Several crew chiefs find new homes for 2008 season in busy offseason
By Jeff Gluck and Bob Pockrass - Associate Editors
Thursday, January 10, 2008
- TEXT SIZE: Increase Text Size Decrease Text Size Reset Text Size
- No Comments. Leave a Comment
- Digg This
- Add to Del.icio.us
- RSS Feeds
Latest Headlines
- Jack Sprague returns to Wyler Racing's Craftsman Truck Series team
- Mike Wallace, AJ Allmendinger to replace Patrick Carpentier at GEM
- Dale Earnhardt Inc.'s Regan Smith doesn't regret Talladega finish
- Goodyear studying tires, but indications are punctures caused Talladega failures
- Sprint Cup teams take part in tire test at Indianapolis Motor Speedway
SCENE ON THE CIRCUIT
Like a game of musical chairs – or pit boxes – a flurry of crew chief changes in the offseason left some familiar faces with new teams.
The first big move came when Ryan Pemberton, who had been crew chief for Mark Martin at Ginn Racing and Dale Earnhardt Inc., left DEI on Dec. 12 and moved to Michael Waltrip Racing to lead David Reutimann’s team.
Pemberton was slated to move to the No. 8 along with Martin and Aric Almirola before his departure. He was replaced by Tony Gibson, who finished the season as Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s crew chief and was originally paired with rookie Regan Smith but will instead guide Martin and Almirola.
That left an open spot with the No. 01, which was filled by former Red Bull Racing crew chief Doug Richert, who guided Brian Vickers in 2007. Richert led Greg Biffle to a second-place finish in the standings in 2005.
“It’s a good challenge for me,” Richert said. “Learning the DEI model and how they do business is first and foremost, and then working with a young driver like Regan. He’s energetic, he’s eager to drive; he wants to drive every test he can. That’s encouraging.”
Pemberton isn’t the only new face at MWR. Waltrip’s second-year company has new crew chiefs for all three of its teams.
Paul Andrews, who won the 1992 Cup title with Alan Kulwicki and most recently served as Bobby Labonte’s crew chief at Petty Enterprises, is in charge of Waltrip’s No. 55 team.
Andrews is still recovering from a fall that left him with a shattered heel and severe back injury.
“It’s been a pretty rough road, really,” he said. “But I felt really good about coming to work, just from a physical standpoint.
“I think [the team] is headed in the right direction. Our goal is to be respectable and finish the races. … We really feel like we’re in good shape.”
After Dale Jarrett’s crew chief Jason Burdett left to become car chief for Jeff Gordon at Hendrick Motorsports, MWR named Bill Pappas to the No. 00 team. Pappas, a longtime open-wheel engineer who won the Indianapolis 500 with Juan Pablo Montoya at Chip Ganassi Racing, will oversee Jarrett’s cars for the first five Sprint Cup races, then work with a yet-to-be determined driver (though Michael McDowell is a leading candidate) when Reutimann moves from the No. 00 to the No. 44.
“I’m very, very excited about it,” Pappas said. “It’s an area I haven’t raced in, but at the end of the day, it’ll still be race cars. There’s a tremendous staff with tons of experience. I haven’t been this fired up in a long time.”
Frank Kerr, who had been Reutimann’s crew chief, is now at Robby Gordon Motorsports. Gordon struggled to find consistency with a crew chief last year. Greg Erwin, Gene Nead and Peter Sospenzo were all on Gordon’s pit box in 2007.
Gillett Evernham Motorsports has a new team director – GEM’s version of a crew chief – for its No. 10 car and driver Patrick Carpentier. Mike Shiplett, who had been guiding the team’s Nationwide Series car, will now take over the No. 10.
Not all of the new crew chiefs have sponsors for their cars. MWR’s No. 00, DEI’s No. 01 and GEM’s No. 10 are among a handful of teams in the garage that have not announced sponsorship plans.
“With [or] without [sponsorship], I’m always trying to run the best I can and present ourselves with an image the best that we can, and the rest of it kind of falls in place,” Richert said. “They have several things lined up, but there hasn’t been any announcement.”
Pappas said he assumes MWR will find sponsorship since it hired him in the first place.
“They’ve made a commitment to me,” he said, “so I’m assuming I have a way to get paid.”
- Mentioned Drivers:
- Aric Almirola
No Comments
Be the first to comment on "Several crew chiefs find new homes for 2008 season in busy offseason". Login or sign up for a free account below to post your comment