Thanks for asking Jerry, but I am sorry that I must defer to Bullring K.O., who officially owns the rights to the "Story Of Crankin"! A tale Rockin' & Racin'!
Here's a sneak peak though, with the Foreword penned by Kevin Eckert of
www.openwheeltimes.com last January, in an editorial called "Swap":
Personally, the Craig Dori story (Hell yes! I’ll do the roundtable in 2008) began in 1989 when he raced in the Hoosier Dome on a kart sponsored by the United Sprint Association. A month later when that club commenced, he was one of its officials. Craig had come from his Illinois home to their Texas office after Ted Johnson promised a job in his new World of Outlaw stock car class. At that time, Ted’s office manager Melanie Martin and publicist Gary Guehler (now with Texas Motor Speedway) were plotting an escape to USA. Feeling sorry for the kid who relocated for a broken promise, they took Dori with them as competition director.
I caught the first two USA events of ’89 in Savannah, Georgia and Phenix City, Alabama. Melanie (“Dee Dee”) asked if I might continue on to Texas? At the time, I had no car. She suggested riding with Dori and fellow official Jim LeConte, who played a Michael Schenker cassette that made us instant friends in 650 miles to Dallas.
Craig revealed that his dad was midget racer Dennis Dorsey, though he never insisted on a proper spelling of his name. Dennis and Craig helped savvy pavement pro Dick Pole through several road trips such as the final midget race ever at Pocono in 1987 when we both saw Pole run his Rick Stewart chassis to a credible fifth-place.
Perhaps the youngest comp director ever, Dori thought like a fan and not as a facilitator for Steve Kinser’s continued dominance. In one of his first acts, he revised Paragon protocol to invert eight and transfer four. Steve and his peers were furious. Further friction from prickly LeConte hastened Craig’s downfall and a week later, they shipped him home to Texas.
Possessing some high school radio experience, Craig auditioned for Z-Rock, a nationally syndicated hard rock radio station based in Dallas. After he was hired, “Crankin’ Craig” hooked me up with backstage passes to Queensryche in Dayton, Kings X in St. Petersburg, and Judas Priest at home in Indy.
Z-Rock faded and Dori drifted back to motorsports. He and Donnie’s brother Ron Beechler (a 305 sprint winner last year at Grand Prairie) raced mini sprints around Ennis. In the winter of 1995, I pushed photos for Jim Viviano at the Tulsa Shootout and encountered Craig as a karting competitor.
As so many before us, Dori eventually (1997) succumbed to the lure of Indianapolis. And despite the financial handicap that causes Craig to coin himself Shoestring Racing, he has remained determined to drive. A childhood friendship with Russ and Gary Gamester saw Craig purchase their Hawk midget, which they then had to tote because Dori had no trailer. By 1999, he had a trailer and a champ car to culminate another lifelong dream. By 2001, Shoestring completed the cycle by adding a sprint car.
Like his low dollar friends, Craig’s winter quest to replace parts at bargain basement prices inspired him to organize the first Hoosier Racers Swap Meet in 2001. It began in Marion, immediately grew into a larger building in Kokomo and last year, invaded the Indiana State Fairgrounds.