Crawford Composites is an American manufacturer of carbon fiber and composite parts company based in

Denver, North Carolina Denver, formerly known as Dry Pond, is a census-designated place and unincorporated community in Lincoln County, North Carolina, United States. As of the 2010 census it had a population of 2,309. Known as “Dry Pond” until 1873, it was re ...

. Crawford designs and manufacture structural and non-structural composite components in industries such as aerospace, aviation, motor sports, health care, defense and structural construction.

History

Max Crawford

Crawford Composites founder Max Crawford started as a racing driver and mechanic in the New Zealand Open Saloon Car Association racing series in his home country in 1966. Crawford moved to the USA to join Dick Barbour Racing as a mechanic in the

IMSA GT Championship IMSA GT was a sports car racing series organized by International Motor Sports Association. Races took place primarily in the United States, and occasionally in Canada. History The series was founded in 1969 by John and Peggy Bishop, and Bill ...

. After the disbandment of Dick Barbour Racing the New Zealander joined John Fitzpatrick Racing as a crew chief. After successes in

Can-Am The Canadian-American Challenge Cup, or Can-Am, was an SCCA/ CASC sports car racing series from 1966 to 1987. History Can-Am started out as a race series for group 7 sports racers with two races in Canada (''Can'') and four races in the United ...

Group C Group C was a category of sports car racing introduced by the FIA in 1982 and continuing until 1993, with ''Group A'' for touring cars and '' Group B'' for GTs. It was designed to replace both Group 5 special production cars (closed top tou ...

and a third place in the

1984 24 Hours of Le Mans The 1984 24 Hours of Le Mans was the 52nd Grand Prix of Endurance, and took place on 16 – 17 June 1984. It was also the third round of the 1984 World Endurance Championship. The works Rothmans Porsche team boycotted the 1984 Le Mans ra ...

, Crawford moved to North Carolina in 1987.

Mazda RX-792P

In 1991 Crawford was contracted by Mazda Motorsports to construct the chassis for the Mazda RX-792P. Lee Dykstra designed the car as Crawford Composites was contracted to manufacture the car. The car was designed to incorporate many style elements of the new

Mazda RX-7 The Mazda RX-7 is a front-engine, rear-wheel-drive, rotary engine-powered sports car that was manufactured and marketed by Mazda from 1978 until 2002 across three generations, all of which made use of a compact, lightweight Wankel rotary engine. ...

. The chassis was a honeycomb aluminium

monocoque Monocoque ( ), also called structural skin, is a structural system in which loads are supported by an object's external skin, in a manner similar to an egg shell. The word ''monocoque'' is a French term for "single shell". First used for boats, ...

. The GTP sports car was powered by a Mazda R26B Wankel engine. Two cars were built for Mazda Motorsports. The car encountered several problems in the

. During practice of the 1992 Grand Prix of Miami the #001 chassis caught fire. The fire was caused by the exhaust setting the bodywork on fire. Drivers

Price Cobb Price Cobb (born December 10, 1954) is an American race car driver. He won the 1990 24 Hours of Le Mans together with John Nielsen and Martin Brundle in a Jaguar XJR-12. He also owned an Indy Racing League team in 1998 and 1999 for Roberto Guerre ...

and

Pete Halsmer John Peter Halsmer (born March 3, 1944, in Lafayette, Indiana), is a former driver in the CART Championship Car series. He raced in 5 seasons (1980, 1982–1985), with 33 career starts, and started in the Indianapolis 500 in 1981–1982. He finishe ...

were unable to take part in the race. During the 1992

12 Hours of Sebring The 12 Hours of Sebring is an annual motorsport endurance race for sports cars held at Sebring International Raceway, on the site of the former Hendricks Army Airfield World War II air base in Sebring, Florida, US. The event is the second roun ...

the car caught fire again. The two cars competed a total of 22 races in the 1992 IMSA GT Championship season. The cars scored two podium finishes, a third place at

Lime Rock Park Lime Rock Park is a natural-terrain motorsport road racing venue located in Lakeville, Connecticut, United States, a hamlet in the town of Salisbury, in the state's northwest corner. Built in 1956, it is the nation's third oldest continuously o ...

and a second place at

Watkins Glen International Raceway Watkins Glen International, nicknamed "The Glen", is an automobile race track located in the town of Dix just southwest of the village of Watkins Glen, New York, at the southern tip of Seneca Lake. It was long known around the world as the ho ...

