Memories of Jim Crawford

[Crawford Fan]

Hi everyone,
I’m currently in the process of writing a biography of the late Scottish racing driver Jim Crawford, and have been working closely with photographer David Hutson who knew Jim well. I would be delighted to hear any memories anyone may have. The book is at quite an advanced stage, and I am keen to finish it soon. Got my first child on the way in February and free time will become a thing of the past. The plan is for proceeds from the book to be split between a US and UK charity. This seems appropriate as roughly half of Jim’s career was spent in the UK and half stateside.


I’ve spoken to many people who knew Jim, including Stephen Choularton, Neil Edwards, Jim’s old rally co-driver from the very beginning of his career in a borrowed Mini, Bob Fernley, Kenny Bernstein, Mark Scott, Tino Belli, Roberto Guerrero, Derek Daly, Whitney Ganz and Tommy Byrne to name but a few. I’ve also met some of Jim’s non-racing friends and his sister. I am very keen to have input from both those who worked with Jim and those who watched him race, as he was so popular with the fans. I already have a mountain of anecdotes and one-liners, but more are always welcome.


I am from the same Scottish town as Jim and he was a hero of mine growing up. I couldn’t wait until each May to see what speed he could extract from the Buick.

I am also happy to receive emails. Please send me a pm for further details.

[rallycrosscraig]

keep us updated will be an interesting read when you finnish it.

Why has your email been removed for the users security?

What an absurd thing to do in 2011, the internet is littered with peoples email addresses - just take a look at autotrader or ebay. Its like trying to hide your number plate while you drive round the M25 - pointless.

[Crawford Fan]

I assume it's a forum policy. No doubt they have some legal obligation to do so or something.

I hope the book really conveys the character of Jim. He was a great guy with a fantastic sense of humour and endless reserves of courage. From the various interviews I've carried out it is clear he is still sorely missed.

[Andy Clegg]

Hi, I went to the 1978/79 Formula Atlantic Meeting at Oulton Park. Jim Crawford's mechanic was lined up for scrutineering with just himself pushing the racecar, I offered to lend a hand. I can remember him saying to me that Jim thought that Oulton was a proper race circuit, and spent a few minutes chatting about this and that. I was dumbstruck that someone would actually spend time talking to me.
From that moment on I always tried to keep an eye on what Jim was doing.
Sorry, I can't find the negative at the moment but this pic is from that meeting at the entrance to Druids.

[davyboy]

I remember Jim racing in Formula Atlantic in the Phoenix Park in 1979. Nestled among woodland, The Park is very similar to Oulton, so I guess he must have liked those kinds of tracks. He finished third that year in his Chevron B45 behind David Kennedy in the Ralt RT1 and Alo Lawler in the Lola T460.

David Kennedy and Alo Lawler might also be good people to speak to about Jim from that era... and Allen Brown / Chris Townsend of www.oldracingcars.com have a wealth of results/data in relation to the Atlantic events.

[chunterer]

Originally Posted by rallycrosscraig

keep us updated will be an interesting read when you finnish it.

Why has your email been removed for the users security?

What an absurd thing to do in 2011, the internet is littered with peoples email addresses - just take a look at autotrader or ebay. Its like trying to hide your number plate while you drive round the M25 - pointless.

Crawford fan is basically correct.

We are under no obligation to allow email addresses to be posted.

The private message system is in place to allow posters to exchange information privately and securely.

Have a look at our FAQ's for a guide.

[davyboy]

Originally Posted by rallycrosscraig

What an absurd thing to do in 2011, the internet is littered with peoples email addresses - just take a look at autotrader or ebay. Its like trying to hide your number plate while you drive round the M25 - pointless.

It's very different from covering your number plate on the M25. In the hunt for genuine e-mail addresses, the scammers and spammers crawl the net for anything either side of an 'at' sign to build their lists and I'm sure you'll agree, it's best off not being on those kinds of lists ! So, if there's a way of communicating without having to publish your e-mail address on a public website... you're far better off doing it that way.

[allang]

Hi , like Davyboy i have great memories of Jim racing at the Pheonix Park in Dublin in the late 1970 s . He was a great driver , very smooth and very quick . Allways a pleasure to watch . Sad to hear he is no longer with us RIP Jim.
Alan

[Crawford Fan]

Thanks for the replies everyone.

Andy, I love the composition of that picture. It's from 1979, Jim in the Econopallet Chevron. Nice story too. No-one I've spoken to so far has had a bad word to say about Jim, including rivals and team-mates. A top bloke by all accounts.

davyboy, thanks. I have a few ex-Atlantic drivers yet to track down. I have spoken to Neil Edwards, who built Jim's first ever Chevron (a bitsa car, using substantial pieces from the car Gerry Birrell lost his life in).

allang, Jim's smooth style certainly served him well when he went to Indianapolis. Not that he wasn't averse to running flat-out below the white line at Indy to extract the maximum from a year old car. When they changed the bottom part of the circuit at Indy his remark was, "the b***ards have grassed over my bit of track!"

[Crawford Fan]

Thanks for the replies everyone.

