Zoomster.com brings you words from NASCAR drivers, crew chiefs and owners via all means of access, in person, on the Internet and by phone. This section focuses on NASCAR NEXTEL teleconference moments with many favorite crew chiefs.

The voices of Zoomster for 2005:

Debbie Speicher, Interviewer

When not working Debbie likes to manicure her home garden and decorate her house and deck, but here on Zoomster she just grooms our Zoomster questions for top-notch drivers, crew chiefs and owners.

Other Interviewers:

Gary Larsen, Webmaster
Sometimes this busy tech-guy breaks away from his keyboard and gets on the phone.

Dwight Drum, Editor
A Zoomster question from Debbie Speicher

We have a fan question for you from Gary Wodka in Buffalo, NY.

“I think it’s one of the greatest things that’s ever happen to restrictor plate racing. But with the way the schedules are laid out and the amount of practice time we get now at the impound events, I’m not a big fan of it. They’ve cut down our practice time to get prepared for an event tremendously with the impound schedule. We’ve got a lot of down time for the race teams and crew members. I don’t think we should have that. They’re sitting around the race tracks or hotels doing nothing. They can’t work on the race car, but they have to be at the track for certain reasons. You have to get the car ready for two laps of qualifying but still have to be there all day long. I’m not a big fan of the impound stuff unless it’s on a restrictor plate track. If we can’t work on our cars, that’s no fun. We’ve got a lot of cool race cars and pretty smart people and neat tool boxes, but if we can’t use them it’s no fun having them.”

Debbie Speicher asked Chad Knaus:

“What I’ve done this year is mandated that all the road guys take at least one week off prior to the final 10 events. A lot of those guys have stuff going on right now. One of our guys is going moose hunting in Montana after Fontana. I’ve got some other guys taking some time off between Chicago and Loudon. I’ve got a guy who’s going to actually miss Watkins Glen because he’s taking that weekend off. I’m making sure my guys get a little time off to keep them fresh. Three or four days don’t seem like much. But when you work as much as these guys do, three or four days off in a row is an eternity almost. They’ll come back strong and ready to hit hard when we get to the final ten.”

A Zoomster question from Dwight:

“It’s always a good thing no matter what some of the things maybe get to you from time to time. You always have a bit of a target on you and the target isn’t necessarily always from the competition it’s from the media and fan base. You get a lot of good and bad that comes with it. Always being in the spot light, always having a TV camera on you every time you’re getting up and off the pit box or the driver walking from the transporter over to the racecar or what have you and that can be tough from time to time.”

“But there are a lot more good things that come with it. We get to get out on the racetrack you know as one of the first cars for practice that’s always a good thing. We always have those guys wondering what we are doing that’s always a good thing from a psychological standpoint.

“To be quite honest with you it takes a little bit of heat off you and being concerned about being in the top-10. I’d hate to be obviously we have a long way to go before we get to Richmond in the fall but I’d hate to be right now sitting right now 13th trying to be in the top-10 I’m not saying that we won’t be here in a few weeks we could have some difficulty and that could be us. That’s probably the biggest advantage you’ve got right now is that you don’t have to stay up late at night worrying about that you can worry about how you are going to get better instead of how you are going to jump into the top-10.

Early 2005 season

Chad: "Hi Debbie! From Zoomster - just fine, thank you."

"I think it's a booming sport. Rules change because we get smarter and NASCAR has to figure out a way to keep the competition at a level playing field. They understand if we come up with something or someone else comes up with something that rules are going to change. Qualifying procedures change, obviously for TV and different issues. Basically we shoulder that responsibility ourselves as a crew chief and make sure we have a good game plan set in place so that the guys understand everything that is going on and the reasoning behind it. As long as they have good direction and know all the information it doesn't really affect them too much. It's when the surprises come up you usually have problems."

Do you plan on being conservative about anything going into the last few races that determine the Chase for the Championship? Do you hold anything back for the last 10 races?

“No. I wouldn’t change a thing.”