. After a number of technical failures to finish the cars were retired after the season.

IRL

Crawford Composites was contracted by

Riley & Scott Riley & Scott Cars Inc. was an American racing constructor and racing team that primarily provided chassis for various forms of motorsport, but worked primarily in sports car racing. It was founded in 1990 by Bob Riley and Mark Scott. History Sp ...

to construct the chassis for their

Indy Racing League The IndyCar Series, currently known as the NTT IndyCar Series under sponsorship, is the highest class of regional North American open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars in the United States, which has been conducted under the auspices of ...

program. The Crawford Composites constructed Riley & Scott Mk. V made its racing debut during the 1998 Indy 200 at

Walt Disney World Speedway Walt Disney World Speedway was a racing facility located on the grounds of the Walt Disney World Resort in Bay Lake, Florida, near Orlando. It was built in 1995 by IMS Events, Inc., a subsidiary of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Corporation, an ...

Eliseo Salazar Eliseo Salazar Valenzuela (born 14 November 1954) is a Chilean former racing driver. , he is the only Chilean to have participated in a Formula One World Championship. He made his Formula One debut on 15 March 1981, and ultimately contested 37 r ...

finished twelfth in the race. The best result was a sixth place achieved by Salazar at

New Hampshire Motor Speedway New Hampshire Motor Speedway is a Oval track racing, oval speedway located in Loudon, New Hampshire, which has hosted NASCAR racing annually since 1990, as well as the longest-running motorcycle race in North America, the Loudon Classic. Nickna ...

. A total of eight Mk. V chassis were constructed.

Sport prototypes

For the 2001 Grand American Road Racing Championship season Crawford designed and built the Crawford SSC2K. The car was designed by Andy Scriven who joined Crawford in April 1999 after leaving

Lola Lola may refer to: Places * Lolá, a or subdistrict of Panama * Lola Township, Cherokee County, Kansas, United States * Lola Prefecture, Guinea * Lola, Guinea, a town in Lola Prefecture * Lola Island, in the Solomon Islands People * Lola (fo ...

. The GTP sports car was powered by a Judd V10 engine. The car was built for

Kevin Doran Kevin Doran (born 26 June 1953) is an Irish prelate of the Catholic Church and has served as the Bishop of Elphin since 13th July 2014. Early life and education Doran was born in Dublin in 1953. He was educated at Christian Brothers College, Mo ...

's racing team, Doran Racing. During the two years the car was contested the car was fitted with various different front end designs. The blunt nose suffered similar issues as experienced by the Reynard 2KQ, the airflow towards the rear end was disrupted. By 2002 the Crawford followed Lola B2K/10's example with regard to the aerodynamic design. In the cars second season the car scored its first win. At

Virginia International Raceway Virginia International Raceway (commonly known as "VIR") is a race track located in Alton, Virginia, near Danville. It is less than a half-mile from the North Carolina/ Virginia border just outside Milton, North Carolina, on the banks of th ...

Andy Wallace and

Chris Dyson Christopher Dyson (born February 24, 1978) is an American professional racing driver who competed in the American Le Mans Series for Dyson Racing from 2002 to 2013. He is currently competing in the Trans-Am Series in the TA class where he just c ...

won the 500 km race. In 2003 the

Rolex Sports Car Series The Rolex Sports Car Series was the premier series run by the Grand American Road Racing Association. It was a North American-based sports car series founded in 2000 under the name Grand American Road Racing Championship to replace the faile ...

introduced the

Daytona Prototype A Daytona Prototype is a type of sports prototype racing car developed specifically for the Grand American Road Racing Association's Rolex Sports Car Series as their top class of car, which replaced their main prototype racing class, specifically ...

class. Crawford was one of seven original Daytona Prototype constructors. The Crawford DP03 debuted in the 2004 Rolex Sports Car Series season. Three DP03's entered pre-season testing at

Daytona International Speedway Daytona International Speedway is a race track in Daytona Beach, Florida, United States. Since opening in 1959, it has been the home of the Daytona 500, the most prestigious race in NASCAR as well as its season opening event. In addition to NAS ...

. The Howard-Boss Motorsports entry driven by

Dale Earnhardt Jr. Ralph Dale Earnhardt Jr. (born October 10, 1974) is an American semi-retired professional stock car racing driver, team owner, author, and an analyst for ''NASCAR on NBC''. He currently competes part-time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, driving t ...

