direct 59 * * * * some_command > /tmp/log.log 2>&1

Just change append_tasks in cracken.rb like this:

def append_tasks(crontab, raketab)
crontab << "### #{APP_NAME} raketab\n"
raketab.each_line do |line|
line.strip!
unless line =~ /^#/ || line.empty? # ignore comments and blank lines
sp = line.split
direct = false
if sp.first == "direct"
sp.shift
crontab << sp[0,5].join(' ')
tasks = sp[5,sp.size]
direct = true
elsif SPECIAL_STRINGS.include?(sp.first)
crontab << sp.shift
tasks = sp
else
crontab << sp[0,5].join(' ')
tasks = sp[5,sp.size]
end
if direct
crontab << " cd #{DEPLOY_PATH} && "
tasks.each do |task|
crontab << " #{task}"
end
else
crontab << " cd #{DEPLOY_PATH} && #{RAKE_EXE} –silent RAILS_ENV=#{RAKETAB_RAILS_ENV}"
tasks.each do |task|
crontab << " #{task}"
end
end
crontab << "\n"
end
end
crontab << "### #{APP_NAME} raketab end\n"
crontab
end

I realize that it somewhat goes against why craken was written, but sometimes you do want to manage a non-rake command from rails.