Food culture and baseball fandom: Jak Crawford’s Hometown Tour

Title contender Jak Crawford is coming off a huge win in Baku that has propelled him into the title race heading into the final two rounds of the 2025 Formula 2 season.

Ahead of the resumption in racing, we asked the DAMS Lucas Oil driver to give us the lowdown on his hometown.

“I’d say my hometown is Houston, Texas. I wasn’t born there, but I grew up there and that’s where I call home. There’s so much you can do there. My favourite thing to do is go to watch baseball.

“The Astros are the team in Houston. I’ve been to a lot of games and I’m a huge fan. I think outside of motorsport, baseball is the sport I follow most.

“The games are huge, the stadiums are massive and it’s just a really fun. I’ve done a ceremonial pitch for another team, but doing one with the Astros is on my to-do list. I’m hopeful it’ll happen one day.

“You could also go and visit the zoo. There are tonnes of museums and of course, food, the most important thing.

“There are really three main cuisines you can go for: barbeque, Tex-Mex and sushi. Those three are done really well over here.

“I don’t have one specific place I always end up going to, everywhere is pretty solid and it’s a safe bet wherever you end up going.

“Museums-wise, you have the National History Museum, full of dinosaurs and stuff like that. I haven’t been since my school days, but I remember there’s a tonne of other museums, but my favourite has always been the dinosaur one.

“Overall, I’d say the food is pretty underrated in Houston. I feel that Texas is kind of known for barbeque, but also the Tex-Mex food is good and so’s the sushi. As someone who’s lived there, I think the food culture is really big there and it’s something I enjoy a lot when I’m over there.

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“The only thing I’d say is a drawback is the traffic. The roads are always busy, so you might want to do your best to avoid driving everywhere.

“Also, the weather, you need to come prepared. It’s always very hot and very humid as well. So it can be quite rough, especially if you’re visiting in the summer.

“I probably get to visit like four or five times a year. I go for a couple weeks at a time. I spend all my holidays there, my time in the winter and during the summer break as well.

“But my favourite thing to do is just chill at home, relax, see family and friends and eat good food!”