With a pair of heat win and five feature top-five’s, Rob Crick put together a solid campaign en route to placing fourth in the year-end Peterborough Speedway Mini Stock standings. The 2023 Peterborough Speedway Most Dedicated Driver Award winner shared his thoughts recently with SHORT TRACK MUSINGS.

What are your thoughts as you look towards the upcoming 2024 season?

We’re going to do a full-season at Peterborough and run for points again. See if we can do better than fourth this year, and then we’re hoping – it’s undecided yet – but we’re hoping to make it out to all the big invitationals at the end of the year. We’re going to do (Autumn) Colours (Classic) for sure, but we’re going to try to make for (Fall) Velocity and Frostoberfest. We’re hoping to make Spring Velocity, as well. We came down to Sunset (Speedway) for the Allan Lankin (Cup) last year and we had a blast so we’ll come down again.

I think that event was the summary of the summer, with over 40 cars there from across the province. It really showed the depth the mini stock division has.

Not only 40 cars, but 40 top drivers. The driving caliber was insane down there.

It was a matter of tenths as to who made the show and who didn’t.

It was a good time. I know (Chris) Tubman and me are going to be back this year for it.

What are your thoughts as you look back on this past season and your success?

I actually shocked myself because we just kind of went out this year in looking to just have some fun because I got married in September. We were just trying to get the car through the year and not put too much money into it because we had a wedding to pay for.

What was your most memorable moment of the season?

I’m going to say at Autumn Colours when I won Most Dedicated Driver. I was in total shock when I got it so I was not expecting it at all.

Well, congratulations once again because I know you’ve been racing there for awhile now…..

I guess I’ve been racing now seven, eight years. We started in the bone stock and then went up to the mini stock three years ago.

So what made you want to get your start in racing?

Perfectly honest, it was my girlfriend  at the time, my wife now. She took me to Peterborough just to watch and I ran into a guy that I knew there. I started helping him and by the end of the year, I had a car built. My wife and my daughter are my two biggest supporters.

Who is your racing hero?

I don’t really have one. I’m the guy that just likes to try and be friends with everyone. I don’t want to be that guy that’s hated. I want to be the fast guy – so you know, but I also don’t want to be the guy that gets hated on. I don’t really have a real – I mean, everybody likes (J.R.) Fitzpatrick and (Andy) Kamrath and that. I mean, the first year I ran mini stock and got to run with Kamrath, I couldn’t believe it the way he can drive.

I know one of the nights that I made the trip to Peterborough was the fifth of August and I know that was a night that you got a feature win. You talk about wanting to be one of the fastest guys. What did it mean to knock off a feature win this year?  

Well, to be honest, the car got the feature win, but I was at a wedding that day. So I actually had a driver in the car that night and I just happened to make it down there because the wedding ended early. We got some heat wins with it this year, and the car is capable of a feature – that was proven.

So have you won a feature?

I won a feature in my rookie year of bone stocks.  This year, was top-five finish every week in the feature and then 10^th at Colours in the feature.

So talking about running the full schedule and chasing a championship, what do you feel that you need to do to improve upon the success this past year?

The car is going through a massive change this winter to hopefully get me to the next step.

Just based off your experience with seven, eight years  as you mentioned, what’s a piece of advice for that rookie driver that’s just getting started?

I would say be friendly with everybody, take any advice that you can get. When I first started out, I used to pit by Jeremy Kelly and he gave me a ton of knowledge. Then we just grew a massive group – that’s how I met Chris Tubman that year and me & Chris have been a team ever since.