Max Crawford

Max Crawford cut his racing teeth in New Zealand where he was a noted mechanic, driver, crew chief, engineer and team owner, notably in New Zealand Open Saloon Cars and the Shellsport Championship. His first job outside his home country was as a mechanic for Dick Barbour Racing in ’80 in IMSA. He shortly joined Englishmen John Fitzpatrick as crew chief, the team winning the 1980 IMSA title and Porsche Cup in a 935 K3. Crawford stayed with Fitzpatrick for several years, racking up three straight wins in the LA Times GP at Riverside, the Brands Hatch 1000k and the Road American Can-Am in a 956. In 1988, Crawford and wife Jan launched Crawford & Crawford Composites, Inc., to provide engineered, high-quality carbon fiber racecar parts. Crawford built the carbon-fiber Mazda RX7-92P for the IMSA GTP category. In the late •90s Crawford was Dyson Racing’s crew chief for two Daytona 24 victories. The Mazda project was precursor to the launch of Crawford Race Cars, LLC, their first in-house designed and manufactured race vehicle being the Crawford SSC2K that competed in the Rolex Sports Car Series in 2002 and the DP03 built to Daytona Prototype specs in 2003, both cars scoring multiple wins and podium finishes. The composites business continues to thrive in Denver, NC, where Crawford has clients all over the world.