Impressed by Ricky Craven in the ESPN Booth

After watching today's ABC/ESPN telecast of the Charlotte Nationwide Series race, I was impressed once again by Ricky Craven's thoughtful comments in the announcing booth. Quite a refreshing change to the comments I'm sure to cringe at on Fox tomorrow. It made me think back tohow impressed I was with my first encounter with Craven in 1991. I was Media Relations Director at Richmond and got a blind call from Ricky in Maine. He had entered the combined Busch Series / Busch North race at Richmond that used to draw 62-63 entries. He had just secured a Virginia based franchise sponsor (SpeeDee Oil Change) for the event and was calling to inquire how to get them event passes, etc. He wanted to be sure he did eveything perfectly right - by the book.He was so young and sounded so professional compared tomany of theracing folksI dealt with. I was greatly impressed. I was even more impressed when I met him in person that long ago race weekend. He wound up as the highest Busch North finisher in 14th, 1 lap downbehind Harry Gant, Dale Earnhardt and Kenny wallace in a 35 car field that included a huge number of Cup drivers. Ricky had some tough racing breaks. I really enjoyed seeing him on the air today and hope to see more of him. I thought he did an excellent job.


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"Any Day is Good for Stock Car Racing"
updated by @dave-fulton: 12/05/16 04:02:07PM

I always thought Ricky was a good racer......not one of the superstars, but a good racer nonetheless. I, too, have been even more impressed with him as a commentator and race analyst. He has good knowledge of the drivers, the tracks, and as a former driver, he can relate well to what is happening on the track. Furthermore, he has a good ability to relate that knowledge and experience to the viewers..........and I hope to see more of him on the race telecasts.

Without a doubt, Ricky is a first class act in everything he does. He is a great commentator and I enjoy not only his professional, knowledgeable observations, but the fact that he dresses impeccably and comes across as one of the best professionals in the business. We need to replace the rodent loving D.W. and his Boogity crap with Ricky.


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What a change! It's been awhile since I've checked in and I'm quite surprised. It may take me awhile to figure it our but first look it's really great.

Dave, it's good to read someone recognize Ricky for more than just a driver. I couldn't agree with you more, I've always liked Ricky Craven. I had a chance encounter with Ricky when I was returning from Bosnia on my way back to Fort Bragg in the spring of 1996, Ricky's rookie year. Ricky was leading in the Winston Cup points at the time and he was in Chicago on business, something to do with the new Chicagoland Speedway I assumed. I was waiting to board the flight back to Charlotte when I noticed a fella with a flashy black and white leather jacket with a big #41 on the back who looked very much like Ricky Craven. I finally got the nerve to ask him if in fact he was Ricky Craven and he of course he replied "Yes I am" and so I asked him if I could visit with him before boarding the plane and he was more than happy to accept. So there I was, sitting with the Winston Cup points leader, at the time, and we talked about racing and about Bosnia (this was during the conflict between Bosnians and Serbians) and he seemed to be more interested about talking about my experience than he was racing and, of course, I was more interested in talking about racing. Anyway, we sat there for a good 20 minutes and told "war" stories to each other until it was time to board the plane. Ricky was such a cool guy, a regular Joe, he was just as honored to talked to me as I was him and when we boarded the jet Ricky dropped down in his seat in "First Class" and I shuffled along back to my tail-end seat in coach but I will never forget our brief encounter, what a class act Ricky is.