Curtis "Crawfish" Crider
Born: October 7, 1930
Home: Abbeyville, SC
Curtis Crider 1077 Roberts St. Ormond Beach, FL 32174

Curtis 'Crawfish' Crider was a pioneer in the early NASCAR days. Crawfish was one of the hardest working and under-financed racers of his time. The original Dave Marcus. Curtis earned the nickname "Crawfish" after he landed in a lake on one occasion.

• FoMoCo Domination: Even though Petty won the championship in 1964, the year belonged to Ford. Jarrett won 15 races, Billy Wade won four consecutive in Bud Moore's Mercurys, Curtis Crider had an amazing 30 top-10s in 59 starts, and Panch and Darel Dieringer scored late-season victories.
   

• Curtis Crider has a book 'The Road to Daytona', as told to Don O'Reilly

• Crider won the Victory Lane Racing Association's first annual Tim Flock Drivers Award given by Francis Flock on behalf of her husband at their February 2006 banquet.

Curtis “Crawfish” Crider drove a 1963 Mercury during most of the 1963 Grand National season.
Seen here is the #62 after his 16th place finish in the 1963 Southern 500. This is a Jack Walker photo.

Curtis “Crawfish” Crider from Charleston drove the #62 Mercury to a 12th place finish in the
July21, 1962 Grand National race at Rambi. This is a Jack Walker photo.

Curtis Crider from Charleston, SC finished 15th in the 1959 Modified-Sportsman race at Daytona driving the #23. Curtis brought the same 1955 Ford back to Daytona in 1960 finishing 35th. The main sponsor on the car was Livingston Auto Parts owned by Ed Livingston. Crider and Livingston both raced on the Grand National circuit in the 60’s. I want to give proper credit for this photo, so if you know who the photographer was please pass it on.

Curtis "Crawfish" Crider drove the white and red #3 out of Charleston
several times at Rambi during the 1963 season.

Moonshinin' Memories (excerpt) NASCAR has come a long way By CLAY LATIMER           SCRIPPS HOWARD NEWS SERVICE With a full load of bootleg whiskey in the trunk of his old Ford and a federal agent in his rearview mirror on a lonely road, deep in the North Carolina backwoods, Curtis Crider was surrounded by trouble on a mellow Saturday night more than a half-century ago, with the promise of more to come. But he did not hang around to worry. With his foot to the floor, the cocky young mechanic surged away, roaring past old tar-papered shacks and deserted filling stations, over bumpy bridges and around sweeping curves — until he skidded into his front yard, minutes ahead of his outgunned pursuer, who never saw Crider slip into his home. "I peeked out the bedroom window," he said. "But then I settled down and got some sleep because I had a race the next day." Twelve hours later, in the same souped-up Ford, Crider was tearing around an oval dirt track, gunning past other local bootleggers during a weekly showdown for bragging rights and spare change. "The same driving skills you learned in bootlegging, you used in the dirt-track races," Crider said. "They were a lot alike." They also were the driving force that led to the creation of NASCAR, which has evolved from a Southern sideshow into a multibillion-dollar sport and mainstream cultural force. If they could hit 100 mph in second gear, drivers knew they could outrun any revenuer, so they ripped out car radios, door handles, glass and back seats; modified the suspension systems; and installed a half-inch metal plate to protect radiators from lawmen's bullets. "There were people who did nothing but build bootleg cars," Wheeler said. Added Crider: "It wasn't unusual for a mechanic to have a bootlegger's car in (one stall), a race car in another, and a (revenuer's) car in another."  (excerpt)

Crawfish Car’s A Cracker!: 02/06/2004: Story Paul Huggett, photo Stella Huggett: Huggy having big fun in the Crider car. Short Circuit’s Paul Huggett was among the first to try out the vintage Curtis ‘Crawfish’ Crider stock car at the THORA Track Day on May 30. Driving the 1939 Ford built by the Florida, USA, veteran, who was part of the 1955 American racing tour of the UK tracks, Huggy reports “That was so much fun, it probably ought to be illegal! This was a childhood ambition come true, to heave an old Ford V8 flathead around a dirt track. Lots of torque, big car, big thrill - Magic!" The car was imported by THORA’s Julius Thurgood and will form part of a Stock Car segment of the Goodwood Festival at the end of June, where it will be driven by BriSCA racer Jason Holden, who joined our man at the track day in Oxfordshire, where both got to drive the Dodge ‘Red Ram Special’ #1 coupe familiar to all who have seen the THORA vintage Stox show. The car is now owned by vintage car expert Ivan Dutton, who hosted the event. “The Dodge was more of a handful to drive, being a genuine 1950’s racer with a more modern engine in it” our man continues, “But that didn’t stop Jason getting it sideways most of the way round - made me look pretty slow…”

This model was built using a Dick Tracy '36 Ford with minor body work.

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