CCRA Crew Chief Spotlight

[Tabitha Draughon]

CCRA-Carolina Class Racers Association Crew Chief Spotlight

This week we take a short trip up I-95 South to Rowland, NC; home of Mr. Marvin Strickland Jr aka Bootie. Marvin is 66 years young & is crew chief for his son, Joseph. He has been holding this title for the past 7 years after giving up the driver's seat to Joseph. He got involved in racing from his father racing Modified Eliminator before he took over at the young age of 14. At that point, he started running IHRA & NHRA Stock Eliminator after experiencing Bristol Dragway's Spring Nationals in the 70's. Marvin says that GALOT Motorsports Park is his favorite track & his most memorable win came at GALOT Motorsports Park from Joseph's CCRA-Carolina Class Racers Association win in 2021. His crew chief duties include recording the weather & time slip data after each run. Marvin says his least favorite part of the crew chief position is paying for the diesel fuel in the motorhome to get to the track. Joseph's biggest complaint about his crew chief dad is that he talks too much. Anyone that knows Marvin knows he loves to talk & cut up! ;-) When asked about a funny racing story, the reply I got was "everyone that knows me, knows I'm an a**hole so everything is funny".

The Strickland Racing team races NHRA Southeast Division 2, some NHRA national events as well as the CCRA-Carolina Class Racers Association. Joseph won on day #1 at KDS Motorsports just a few short weeks ago. I don't think they will be in attendance at our next race at Coastal Plains Raceway Park Dragway on June 24th & 25th as I think they are going on a family cruise. Joseph just recently graduated from UNC Charlotte, taken a new job, & is also getting married later in this year so racing might have to take a backseat in 2023. We look forward to having them race with us when their schedule allows.

See y'all at the track soon!