Erin Crocker

Erin Mary Crocker Evernham (born March 23, 1981) is an American race car driver and broadcaster with the Motor Racing Network's Winged Nation. In the past, she played soccer, tennis, and varsity lacrosse on both her high school and college teams.[1] Her motorsports career stalled due to poor results and a personal relationship between Crocker and her former boss, team owner and current husband, Ray Evernham.[2]

Erin Crocker Evernham
Crocker at Daytona in 2008
BornErin Mary Crocker
(1981-03-23) March 23, 1981
Wilbraham, Massachusetts
Achievements1993–1996 Quarter Midgets of America Northeast Regional Champion
Awards1993–1995 Quarter Midgets of American Female Driver of the Year
2003 Knoxville Nationals Rookie of the Year
NASCAR Xfinity Series career
10 races run over 2 years
Best finish67th (2006)
First race2005 Emerson Radio 250 (Richmond)
Last race2006 Ford 300 (Homestead)
Wins Top tens Poles
0 0 0
NASCAR Camping World Truck Series career
29 races run over 3 years
Best finish25th (2006)
First race2005 Chevy Silverado 150 (Phoenix)
Last race2008 San Bernardino County 200 (Fontana)
Wins Top tens Poles
0 0 0

Early career

Crocker first started racing quarter midgets at the age of 7 in the Custom Quarter Midget Club, based in Thompson, Connecticut, and the Silver City Quarter Midget Club from Meriden, Connecticut and was named the Most Improved Novice during her first year of competition. She then moved on to win several awards and three Northeast Regional Quarter Midgets of America championships from 1993 to 1996 while in middle and high school. In 1997, Crocker began running Mini Sprints at Whip City Speedway in Westfield, MA. She became the youngest driver and the first female to win a race at the track. In 1998 she again competed in a 1200cc Mini sprint at Whip City and also with the Central New York Mini Sprint Association (CNYMS). In 1999, she moved to the Eastern Limited Sprint Series, and was named Rookie of the Year.

Crocker started racing professionally in the World of Outlaws while attending Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York, where she graduated with a bachelor's degree in industrial and management engineering in 2003.[1] In 2002, Crocker signed with Woodring Racing to drive a 360 winged sprint car. She won five feature races as well as twelve heat events, earning her the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame Outstanding Newcomer Award. The following season, she switched to 410 Dirt Sprints, and became the first woman to qualify for the Knoxville Nationals. She won the 410 division's Rookie of the Year honors at season's end.

NASCAR and ARCA

2004

In 2004, Crocker won an opportunity to drive for Ford Motor Company's driver development program, and tested a Ford sprint for Bob East (racing) and Steve Lewis that season. She also became the first World of Outlaws driver to win a feature race that year in Tulare, California.

2005

The following season, she left Ford to join Evernham Motorsports' driver development program. During the season, she raced in the ARCA RE/MAX Series and collected three top 5s, including a second-place finish, five top 10s, and two poles in six starts. She also made her NASCAR debut that season at Richmond International Raceway driving the No. 6 Dodge for Evernham in the Busch Series. She started 42nd after a wreck in qualifying, and proceeded to finish 39th after another wreck. In her next start at Dover International Speedway, she qualified ninth, but wrecked eleven laps into the race after being tapped by Justin Labonte. Crocker sustained a cracked rib from the incident forcing her to sit out some races she was scheduled to compete in. She ran two more races that season, one for Evernham and the other for FitzBradshaw Racing, her best finish coming at Memphis Motorsports Park, where she finished 29th for FitzBradshaw in the No. 40 Dodge Charger. She also ran a pair of Truck races for Bobby Hamilton Racing, at Phoenix and Homestead-Miami Speedway. Crocker crashed in both races.

2006

In 2006 Crocker drove the No. 98 full-time in the Truck Series. She finished 25th in the Craftsman Truck standings. After struggling during the 2006 season, Evernham decided to close the No. 98 team.

2007

In 2007, Crocker ran a select number of ARCA Series events.[3] She won the pole for the season-opening ARCA race at Daytona International Speedway in 2007. She however struggled, finishing 20th in the race.[4]

During her tenure as a Truck Series driver, a dispute between then-Evernham Cup driver Jeremy Mayfield and Ray Evernham resulted in a series of lawsuits between Mayfield and Evernham.[5] In Mayfield’s legal filings, he asserted that the No. 19 team’s lack of on-track success was due in large part to Evernham’s attention being focused on his personal relationship with an unnamed female driver. At the time, Crocker was the only female driver employed by Evernham Motorsports. Evernham confirmed in an interview with ESPN that the relationship exists and has hurt Crocker's career.[6]

2008

Following the fall 2007 ARCA race at Talladega Superspeedway, it was confirmed that she had left Evernham Motorsports. She ran a limited two-race schedule in the truck series for Morgan-Dollar Motorsports, before she was replaced by Red Bull drivers A. J. Allmendinger and Scott Speed. For the ARCA/REMAX race on September 6, 2008, she joined the broadcast booth for SPEED.[7]

