Jerry Lee
01-13-2010, 10:29 AM
Another local hero who was fun to watch run the Englewood oval was multi-Super Modified champion Dave Crocker.
On this 1997 interview cassette, one can still feel that spark that earned him back-to-back E.R.A. Super Modified championships back in '75 and '76.
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JL: "What year did you start racing?"
DC: "1967 with Tommy Frantz. I ran with him as a partner. My first race ever, Tommy and I argued back and forth on who was going to drive this car, and I ended up in it. I started on the outside pole in the B heat and Tommy tells me to just beat this guy into turn one and I've got it won. That's the only thing that stuck in my mind because I'd never raced in my life. By the time I had all that figured out, I ran it right up into the wall. I hit it head on and everybody's ducking! The front end was all bent up. (laughs) We straightened it all out and Tommy went out and won the semi in it."
JL: "Any more early races stand out?"
DC: "Oh, one I won in my old upright. I got lucky because I was like 4th and Lehman and a bunch of 'em crashed! (laughs) I inherited the lead and that was a big win!"
JL: "Out of your two Modified championships, which was the most fun for you?"
DC: "It's always the first one for sure. It took a lot of years to get there. I went there every Sunday night to race everybody. I always ran my hardest no matter what. I had a lot of people mad at me and a lot of people liked me."
JL: "I think you won just about every main event in '75 and '76."
DC: "Yeah, we thought we set the most in a row but someone came up and told us that Joe Lehman won 17 or 19 in a row or something."
JL: "What are some more highs from those championship years?"
DC: "Another all time high was when I lapped second place in a 35 lap main, and that was Joe Lehman! And he was always one of the guys you wanted to gun down."
JL: "You moved out of the Modifieds after that last championship."
DC: "Yeah, I quit after '76 and ran a Midget for Dick Baty for a couple of years, then ran Sprint Cars up at Erie on the dirt."
JL: "How did you like running Englewood as opposed to other tracks?"
DC: "Y'know, when it closed it was the finest 3/8 mile ever built. Nobody really realized that until it was actually gone. It was either well engineered or they got lucky when they built it."
JL: "And we enjoyed watching you run it."
DC: "I just lived for that, every ounce. Every day that's all I thought about was Sunday night."
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On this 1997 interview cassette, one can still feel that spark that earned him back-to-back E.R.A. Super Modified championships back in '75 and '76.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
JL: "What year did you start racing?"
DC: "1967 with Tommy Frantz. I ran with him as a partner. My first race ever, Tommy and I argued back and forth on who was going to drive this car, and I ended up in it. I started on the outside pole in the B heat and Tommy tells me to just beat this guy into turn one and I've got it won. That's the only thing that stuck in my mind because I'd never raced in my life. By the time I had all that figured out, I ran it right up into the wall. I hit it head on and everybody's ducking! The front end was all bent up. (laughs) We straightened it all out and Tommy went out and won the semi in it."
JL: "Any more early races stand out?"
DC: "Oh, one I won in my old upright. I got lucky because I was like 4th and Lehman and a bunch of 'em crashed! (laughs) I inherited the lead and that was a big win!"
JL: "Out of your two Modified championships, which was the most fun for you?"
DC: "It's always the first one for sure. It took a lot of years to get there. I went there every Sunday night to race everybody. I always ran my hardest no matter what. I had a lot of people mad at me and a lot of people liked me."
JL: "I think you won just about every main event in '75 and '76."
DC: "Yeah, we thought we set the most in a row but someone came up and told us that Joe Lehman won 17 or 19 in a row or something."
JL: "What are some more highs from those championship years?"
DC: "Another all time high was when I lapped second place in a 35 lap main, and that was Joe Lehman! And he was always one of the guys you wanted to gun down."
JL: "You moved out of the Modifieds after that last championship."
DC: "Yeah, I quit after '76 and ran a Midget for Dick Baty for a couple of years, then ran Sprint Cars up at Erie on the dirt."
JL: "How did you like running Englewood as opposed to other tracks?"
DC: "Y'know, when it closed it was the finest 3/8 mile ever built. Nobody really realized that until it was actually gone. It was either well engineered or they got lucky when they built it."
JL: "And we enjoyed watching you run it."
DC: "I just lived for that, every ounce. Every day that's all I thought about was Sunday night."
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