Tony Stewart Anthony Wayne Stewart (born May 20, 1971), nicknamed Smoke, is an American semi-retired professional stock car racing driver, current NASCAR team co-owner of Stewart-Haas Racing, and current co-owner of the Superstar Racing Experience. He i ...

and Andy Wallace was the fastest Crawford fourth overall. The team finished fifth in the 2004 24 Hours of Daytona. The DP03's won three races during the season. The DP03 won eleven races between 2003 and 2008. A total of eleven DP03's were built. After the 2008 season the second generation of Daytona Prototypes was presented. The DP08 was less successful than its predecessor. The cars best finish was an eighth place at the 2009 24 Hours of Daytona. Crawford did not design a third generation Daytona Prototype.

Grand-Am GT

GT31 Eric Curran John Heinricy 2011 Road America

Chief designer Andy Scriven designed the Crawford GT06 chassis to compete in the

GT category. The GT06 project originally began after Crawford was approached to build a Ford Mustang GT for Blackforest Motorsports. The chassis was designed to accommodate a wide range of wheelbases and drivetrains for various manufacturers. The GT06 chassis made its debut in the 2007 Rolex Sports Car Series season. The GT06 had a tough opening season with

Porsche Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG, usually shortened to Porsche (; see below), is a German automobile manufacturer specializing in high-performance sports cars, SUVs and sedans, headquartered in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. The company ...

's dominating the season. With Pontiac joining the title fight the Crawford struggled. Due to a lack of results more teams switched to the more successful marques.

Formula racecars

Crawford Composites first attempt at

formula racing Formula racing (known as open-wheel racing in North America) is any of several forms of open-wheeled single-seater motorsport. The origin of the term lies in the nomenclature that was adopted by the FIA for all of its post- World War II single- ...

came in 2014. In conjunction with High Performance Group, the constructed announced the creation of the Formula Lites. The series is planned to run a full schedule in 2015 sanctioned by

SCCA Pro Racing SCCA Pro Racing is the pro racing division of the Sports Car Club of America. SCCA Pro Racing was formed in 1963, the company is a fully owned subsidiary of SCCA. Current Championships Since the beginning in 1963 SCCA Pro Racing sanctioned variou ...

. The Crawford FL15 has a

carbon fiber Carbon fiber-reinforced polymers (American English), carbon-fibre-reinforced polymers (Commonwealth English), carbon-fiber-reinforced plastics, carbon-fiber reinforced-thermoplastic (CFRP, CRP, CFRTP), also known as carbon fiber, carbon compo ...

monocoque chassis built according to FIA F3 technical regulations. The car would initially be powered by a 2L

Volkswagen Volkswagen (),English: , . abbreviated as VW (), is a German motor vehicle manufacturer headquartered in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony, Germany. Founded in 1937 by the German Labour Front under the Nazi Party and revived into a global brand post- ...

engine. Later it was announced the car will feature a

Honda is a Japanese public multinational conglomerate manufacturer of automobiles, motorcycles, and power equipment, headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. Honda has been the world's largest motorcycle manufacturer since 1959, reaching a product ...

power plant. The 2.4 L Honda K24 engine will be built by

Honda Performance Development Honda Performance Development, Inc. (HPD) is a subsidiary of American Honda Motor Co. which was established in 1993 and is based in Santa Clarita, California. It is the technical operations center for Honda's American motorsports programs and is ...

. The racing class was announced with the unveiling of the car at the North American Motorsports Expo. The FL15 made its debut at

with

Dane Cameron Dane Cameron (born October 18, 1988) is an American racing driver from Glen Ellen, California. He won the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship overall in 2016 and 2019, and also in the GTD class in 2014. Racing career After karting, Cameron ...

behind the wheel. Cameron ran two exhibition sessions during the 2014 Ultimate Track Car Challenge. In 2016, the Crawford F4 was launched for the Formula 4 United States Championship. It features a 2000cc Honda K20C naturally aspirated engine, detuned to 160 hp. In 2018, the Ligier Crawford JS F3 will debut at Formula 3 Americas Championship. It will have a 270 hp turbocharged version of the Honda K20C engine.

Cars

References

External links

* {{Official website, http://crawfordcomposites.com/ American racecar constructors 1998 establishments in North Carolina Sports car manufacturers