NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series
Photos and story © 2005 Dwight Drum

Web work by Gary Larsen

Ryan Pemberton
Crew Chief, No. 01 US Army Chevrolet

“That’s what got them here – their passion about building faster, lighter, quicker race cars. That’s probably what drives all of us.”

We are fortunate to interview NASCAR and NHRA drivers but we are additionally fortunate to bring the words of crew chiefs to our presentation. Ryan Pemberton demonstrates his ability every week at a NASCAR track. Fans don’t always get to know how the nuts and bolts of racing grind, because they see only the excitement the drivers create and the precision that pit crews demonstrate.

Knowing how racing works is much about knowing who makes racing work.

Time: Late season 2005
Place: Season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway

Dwight asked Ryan Pemberton:

“It’s chemistry. It’s everybody being on the same page but not being boxed in. It’s a team effort just like any other basketball or football team. You’ve got to have strong players in all areas. You can’t have just one good guy, one superstar on the team. Everybody has to give good effort. That’s what makes a good team, chemistry, especially when you race almost year round like we do – forty weekends straight. Everybody has to get along really good. That helps it click. All that helps to make it fun during a grueling year.”

“Right at this time, I like next Monday or Tuesday when it’s done. It’s a long season. It’s really cool. We get to experience a lot of stuff, but it’s really about being competitive and building good race cars. Being a part of one of the best sporting events in the world week in and week out. On Sunday this will be the biggest sporting event in the world on Sunday. Last weekend the biggest sporting event was probably where we were last weekend. We’re a part of that week in and week out. Being competitive and building race cars that’s what everybody’s passion when they get to this point. That’s what got them here – their passion about building faster, lighter, quicker race cars. That’s probably what drives all of us.”

“It’s just like everything else. You can help more. You can help create it. You can put people in the right situations. It’s no different than any other job. You can’t put people in the wrong situations. You can’t put the wrong people in charge of certain areas. You can influence it all you want. Some people are great people. Some people have great people skills. Some people posses a little bit of both. If you put all those people in the right spots that’s what makes a great race team.”

“You try to develop a relationship with the guys. All these people on the team want to be on the team. You don’t ask them to put forth extra effort. They’re here because they want to be here. This is their passion. So, keep it loose. I compare this sport to other sports. Every now and then you make a bad pass. You can’t go rip the guy’s butt because he made a bad pass or he dropped the ball. The same type things happen here occasionally. In racing there are a lot of components. There a lot of mental to physical stand points – to making sure something is tight or making that decision or adding up something wrong. There’s always a chance that you are going to make errors.”

“Keeping it loose where everybody is thinking positive that keeps a good environment. That makes everybody want to try even harder. Keeping spirits up I think; that’s how we have to go about doing it. ”

“Yeah. I worked with Felix Sabates in the early 90’s and he tried to make some changes there and I was a good mechanic on the race team, an integral part of the road crew and what was going on with the race car. He made some changes that put me out on street for about a week. I had to reevaluate where I was at, what I was doing. A guy named Mack Martin gave me a call one day and he owned a Busch team with driver Larry Pearson. He was looking for a crew chief. He was looking for somebody with a lot of energy. I had experience and I was young. He gave me an opportunity to be a crew chief at a really young age. I was only like 24 years old then. I was scared to death. I took the opportunity. It went from the one of the worst days of my to turning into a huge career for me in a matter of a week or so. You know that’s the probably the first time I’ve ever thought about it or talked about it, but since you asked that would be one of the days when my career took a big direction.”