Ricky Craven

Competitor, Broadcaster
CLASS OF 2016

The Newburgh, ME native’s success began with the 1982 Rookie of the Year honors at Unity Raceway in Unity, ME, and then followed up it with the track championship in 1983. The following year he won both Rookie of the Year honors and the Late Model Championship at Wiscasset Speedway.

In 1990 at the age of 24, he went racing on the Busch North Series, earning 2 wins and a 3rd place in the championship standings. The following year in 1991, Craven scored 10 wins, 13 Top 5’s and 17 Top 10’s in 21 starts to earn the series championship. He also ran 7 races on the Busch Grand National (now Xfinity) Series and won twice (Oxford Plains, New Hampshire).

The following year he was top rookie on the series, then finished runner-up to the championship the following two seasons 1993-94, winning 2 more times in 1994.

In 1995, he debuted full time on the NASCAR Cup Series. It was his first of 10 seasons on the circuit where he would earn 6 poles and 2 wins during his career. He ran 1 full season on the NASCAR Truck Series in 2005, winning at Martinsville Speedway to give him victories on each of NASCAR national series. He also won the 1997 Winston Open All Star race while driving for Rick Hendrick.

Craven was part of one of the most exciting finishes in Cup Series history in 2003, beating Kurt Busch by inches at Darlington. He was endured a horrific wreck at Talladega Speedway in 1996 where he barrel rolled into the catch fence and bounced back on the track into race traffic and was hit again.

After hanging up the helmet, Craven spent 15 seasons as a NASCAR analyst for ESPN, Yahoo! Sports and Fox broadcasting networks. He then open Ricky Craven Motorsports in Landis, North Carolina.