Circle Bar Racing was an auto racing team that competed in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series from 1997 to 2010. The team was most notable for its relationship with Ford Motor Company as well as its long-time driver, Rick Crawford.

Beginnings Although Mitchell's team has found its home in NASCAR, the team originated in 1978 with Circle Bar sponsoring Chet Fillip in late models. The team officially started out as Circle Bar Auto Racing Inc., with Fillip as their driver. The team qualified for the 1982 Indianapolis 500, finishing 24th in a Gurney Eagle with a Cosworth power plant. Fillip also qualified for the 1983 Indianapolis 500 before DNQ-ing for the 1985 Indy 500 with a Lola chassis. The next week at Milwaukee, the team finished 10th with Fillip. CBR made its NASCAR debut with Fillip in 1985, in the No. 31 Circle Bar Truck Corral Ford at Atlanta. Fillip ran sixteen races for Mitchell in 1986, and had a best finish of twelfth in the No. 81. At the end of the year, Mitchell sold his equipment to Fillip. Afterwards, Circle Bar sponsored the late model efforts of John Kelly in 1989, with the shop based in San Antonio, Texas. Moving to Ozona, the team picked up the championship in 1990. The next year, CBR moved to the All-Pro Series with Kelly, but Alabama native Rick Crawford took his place in 1992. Together, they attempted the 1993 Coca-Cola 600, but failed to qualify. Using Circle Bar's equipment, Crawford had great success in the All-Pro Series, beginning a partnership between Mitchell and Crawford to race in the series until 1996.

Camping World Truck Series

No. 10 Truck History

Circle Bar Racing fielded a second truck for the first time in 1997, when Tammy Jo Kirk drove the No. 74 at Fontana, as a start and park "field filler"; she finished 35th, parking after ten laps. The next attempt came in 2004, when Greg Biffle drove the No. 44 Ford Racing truck to an eighth-place finish at the Ford 200.

CBR added on the No. 10 Truck in 2007, with David Starr behind the wheel. Picking up both Navistar International sponsorship and the owners points of ppc Racing's old Truck Series team, the team had a moderately successful year, finishing 10th in points in their first year. Starr left at the end of the season to return to Red Horse Racing. Brendan Gaughan took over the No. 10 truck in 2008, leaving his defunct family owned team South Point Racing. Gaughan earned two top fives and five top tens and finished 15th in points. At the end of the season, Gaughan departed the team, and rookie driver James Buescher was signed to the 10 truck full-time in 2009 with Jamie Jones as his crew chief. Buescher had three top-tens and a fourteenth-place points finish but departed the team as well at the end of the year. The team was eventually sold to Jennifer Jo Cobb.

Truck No. 10 results Year Driver No. Make 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 Owners Pts 1997 Tammy Jo Kirk 74 Ford WDW TUS HOM PHO POR EVG I70 NHA TEX BRI NZH MLW LVL CNS HPT IRP FLM NSV GLN RCH MAR SON MMR CAL35 PHO LVS N/A - 2004 Greg Biffle 44 Ford DAY ATL MAR MFD CLT DOV TEX MEM MLW KAN KEN GTW MCH IRP NSH BRI RCH NHA LVS CAL TEX MAR PHO DAR HOM8 47th 216 2007 David Starr 10 Ford DAY20 CAL28 ATL22 MAR11 KAN15 CLT23 MFD19 DOV25 TEX5 MCH13 MLW10 MEM13 KEN12 IRP17 NSH4 BRI17 GTW22 NHA14 LVS14 TAL11 MAR4 ATL15 TEX19 PHO36 HOM6 12th 2921 2008 Brendan Gaughan DAY34 CAL12 ATL15 MAR11 KAN6 CLT3 MFD30 DOV20 TEX15 MCH5 MLW16 MEM22 KEN28 IRP6 NSH24 BRI13 GTW21 NHA20 LVS20 TAL20 MAR22 ATL16 TEX16 PHO10 HOM18 18th 2840 2009 James Buescher DAY25 CAL13 ATL14 MAR11 KAN12 CLT12 DOV24 TEX18 MCH33 MLW5 MEM20 KEN8 IRP6 NSH17 BRI13 CHI20 IOW14 GTW23 NHA17 LVS13 MAR11 TAL15 TEX17 PHO23 HOM18 17th 2884

No. 14 Truck History In 1997, CBR focused its operations towards NASCAR, specifically its all-new Craftsman Truck Series. Continuing his partnership with Crawford and Ford, Mitchell debuted the No. 14 Ford at the Chevy Trucks Challenge in 1997 with Circle Bar sponsoring. Crawford made every race and finished 12th in points, runner up to Kenny Irwin Jr. for Rookie of the Year. 1998 brought the team's first win at Homestead, but inconsistency put them at 18th in points. Crawford would not win for the next four years, but had two top ten points finishes in between, including a runner-up points finish to Mike Bliss in 2002. Crawford would take his second, and arguably biggest win at the season opening Florida Dodge Dealers 250, with a last lap pass on Travis Kvapil. The win propelled him to a seventh-place points finish. Rick would win again in 2004 at Martinsville, but dropped to twelfth in points. The 2005 season was a mixed bag, as the team won again at Loudon, but Crawford was forced to miss the first race of his career due to a crash during qualifying at Kentucky. Road racer Boris Said took his place, but was taken out in an early wreck. Rick won again at ORP in 2006 and finished ninth in points. Although the 2007 season was a winless one for the No. 14 team, they added on a second truck with David Starr who brought along sponsorship from Navistar International for both trucks. The added equipment resulted in a near win at Mansfield Motorsports Park and a fifth-place points finish for Crawford. Crawford slipped to seventh in points in 2008, and tenth in 2009 with twenty top-tens in between both seasons. Longtime crew chief Kevin "Cowboy" Starland left Circle Bar after 2009 for Panhandle Motorsports and International departed both the No. 10 and the No. 14 for Randy Moss Motorsports. Despite the lack of sponsorship, Circle Bar gained a new crew chief in Blake Bainbridge and ran the first four races of the season before having to release Crawford before Kansas and having to wait on additional sponsorship to continue running the season. The team has not been heard from since. Team owner Tom Mitchell died in August 2014 at age 83.

