel and fenderworld courted Crocker as The Female Breakthrough.

She eventually chose fenderland (in part, she said, because she didn't have the truckload of money to get into IndyCar), joining Ray Evernham's team in 2005 and was sponsored for a time by Betty Crocker (HAR. But it's true though.) In 2007, a legal battle between Jeremy Mayfield and Ray Evernham outed a romantic tangle between Evernham and Crocker.

That situation (fairly or unfairly) essentially flushed everything Erin had built in fenderworld, and she eventually left the team. I'm not sure if Crocker and Evernham are still connected. I don't believe so. (Update: I was wrong. The two were married shortly after this was posted.) Crocker resurfaced in 2008 as a color analyst for SPEED TV.

Now she's back on the dirt under the banner of Erin Crocker Racing. Crocker ran a pair of World of Outlaws events July 28 and 29 at Ohsweken Speedway in Ontario. The first night, she won the B-Main feature after missing the A-Main by one spot in the last-chance qualifier. Crocker made the A-Main the following night and finished 15th.

I've been a fan of Erin. Her background reminds me a lot of Sarah Fisher -- coming from an average family, starting  young, working the dirt. The whole Evernham thing was an expected twist in her career road, however, but she seems back on track (har) again. I'm glad to see she's back on the dirt and racing again.

I'd love to see her in an IndyCar, but I think the funding barriers are too steep and she'd have to start from scratch on the road courses. Those to reasons have been a pretty effective at keeping American dirt racers out of IndyCar. More than likely there's more money in a World of Outlaws career for Erin. Maybe she can work her way back up to fenderworld if she wants.

Read about Erin at Knoxville HERE. Catch the Knoxville Nationals on SPEED starting at 9 p.m. Eastern tonight (Sat. Aug. 15).

UPDATE: Erin failed to advance out of the D-Main. Follow her on Twitter at @Crockerin.

Comments

[pat]

Erin was not successful in Nascar. She finished dead last out of all the full time Truck teams the year she raced the whole season. And that was having a fully funded "cup" team behind her. The reason she kept getting chances was because she was doing the married boss. Finally the sponsors said no more.

When Ray changed his mind about marrying her, she had to go find her way again, without his money. If she does well in Sprints, good for her, but I don't see her in Indy or back in Nascar due to her poor choices of how to try and advance her career.

[pressdog]

I appreciate you taking the opportunity to drill Erin, pat. I assume nobody had a gun in Ray Evernham's ear, so let's not put the whole thing down to evil Erin. Erin didn't do too bad in ARCA, though: 3 top 5's, including a second place finish, five top 10's, and two poles in six starts, and she rocked it on the dirt. I was just trying to be happy for her starting over.

[pat]

I have no respect for Evernham. He created a totally unprofessional work environment by having sex with an employee. I've had to work in that type of situation and its horrible for the other employees trying to advance by regular means and having to deal with the "chosen one" who doesn't get held to the same work standards.

As for Arca, considering it was Kasey's old cup cars and the cup team set up the car and sometimes crewed it , she should have done well. Should have smoked the field of poorly funded rides and won many races. That didn't happen.

As I said above "If she does well in Sprints, good for her, "

And I'm with you on Sarah Fisher, I'm always rooting for her to do well.