Lane Cranston

Jonathan Lane Cranston (born on June 12, 1982 in Clarksville, Tennessee), who goes by his middle name, is an American race car driver who currently drives Middle Tennessee Motorsports' unsponsored #114 car in the ARLA Elite Series. This is both Cranston's and MT Motorsports' first year in the series.

Early life and career
Cranston was born in Clarksville, Tennessee, to father Clyde Cranston, who owns a parts store in Clarksville called Cranston's Car Parts, and mother Jane Laker, who is chief resident at Gateway Medical Center, also in Clarksville. Cranston has one sibling, sister Mary, who was born in 1986. Mary, a teller at an Avenue Bank branch in Nashville, is married to businessman Steve Ragan, and they have an infant daughter, Kimberly. Lane Cranston has said his niece's birth is the highlight of his life so far, aside from his wedding day.

Cranston's racing career began at age 17, when he began racing late models at Fairgrounds Speedway at Nashville. Cranston would spend 10 years at the Fairgrounds, winning 21 races. During his time, he would befriend other racers who are currently competing at high levels, like Kraig Mummert, Mummert's wife, Jennifer Putnam, and Kristian Jeffries.

Short stint in the ASCC
Having attracted the attention of MT Motorsports owner, Fred Caldwell, Cranston was signed to a contract to run in the American Stock Car Championship for 2010. Their first race was the Texas 500. Cranston qualified for the race, starting 31st. The race, however, was a laughable disaster. A pileup just after the green flag came out was a sign of things to come, and Cranston was taken out in a crash on the eighth lap of the 250 lap event. Furious with the poor driving of his competitors, Cranston fumed that he was never so happy to have crashed out of a race. Only 10 cars finished out of 43. Cranston and Caldwell agreed a return to the ASCC was out of the question.

Half a season in the CRL
Cranston drove the #14 Bolden for MT Motorsports for the final half of the 2010-2011 Continental Racing League Modified Division. He took over the car from friend Mummert, who struggled in his sophomore season after a rookie season that included a win at Portland. Cranston's CRL debut came at Grand Detour of Southern Illinois. He finished 9th, good enough for four points, but he wouldn't score again.

Move to ARLA
Caldwell planned to enter the ARLA Elite Series on a part-time basis for 2012, with Cranston as the driver. But ARLA offered the team a full-time slot when it became available, and the team decided to accept it.

The team debuted at the Rookie Shootout, where Cranston finished 20th out of 25 cars. With Dallas Speedpark having been devastated by a tornado, the official season opener moved to Daytona International Speedway. Cranston competed in the second race of the Daytona 300, running near the front most of the event. Cranston finished 9th, scoring his and MT Motorsports' first ARLA points in their first official start. However, Cranston was involved in separate incidents, one of which took out Nami Mura. He immediately apologized for his erratic driving after the race.

The series moved onto Talladega for the Radii Radiators 300. Cranston competed in the first race. He qualified near the front, and was in second with seven laps to go, chasing leader Edwin Schwarzloski, when Cranston made contact with Mark Freestone, the event's M-Pire Drive the Dream competitor, sending Freestone into the inside wall on the backstretch before he came back out into traffic, and got slammed into by Mike Andrews. The accident, and Freestone's injuries, caused the event to be completely abandoned, with the running order for the first race wiped out. The second race was not run.

Personal life
While racing at the Fairgrounds, Cranston's day job was working as a mechanic at a Pep Boys store in Clarksville. In 2004, Cranston met and fell in love with frequent customer Gina Stanley. Cranston asked her out four times before she finally agreed to go on a date with Lane. Cranston and Stanley married on January 5, 2008. The couple have no children, but are planning to start a family soon.