Erin Crocker biography

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Profile

Athlete. Born on March 23, 1981, in Wilbraham, Massachusetts. Erin Crocker kicks off her Raybestos Rookie-of-the-Year campaign in the NASCAR Truck Series in 2006, driving the No. 98 Cheerios/Betty Crocker Dodge Ram for Evernham Motorsports. She is the first female to join the Evernham Motorsports driver development program. The Wilbraham, Mass., native also will field cars for Cheerios, Betty Crocker and Hamburger Helper in the ARCA RE/MAX and NASCAR Busch Series.

Crocker comes to Evernham Motorsports from the open-wheel ranks. She began her racing career in a Quarter Midget at the age of seven and is the only female to win a World of Outlaws (WoO) race. Crocker balanced her racing career with sports and academics through high school. She participated at the varsity level in soccer, tennis and lacrosse as well as being a member of the ski team. In 1997, her sophomore year of high school, she became the youngest driver to win a feature at Whip City Speedway en route to Rookie-of-the-Year honors. In 1999, she claimed rookie honors in the Eastern Limited Sprints.

In 2002, Crocker posted five A-feature wins in the Mike Woodring-prepared 360 sprint. After spending the early part of the 2003 season competing in the USAC Silver Crown Series, Crocker returned to the dirt winged sprint cars. In only her third time behind the wheel of a 410 sprint car, Crocker became the first woman in the 43-year history of World of Outlaws competition to qualify for the Knoxville Nationals. She was named the 2003 Nationals' Rookie of the Year.

Crocker earned a bachelor's degree in Industrial and Management Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, N.Y. in 2003.

Crocker competed the full season in the highly-competitive World of Outlaws Series in 2004, driving for Woodring Racing. Her feature-event win came at Tulare, Calif. In 2005, Crocker joined Evernham Motorsports driver development program. She competed in the ARCA RE/MAX Series, NASCAR Busch Series and NASCAR Truck Series. She made her truck series debut at Phoenix International Raceway in November 2005 and also competed at the season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Crocker also made four NASCAR Busch Series starts (Richmond, Dover, Memphis, Phoenix) in 2005 and started ninth in her second career race (Dover). Her best finish was 29th at Memphis. She ran a limited ARCA schedule in 2005 too, starting six races and logging four top fives and five top 10s, including two poles.

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