Personal life

Crocker and former boss/team owner Ray Evernham were wed on August 26, 2009 in Las Vegas.[8][9]

On July 25, 2015, Crocker gave birth to a daughter, Cate Susan Evernham.[10]

Motorsports career results

NASCAR

(key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

Busch Series
NASCAR Busch Series results
Year Team No. Make 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 NBSC Pts
2005 Evernham Motorsports 6 Dodge DAY CAL MXC LVS ATL NSH BRI TEX PHO TAL DAR RCH CLT DOV NSH KEN MLW DAY CHI NHA PPR GTY IRP GLN MCH BRI CAL RCH
39		 DOV
35		 KAN CLT TEX PHO
40		 HOM 90th 223
Fitz Racing 40 Dodge MEM
29
2006 Evernham Motorsports 98 Dodge DAY CAL MXC LVS ATL BRI TEX NSH
37		 PHO TAL RCH DAR CLT DOV NSH KEN MLW
28		 DAY CHI NHA MAR GTY
19		 IRP
26		 GLN MCH BRI CAL RCH DOV KAN CLT MEM TEX PHO
30		 67th 474
Curb-Agajanian Motorsports 43 Dodge HOM
28

Craftsman Truck Series
NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series results
Year Team No. Make 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 NCTC Pts
2005 Bobby Hamilton Racing 4 Dodge DAY CAL ATL MAR GTY MFD CLT DOV TEX MCH MLW KAN KEN MEM IRP NSH BRI RCH NHA LVS MAR ATL TEX PHO
36		 91st 55
05 HOM
30
2006 Evernham Motorsports 98 Dodge DAY
27		 CAL
27		 ATL
26		 MAR
25		 GTY
22		 CLT
18		 MFD
28		 DOV
24		 TEX
33		 MCH
24		 MLW
25		 KAN
16		 KEN
27		 MEM
30		 IRP
27		 NSH
29		 BRI
35		 NHA
32		 LVS
24		 TAL
20		 MAR
26		 ATL
23		 TEX
36		 PHO
16		 HOM
34		 25th 2113
2008 Morgan-Dollar Motorsports 46 Chevy DAY
14		 CAL
27		 ATL MAR KAN CLT MFD DOV TEX MCH MLW MEM KEN IRP NSH BRI GTW NHA LVS TAL MAR ATL TEX PHO HOM 60th 203

ARCA Re/Max Series

(key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

ARCA Re/Max Series results
Year Team No. Make 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 ARSC Pts
2005 Evernham Motorsports 98 Dodge DAY NSH
12		 SLM KEN TOL LAN MIL POC MCH
7		 KAN KEN
2		 BLN POC
3		 GTW LER NSH
3		 MCH ISF TOL DSF CHI SLM TAL
4		 33rd 1285
2006 DAY
15		 NSH
14		 SLM WIN KEN TOL POC MCH
4		 KAN
2		 KEN
27		 BLN POC GTW
8		 NSH
36		 MCH ISF MIL TOL DSF CHI SLM TAL IOW 36th 1110
2007 DAY
20		 USA NSH
3		 SLM KAN
7		 WIN KEN
2		 TOL IOW POC
20		 MCH
3		 BLN KEN
5		 POC
4		 NSH
6		 ISF MIL GTW
17		 DSF CHI
5		 SLM TAL
18		 TOL 21st 2240

References
  1. "Erin Crocker" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2013-11-03.
  2. Fryer, Jenna (2008-05-19). "NASCAR still looking for its Danica Patrick or Ashley Force". Usatoday.Com. Retrieved 2012-07-27.
  3. Team 98 - Erin Crocker
  4. 2/9/2007 (2007-02-09). "Erin Crocker Earns ARCA 200 Pole - Daytona International Speedway". Origin.daytonainternationalspeedway.com. Retrieved 2012-08-12.CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  5. David Newton, NASCAR.COM (2006-08-19). "Court documents tell Mayfield's side of split - Aug 19, 2006". Nascar.Com. Retrieved 2012-08-12.
  6. David Newton (2007-07-28). "ESPN - Evernham admits relationship hurt driver's career - Racing". Sports.espn.go.com. Retrieved 2012-07-27.
  7. "Erin Crocker to Call ARCA Race for SPEED". Auto-racing.speedtv.com. 2008-09-04. Archived from the original on 2008-09-08. Retrieved 2012-08-12.
  8. "ESPN - Evernhams live happily ever after". Sports.espn.go.com. Retrieved 2012-07-27.
  9. Skirts and Scuffs http://www.skirtsandscuffs.com/2011/10/in-man-world-with-erin-crocker-evernham.html
  10. "Ray Evernham, wife Erin become parents to baby girl". Fox Sports. July 25, 2015. Retrieved April 2, 2017.
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