Jim Crawford

Who was Jim Crawford?

Jim Crawford was a Scottish racing driver. His first motorsport experience came behind the wheel of a Mini that he drove in several rallies. After an unsuccessful stint in Formula Ford he landed a drive in his friend Stephen Choularton's team in Formula Atlantic, after showing great promise in a couple of Formula Libre races at Croft. He went on to spend a number of years driving alongside Stephen Choularton at SDC Racing in Formula Atlantic and was spotted by Lotus Cars and offered a test drive by them. He participated in two World Championship Formula One Grands Prix, debuting on July 19, 1975. He was also the winner of the 1982 British Formula One Championship. He is notable for being the 500th person to start a Formula One World Championship race.

Crawford moved to the USA in the early 1980s, finishing runner-up twice in the Can Am series. He finished fourth on his CART debut at Long Beach in 1984 and went on to become a regular in the Indianapolis 500. It was there in 1987 that Crawford suffered a huge crash in practice which resulted in devastating leg injuries. Incredibly he returned to the 500 in 1988, leading the race for a few laps. A late race puncture dropped him from 2nd to 6th.