Crew Chief Club at the Brickyard 400
29 July 1998
For Immediate Release Crew Chief Club at the Brickyard 400 Event: Brickyard 400 When: Sat., Aug. 1 at 1 p.m. EDT on ABC Where: Indianapolis Motor Speedway (2.5-mile oval) Together, Jimmy Makar, Larry McReynolds, Todd Parrott and Robin Pemberton have led their drivers to 63 wins, 331 top-five finishes, 527 top-10 finishes and 61 poles prior to the Brickyard 400 on Sat., Aug. 1 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Three of the four crew chiefs, along with their respective drivers, will be competing for a million dollar bonus as part of Winston's No Bull Five program at the Brickyard 400. Makar with Bobby Labonte, Parrott with Dale Jarrett and Pemberton with Rusty Wallace are all eligible for a million dollar payday with a win at Indy by virtue of their top-five finish in the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway. The Ford Quality Care Service/Ford Credit team of Parrott and Jarrett won the 1996 Brickyard 400. The Parrott/Jarrett combo beat out then teammates Ernie Irvan and crew chief McReynolds. In the four Brickyard 400 races that have been run, the members of the Crew Chief Club have collectively scored five top-five finishes. In last year's Brickyard 400, the Crew Chief Club finished in the following order: Makar/Labonte Start: 25th Finish: 2nd Status: Running Parrott/Jarrett Start: 3rd Finish: 3rd Status: Running McReynolds/Earnhardt Start: 5th Finish: 29th Status: Running Pemberton/Wallace Start: 43rd Finish: 38th Status: Engine Due to prior sponsor commitments, three of the four crew chiefs will be signing autographs on Fri., July 31 an hour and a half after the conclusion of happy hour. Jimmy Makar and Larry McReynolds will be on the Team Monte Carlo souvenir trailer, while Robin Pemberton will be on the Ford souvenir trailer. Crew Chief Club souvenirs and wearables are now available on both trailers. WHAT DID YOU LEARN FROM YOUR INDY TEST THAT WILL HELP SET YOUR CAR UP FOR THE BRICKYARD 400? Jimmy Makar - Interstate Batteries Pontiac of Bobby Labonte - "Our Indy test was probably one of the better Indy tests we've had in the last few years. We made some gains and we were pretty happy with our end results. When we went to Indy there were about 15 cars, as it was after the big group of cars had left. The track was a little slower because it was a little hotter, so it was hard for us to compare ourselves to the main group of cars that had gone before us. But in relation to the cars that were there when we were, we were as good as anybody in both our qualifying runs and on our long race runs. We're pretty confident that when we unload at Indy that we're going to be better this year than we were last year. You run so fast at Indy and the track is so flat that aerodynamics come into play more so than it would at a lot of other places. You try to keep the front end of the car from popping up as you exit the corners. When the front end pops up, air gets underneath the air dam and it makes the car push. So, you want to keep the car down and work on your chassis setup so that you're not tight up off the corners. That's usually what kills you at Indy because you're scrubbing off speed, and with aerodynamics as they are, if you lose a little bit of speed on the straightaway, you'll never gain it back because the straightaways are so long." IS COMPETING FOR THE NO BULL FIVE A DISTRACTION OR AN INCENTIVE? "No, it's not a distraction. It's a neat deal that's in the back of our minds. It's a great honor to be part of the No Bull program. We really enjoy doing it and it is an incentive. Monetarily it's a great incentive. The fact that there's been three races so far and we've been involved in all three - we're really proud of that fact. Hopefully, we'll have a shot at winning the money this time since nobody's done it yet." Larry McReynolds - Lowe's Chevrolet of Mike Skinner - "We were there for three days and we had three race cars, actually five cars - three with the 31 team and two with the three team. It was a good test because it was my first time being able to work close and one-on-one with Mike and the 31 team without the pressures of qualifying or getting ready to race. We learned a lot about our particular cars that we had there. All in all, we had a good test. We ran pretty quick. It was the hottest I think it's ever been at a race track, but it could very well be that hot when we get back there. I'd rather practice and test in really hot weather and go back to Indy and be cool, than test in cool weather and go back and be hot. Probably the toughest thing about the test is that we ended up with two really good cars and deciding on which car we'll actually use. The car that we had at Pocono is the same car that we ran fifth with at Loudon, and it could very well end up being our primary car for Indy. If that's the case, we'll re-pack the wheel bearings, re-paint the nose and take it right back to Indy." Todd Parrott - Ford Quality Care/Ford Credit Ford of Dale Jarrett - "When we tested we had two cars up there; the car that we ran last year - same chassis except with a new dress on it, and a brand new car. We just shook them both down trying to see which car had the best feel to it. Obviously, it's a No Bull Five race so it pays a lot of money - for our team and for Robin or Jimmy's team if they win. The main thing is to make sure that the car handles well under race conditions. It pays some money to qualify up front, but the big money is paid for winning the race, and that's what we worked on during our test." IS COMPETING FOR THE NO BULL FIVE A DISTRACTION OR AN INCENTIVE? "It's not a distraction. It's just an extra incentive to work extra hard. We