WEST MEMPHIS, Ark. — Not many 16-year-olds can say they traveled the country competing with the best sprint car drivers in the world on a weekly basis. But that’s Landon Crawley’s story.
A couple races in the Sides Motorsports No. 7s near the end of 2023 evolved into Crawley joining forces with Jason Sides to compete full-time on the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series tour in 2024, traveling coast-to-coast for 80-plus races – including a home visit this weekend at Riverside Int’l Speedway.
The teenager had a few years of 360 sprint car experience but minimal 410 starts under his belt entering the season. Despite the challenges of acclimating to an entirely new lifestyle, Crawley has adapted well and gelled comfortably with Sides.
“The first three or four months, I’m not going to lie, it was hard,” Crawley admitted. “You leave every single thing you have at home. It’s full commitment. If you’re not fully committed, you get the results that aren’t fully committed. It’s tough. You miss kind of everything at home. You miss birthdays and all of the events, but it’s still been fun. I’ve learned more about adulting and life in the past year than I have ever.”
His growing maturity hasn’t been lost on Sides either.
“It’s been really good. He’s 16 but really mature for his age. It’s never like ‘Let’s go play some arcade games,’ or nothing like that,” Sides said with a laugh. “It’s mainly about the race cars and stuff. Everywhere we went for the first time I know it was a struggle for him a lot. But sometimes he caught on really quick. Sometimes it wasn’t as good as we wanted, but we’d go back there the second time and make the shows.”
The season started with a bang for Crawley. The Volusia Speedway Park season opener was also his series debut, and Crawley promptly went out and set Simpson Quick Time to announce his presence and lift a little weight off his shoulders.
“It helped a lot going into it knowing that I can qualify, and I can race halfway decent against the guys I’m racing with,” Crawley said. “They’re the best in the country, and they run with the Outlaws for a reason. It was a big confidence booster.”
Another major highlight of Crawley’s first season is visiting Eldora Speedway. In May, he came home with a top 10 during his debut at the intimidating half-mile dirt track, but he wasn’t done there. Fast forward two months, and Crawley made the feature at Eldora’s crown jewel – the Kings Royal.
“That was honestly one of the coolest parts of the year,” Crawley said. “That was one of the tracks I’d been looking forward to since February. Right when the season started, I wanted to race there, and I’ve always wanted to race there. Racing there in general was really cool, let alone being somewhat fast. It was pretty awesome. Everything about that place is pretty special to me.
This season has so often been about visiting new tracks for Crawley, but this weekend he finally gets to head home. Two nights at Crawley’s home track, West Memphis, AR’s Riverside Int’l Speedway, are on the agenda. “The Ditch” is home to many firsts for the Benton, Ark., native.
First race in a micro. First sprint car win. And now he gets to head back to race in front of friends and family as a full-time World of Outlaws driver.
It’s not only a home race for Crawley. Sides’ hometown of Bartlett, Tenn., is right across the Mississippi River. It’s a weekend the team has had circled on their calendar all year.
“I’m really looking forward to this race,” Crawley said. “I’m not going to lie, I’m kind of nervous about it just because I feel like there’s so much pressure for this race compared to any other race I’ve ran this year. Even the first race at Volusia, there was literally no pressure. I go into this week, and you kind of have that feeling like you have to perform. It’s going to be tough. It’s a really tricky racetrack. It’s not super noticed, but the local guys are really good. (Derek) Hagar can run anywhere in the country and run pretty good, especially once the track gets slick. He has an All-Star win. It’s going to be a tough race, but I think it’s going to be a good one. I’m really looking forward to it.”
“For both of us to be able to come run it, and then everybody goes home to their own bed, it’ll be pretty nice,” Sides said. “Being home and racing and seeing the people that have supported us for all of these years. We’ll get to see everybody and hoot and holler and hang out with them.”