Andy, I love the composition and colours of your picture. It's 1979, with Jim in the Econopallet Chevron. Nice story too. No-one I've spoken to so far has had a single bad word to say about Jim, including rivals and team-mates. A top bloke by all accounts. If he hadn't been a racing driver his sailing friends reckon he could have been a top class competitive sailor.

davyboy, thanks. I still have a few ex-Atlantic drivers to track down. The oldracingcars site has been invaluable to me. I have spoken to Neil Edwards, who built Jim's very first Chevron. It was a bitsa creation, using substantial parts salvaged from the car Gerry Birrell lost his life in.

allang, I think Jim's smooth style certainly served him well when he went to Indianapolis. Not that he wasn't averse to running flat-out below the white line to extract just a little more speed from a year old car. When they changed this part of the circuit Jim's reaction was, "the b***ards have grassed over my bit of track!"

[Andy Clegg]

Thinking about Jim, Barrie "Whizzo" Williams mentions Jim in his book. The Chevron book by David Gordon also has bits about Jim as well.
Andy.

[Crawford Fan]

The other half has got the Chevron book for my Christmas. It's wrapped up sitting about six feet away from me. The definiton of frustration!

[Andy Clegg]

I hope that you enjoy the book as much as I do. I must have read it about seven or eight times. I can vaguely remember Jim in a blue car sponsored by Plygrange.
Andy.

[Crawford Fan]

The Plygrange cars always looked fantastic, predominantly blue with subtle yellow and red stripes. Plygrange had business interests in many fields, including windows, insulation, building and eventually race car preparation and fabrication. The company first appeared in racing backing Gerry Gough's Mini (Gerry's brother Ken was MD of Plygrange). They also helped Vin Malkie before getting together with Jim. Jim himself eventually became a joint MD.

[Metroman]

I remember him taking the outright lap record at Croft Autodrome - something that will always be there.

[paulSenna]

Originally Posted by Metroman

I remember him taking the outright lap record at Croft Autodrome - something that will always be there.

And the outright lap record at Oulton Park in the Plygrange Toleman TG280 too. Fabulous car, wonderful man.

[Crawford Fan]

The last couple of posts are interesting, about Jim taking the lap records at Croft and Oulton. He was quite notorious for turning up at circuits (often Libre events) and blitzing lap records.

[davyboy]

Speaking of Jim and the Plygrange Formula Atlantic outfit, you may already have seen this video... but here it is again in case you hadn't.

Duncan Gray Formula Atlantic.

[Flat Out Farr]

I was priveleged to help Vin out as a gofer a few times, in the 70's, when Jim was run in the Plygrange Chevron. To a young racer, it was an eye opener to see how quick he was. It was no surprise to see him do well in Indycar.

He should have been in F1.

[bluetoneracer]

I first met Jim as an awe struck 13 year old racing nut (me not him!) in my home town of Bolton (he must have been very early twenties). He'd picked up some sponsorship from a local businessman Tom Ashton, who owned a number of petrol stations and repair workshops in and around the town although I always suspected that there was a link to Chevron somewhere along the line. Here's where my memory gets blurred but am sure it was a Formula Ford (no idea of make) that was on display in one of aformentioned garage showrooms along side of which were black and white photos of JC in action in the car. Anyway, to cut a long one short I hung around the place long enough to eventually get introduced to Jim. Don't know why but he took time to talk with me about all kinds of racing stuff - he even gave me a couple of 'STP' racing decals and a used 'Competitors' pit pass from Silverstone which I still treasure to this day! Basically this was the start of an aquaintenceship that lasted right through to the early '80's when JC went off to US of A to do his Champcar stuff. In between time whenever I met with him (either at race meetings or just out and about, he always had the time to talk the talk with with me and my Dad (another racing nut who also became a friend of Jim). He was always an absolute gentleman, softly spoken but no particular Scottish accent as I recall and a mop of dark corkscrew curly hair and a wide grin, always! I've got loads of tales to recall (Tuesday night 'practices' at Aintree, developement work somewhere in Scandanavia for a major factory team, the Lotus call up, the 'Atlantic' years, his love of Croft (and Oulton) I could go on....

Crawford Fan - would be happy to share more if interested. The man left a mark on my life that I remember (as best I can!!) with great fondness. If it helps with the book then only too happy to help.

[Andy Clegg]

I wonder if Ossy Hodge knew Jim? I'll try and contact him.

[Crawford Fan]

bluetoneracer, fantastic stuff. Please check your PMs. Jim moved away from Scotland to Bolton when he was three, so not much chance to develop a Scottish accent. Although he was Scottish by birth there's no doubt he considered himself Lancastrian.

Andy, your efforts are much appreciated.

[ossyhodge]

Andy Clegg has been in touch with me regarding Jim who i first met when he was peddleing Steve Cs Lotus 69 F2 car up at Croft in a Libre Race.
His racing clothing back then consisting of a pair of Jeans & a Tee Shirt !

He was a great guy who you could have the "Crack" with as we say in Lancashire.
I have let Andy have some Chevron pics of him,both Colour & Black/White if you can make use of them.

Its just a pity that there are not more guys like Jim about these days.

[Andy Clegg]

Ossyhodge kindly let me have these photos of Jim.

[Crawford Fan]

Ossyhodge, thanks for those fantastic photos of Jim, and thanks Andy for posting them. It certainly is a shame there aren't more like him about. I was reminded of the story of Jim at the 1988 Indianapolis 500 (the year after his horrific accident). He walked the length of the pit lane using his cane because he was too shy or courteous to ask two women to move who were sitting on his golf cart.