work hard every week, but its just a little more incentive to work even harder than what we normally do. It's a big race. Nobody's won the million yet, and the cars that you've got racing for it will probably take it at Indianapolis." Robin Pemberton - Miller Lite Ford of Rusty Wallace - "Everything we did we learned from. In the first two days we concentrated on qualifying. We got a great qualifying lap in at a 50.70, and the third day we worked on some race stuff. I think we had a great test there - probably one of the best tests we've had in the last three years." IS COMPETING FOR THE NO BULL FIVE A DISTRACTION OR AN INCENTIVE? "It is an incentive. I don't believe it's a distraction, unless you take your eyes off the goal, which is to win the race. Then if you win the race, the million dollars is just a little added bonus. We're concentrating on doing what we need to do just like we do every week. We'll let the bonuses fall where they may." WITH NASCAR DEBATING ITS FUTURE POLICY REGARDING TEST DATES, WHAT WOULD YOU LIKE TO SEE? AND IF TEST DATES ARE ABOLISHED, WOULD CREATING AN ADDITIONAL TEAM BECOME UNNECESSARY? Jimmy Makar: "Right now, the way the schedule is, it's really tough to test - especially around this part of the season. Everybody knows we've got a stretch of 16 straight races without a break. To get somewhere and test is tough during the week when you're trying to prepare for next weekend's race. It's getting tougher to test than it has been in the past. I'm a proponent of the no-testing rule. I think we could do just as well without testing and focus a little more on racing. People talk about the young teams, the rookie teams suffering a little bit, and that's true. But that's part of being a rookie team. You can't expect to come in and perform like a veteran team. That just might have to be part of the process for the overall good of the series. If they want to keep adding races, it's definitely something they're going to have to look at. There's been talk of adding an extra day to some of the tracks that we go to for the first time. That would be great. It would give you an opportunity to figure out what the track's like and what your car's like. There's still going to be plenty of other tracks in the country where you can go test and shake down cars. There are a lot of tracks that we don't race on that wouldn't be banned from the testing procedures that we have now. Overall, I think it would be good if we tested less and raced more. However, I still think it would be an advantage to have two teams, especially when you come together on Monday and you have two teams worth of information to go through and decipher." Larry McReynolds: "I find it hard to believe that anyone has created an extra team, or two teams or three teams just to get more test dates. I think the benefit of having multi-car teams is to share information at the race track when you're practicing and qualifying for the race. But as far as spending an additional six, seven or eight million dollars just to get seven more tests - I find it hard to believe that somebody has actually done that for that reason. If anything, what it might do is enhance having more race teams, whereas when you go to a race track for a race, one team can go one direction and the other team can go another direction. From there, you can figure out where you need to be. What the perfect answer is for the testing situation - I don't have a perfect answer. I'd hate to see test dates abolished altogether because I think that would put teams that need some advantage, namely new teams, at a terrible disadvantage compared to teams that have been around for awhile and have seen the tracks that we run on. As far as giving us an open house test before every race weekend, kind of like what the truck series does, I'd hate to see that. Right now, we test 21 days. If we had an open test before each race, that would create 33 or 34 test dates. I feel the current testing deal works pretty well. Maybe in NASCAR's eyes it doesn't. But I'm not so sure the testing deal is broke and that we need to fix it." Todd Parrott: "Seven test dates are enough. With the experience that these guys have on these race tracks, it's fair for everybody. I'm sure they're going to add another race next year if not two more races. The guys in the shop work their guts out seven days a week as it is now, and adding more test dates or allowing us to go to a track a day early isn't going to help anything at all. When we show up at a race track and have three and a half hours of practice like we did at Pocono - if you can't get your car right at a place like that when you've been going there for years, well then… Sooner or later it's just going to wear us down and it'll take away from the sport. It's not going to be any fun. When it's no longer fun for the competitors, it won't be any fun for the fans. Now, if test dates were abolished, it would probably take away the need for so many multi-car teams such as the Roushes that have five teams. You know, you might cut back to three. But then again, there may be incentive to add multi-car teams. It's a weird sport and that's what makes it so exciting." Robin Pemberton: "There are times when you think you need a test, and other times when you think you've tested too much. We'll leave it as it is, but we'll let the rulemakers decide. We'll just voice some small opinions as time goes on. The idea of a testing ban would be to help the teams - the people involved along with the sponsorship dollars and how they are spread out. You know, we're here to race. We're not here to test. You don't want to spend so much money on testing. You'd rather put it towards the racing effort." -30-
