Ever since he can remember, cars and racing have always been passions for Jak Crawford. At four years old, Jak’s dad, Tim Crawford, bought him a racing kart that he drove around a large parking lot until he was six years old when he officially began racing.
From playing with cars to racing, Jak has worked his way up the karting ranks and now into the formula car ranks. Jak, who is 14 years old, was recently signed as only one of seven people on the Red Bull Junior Team, a small and elite racing program of hand-picked, up-and-coming, world-wide drivers. Red Bull Racing trains future pilots for their two Formula 1 teams to represent the company.
“Once I started racing, I fell in love with it and have loved it ever since,” said Jak, who is a Montgomery County resident when he’s not on the racing circuit. “Racing, like I am doing as a Red Bull athlete, is very hard to get into. You want to start when you are young if you want to do what I do. You can also start when you are older, but your options will be more limited.”
Because of Jak and Tim’s passion for racing, building a racing kart track locally was a perfect fit thus, Speedsportz Racing Park in New Caney came to fruition. Tim is the majority owner of Speedsportz and some of the business partners in his real estate development businesses came from people he met at the racetrack.
“We searched all over the USA and Europe and created a world-class karting facility right here in our backyard,” said Tim. “This is one of the best karting facilities you will find anywhere. The promise of the Hwy. 242 and U.S. Highway 59 intersection is impressive; some big pieces falling in place now such as a major grocer and the waterpark, Big Rivers. Drive over there and you will see a lot of construction activity. The amount of growth along all of Hwy. 242 and north of the Grand Parkway/99 are going to be very big for many years.”
Speedsportz Racing Park opened its doors in 2017 to provide multiple services simultaneously; a rental kart track open to the public; a professional racing track; club memberships with member garages; and a retail area selling karts, equipment and parts. Speedsportz also has three event rooms for corporate gatherings such as team building activities, bachelor/bachelorette parties and birthday parties.
Although Speedsportz Racing Park opened after Jak was already racing, he frequents the track when he is home to practice for future races. Additionally, Jak started a foundation, the Fast Friends Speed School at Speedsportz, to meet kids with special needs and drive them around the track.
“It is always nice to have a karting track close by so I can go do some practice laps in my racing go-kart,” said Jak. “Karting at Speedsportz is a great place to start. Speedsportz is a place where you can start out racing or just go to have some fun. Being a professional race car driver requires a love for the sport and a lot of determination. I would love to see more people in racing, and I love competing against large crowds. The largest crowd I ever raced against was 160 people in one class in Italy. I would encourage people to start racing if they love racing and that’s what they want to do with their lives.”