Truck No. 14 results Year Driver No. Make 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 Owners Pts 1997 Rick Crawford 14 Ford WDW11 TUS12 HOM18 PHO21 POR8 EVG23 I7015 NHA6 TEX3 BRI6 NZH18 MLW34 LVL16 CNS6 HPT8 IRP13 FLM15 NSV8 GLN14 RCH34 MAR24 SON25 MMR6 CAL10 PHO13 LVS10 12th 3149 1998 WDW29 HOM1 PHO5 POR27 EVG21 I7018 GLN14 TEX26 BRI38 MLW26 NZH29 CAL15 PPR11 IRP34 NHA22 FLM15 NSV3 HPT15 LVL25 RCH11 MEM5 GTY7 MAR15 SON29 MMR27 PHO16 LVS14 20th 2956 1999 HOM8 PHO6 EVG12 MMR22 MAR33 MEM22 PPR8 I7027 BRI21 TEX12 PIR16 GLN10 MLW3 NSV14 NZH17 MCH29 NHA5 IRP12 GTY9 HPT4 RCH12 LVS8 LVL7 TEX23 CAL35 15th 3018 2000 DAY34 HOM7 PHO10 MMR9 MAR15 PIR5 GTY12 MEM6 PPR13 EVG14 TEX8 KEN10 GLN9 MLW14 NHA13 NZH13 MCH7 IRP31 NSV10 CIC28 RCH16 DOV3 TEX6 CAL12 11th 3053 2001 DAY10 HOM8 MMR19 MAR7 GTY4 DAR4 PPR9 DOV14* TEX20 MEM16 MLW25 KAN8 KEN27 NHA27 IRP6 NSH3 CIC5* NZH4 RCH5 SBO24 TEX2 LVS5 PHO3 CAL2* 8th 3320 2002 DAY24 DAR5 MAR3 GTY4 PPR6 DOV3 TEX4 MEM9 MLW14 KAN12* KEN4 NHA17 MCH9 IRP11 NSH2 RCH4 TEX4* SBO3 LVS6 CAL5 PHO3 HOM7 2nd 3313 2003 DAY1* DAR7 MMR6 MAR6 CLT3 DOV8* TEX14 MEM11 MLW3 KAN23 KEN11 GTW5 MCH12 IRP14 NSH3 BRI3 RCH6 NHA18 CAL4 LVS36 SBO5 TEX9 MAR4 PHO11 HOM2 7th 3578 2004 DAY4 ATL34 MAR1 MFD7 CLT7 DOV2 TEX15 MEM19 MLW9 KAN3 KEN16 GTW25 MCH32 IRP8 NSH24 BRI17 RCH24 NHA25 LVS11 CAL12 TEX7 MAR16 PHO11 DAR18 HOM28 13th 3030 2005 DAY36 CAL14 ATL29* MAR21 GTY5 MFD6 CLT25 DOV11 TEX19 MCH6 MLW8 KAN10 KENINQ† MEM11 IRP6 NSH10 BRI21 RCH28 NHA1 LVS7 MAR16 ATL32 TEX8 PHO4 HOM27 16th 2975 Boris Said KEN35 2006 Rick Crawford DAY8 CAL8 ATL10 MAR26 GTY24 CLT11 MFD12 DOV8 TEX3 MCH6 MLW9 KAN2 KEN2 MEM13 IRP1* NSH28 BRI13 NHA7 LVS14 TAL15 MAR9 ATL5 TEX33 PHO33 HOM15 10th 3252 2007 DAY10 CAL9 ATL4 MAR3 KAN2 CLT10 MFD23* DOV23 TEX3 MCH6 MLW5 MEM28 KEN30 IRP4 NSH6 BRI5 GTW11 NHA6 LVS9 TAL2 MAR5 ATL12 TEX5 PHO12 HOM3 5th 3523 2008 DAY5 CAL14 ATL11 MAR3 KAN9 CLT5 MFD13 DOV9 TEX21 MCH11 MLW8 MEM4 KEN14 IRP12 NSH23 BRI5 GTW8 NHA5 LVS6 TAL28 MAR3 ATL12 TEX11 PHO9 HOM33 8th 3315 2009 DAY21 CAL14 ATL16 MAR5 KAN14 CLT11 DOV19 TEX5 MCH12 MLW12 MEM11 KEN17 IRP11 NSH7 BRI19 CHI4 IOW17 GTW10 NHA10 LVS11 MAR15 TAL21 TEX10 PHO14 HOM17 12th 3161 2010 DAY28 ATL9 MAR19 NSH10 KAN DOV CLT TEX MCH IOW GTY IRP POC NSH DAR BRI CHI KEN NHA LVS MAR TAL TEX PHO HOM 42nd 457

References

External links Team Website Tom Mitchell Owner Statistics - Racing-Reference.info TruckSeries.com article on CBR's move to Alan Kulwicki's old race shop