Corey Crispin honors late grandmother with win at Hawkeye Downs

CEDAR RAPIDS — It’s been a whirlwind of emotions recently for Corey Crispin.

Two weekends ago, Crispin’s grandmother, Barbara John, died.

Last weekend, Crispin had the honor of being one of three Hawkeye Downs representatives to participate in an interview session at the NASCAR Experience Stage during the Iowa Speedway race weekend in Newton.

And Friday, the reigning Hornets track champion and current points leader found himself in victory lane for the second time this season.

“I feel like when something bad happens, normally something good comes around after,” Crispin said. “I lost my grandmother a couple weekends ago, and we had the service for her last Wednesday (June 12). So, it's just nice to turn things around with a win and get things going in the right direction again.”

Friday’s win was extra special for the 23-year-old driver.

“It's my first win without her (John), and so … everything's wonderful,” Crispin said. “She was out here a lot. She made quite a few races when I was starting things off in my rookie and sophomore seasons.”

Declining health in recent years drove John to follow her grandson’s racing career through social media.

“She wasn’t able to be here for the races, but the thing I could always count on is any time we won a race and posted it on Facebook, she'd always be one of the first comments on there,” Crispin said. “She would always comment something positive, and I always looked forward to.

“I’ll miss that for sure.”

Crispin found the inside edge in Friday’s race, defeating Hornets second-place driver Chad Vozenilek.

“Starting on the bottom kind of helps,” Crispin said. “I normally start on the outside and have to work around so many cars on top. Tonight, I was at the bottom and Chad was at the top. It was the inverse of normal, and I was able to get away with it this time.”

Another recent highlight for Crispin was participating in a panel interview alongside HD race director Brian Gibson and Cedar Rapids driver Danny Lehmkuhl at the NASCAR Fan Zone at Iowa Speedway.

“Just being able to get up in front of people and promote this track was great,” Crispin said. “As far as small, short tracks go, Hawkeye Downs is one of the best facilities out there. I mean, we're in our 99th year and we have nicer facilities, nicer pavement and nicer bathrooms than a lot of places.”

The trio spoke about the history of Hawkeye Downs racing, their racing experience and what race fans have to look forward to during their visits to the speedway.

“It was a pretty casual conversation,” Crispin said. “I had a good time with it. Honestly, I wish we had more time. We were only up there for 15 or 20 minutes. I feel like we could do a one-hour press conference up there.”

As for Friday’s win, it almost never happened.

Crispin attempted to start his vehicle leading up to his feature race, but it refused to turn over.

“It was sort of keying up,” Crispin said. “The crew pushed me back. I was going to have them try and pop start. Once they pushed me back, I figured I'd give it one more go … Luckily, it started right up.

“I don't know why, but it worked.”

Perhaps it had something to do with a guardian angel looking down on him.