Local racer proves he's faster than a redneck

Joe Crowell, owner of Eurotechnik in Hendersonville, holds a check for $10,000 he received after winning on the show “R U Faster Than a Redneck?”

Last Modified: Thursday, March 28, 2013 at 8:10 p.m.

Joe Crowell is faster than a redneck.

Crowell, a Hendersonville resident, competed on Speed's “R U Faster than a Redneck?” reality show last year in his pearl white Audi S4 Avant. His episode finally aired March 18, and he got a check in the mail Monday for winning his races.

“It was real hard,” Crowell said of keeping his victory a secret. “It was 10 months of me biting my tongue when someone brought it up.”

The show, hosted by “Last Comic Standing” winner Jon Reep, pitted “rednecks” in American muscle cars against young drivers in European cars. Crowell had to compete in three races to win the money.

Throughout the episode, Reep and “rednecks” poked fun at the drivers, including Crowell. At one point, Reep referred to Crowell as “Metro Jethro” because he was a southerner who drove European cars.

It didn't matter. Crowell let his racing do the talking.

In the first round of the episode, he beat a 1966 Chevy pickup. In the second round, Crowell outraced a 1967 Atomic Camaro with chrome windshield wipers.

What awaited him in the third round was a much more daunting task. A 1967 Ford Mustang rolled down the track as Crowell stood by his car, surrounded by trash-talking “rednecks.” The car was built by the company YearOne and was a specialty car out of the company's Ghostworks Garage.

“They're specially built for extreme use on road course races,” Crowell said. “It's essentially a race car. I knew that I was up against some absurd competition.”

That didn't matter because Crowell had experience and the smarts to understand the track, the car and what was needed for victory.

The rules required the cars to use street tires instead of race tires, Crowell said, and that provided him with an advantage. Crowell knew that the street tires required a different setup.

A recipe of knowledge, car savviness and experience behind the wheel allowed Crowell to race door-to-door with the muscle car for nearly two laps before pulling away. By the third lap, the Mustang wasn't catching Crowell.

While sitting at home watching himself on television wasn't as surreal as participating, Crowell said the experience was still “interesting.” He had all the confidence in the world in his abilities to bring home the $10,000 cash prize.

“It was great, but winning was my intention all along,” he said. “I don't ever go to the race track to lose.”



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