PANAMA CITY, FL -- For the last month or so, Ryan Crane has been enjoying the racing off-season on the heels of a podium finish in the Snowball Derby. Crane was happy to end the 2006 season strong with a third-place run in one of the country’s biggest short track events, but he is also a fierce competitor and knows that a finish of two spots higher would have made the off-season even more enjoyable.
That mindset gives Crane a little extra incentive to perform well in this coming weekend’s Speedfest at USA International Speedway in Lakeland, Florida.
“We’re going for the win,” said Crane of his Speedfest goals. “That’s our only reason for going to Lakeland. We’re ready and we aren’t there to run in the top 10 anymore. If we can’t win, we might as well stay home.”
Starting on his ride home from the Snowball Derby, Crane has been hard at work thinking and planning what could be his next winning move.
“We’ve thought a lot about our pit calls. Mike Garvey and I have talked a lot about what we could have done differently in the Derby to change the outcome. It turned out to be a decent finish, but it wasn’t a win. So we’ll go to Lakeland and try to build on that.
“I think that if we had had a little bit more time in the race, we could have pulled a Snowball Derby win off. If Lady Luck swings our way at Lakeland now, we’ll be alright.”
Lakeland isn’t a place for the faint of heart. The track is fast, fierce and will have a field full of the county’s best short track drivers. Crane is ready for the challenge.
“Lakeland is one of the fastest places that we go to. It’s really fun, but you can get yourself in trouble really quick. We’ve completely gone through our cars over the winter and we’re ready for it. We’ve only had about a month off, but in that month I think that we did more work than we did all summer long.”
Fans might have a hard time picking out Crane this weekend. He’ll have a new paint scheme on his #10 Super Late Model.
“The whole paint scheme is going to be different. We’ve got a red car this year and it will debut at Lakeland. We went to red to try and promote our Honda dealership. We’re going to try to put on a show for the Honda fans out there and try a different look to get our season going on the right foot.”
Crane shouldn’t be too hard to pick out though. Even if you don’t know what his new car is going to look like, just watch for the red car in the lead pack.
For more information on Ryan Crane, contact Mike Twist at (207) 590-1786. And be sure to visit ryancraneracing.com.
