Crew chief pay? (1 Viewer)

[Mike]

Kyle Wurtzel, we all know its the drivers that get huge money.... ​

 

[ZWeinstein]

All I know is Im sure Grubby was able to add bacon to his cheeseburger after Sonoma.

 

[Topfuel386]

Kyle Wurtzel, we all know its the drivers that get huge money.... ​

Lol. Unfortunately for myself that answer is I wish.

 

[Pete]

All I know is Im sure Grubby was able to add bacon to his cheeseburger after Sonoma.

...and fries

 

[twostep]

I will take that bet. Any chance we can settle up in Topeka or Indy?

Sounds far fetched to me too but stop to consider Dale Armstrong was said to have been paid $300,000 30+ years ago...it's said JF paid Mike Neff $1 million which could be BS but that's what's out there. Some of y'all would know more than I would but it doesn't matter. No crew chief is going to post their salary. I don't have any nitro to bet anyway.

 

[DanTheFan]

Whatever they’re paying Grubby, he’s earned it so far. Hope he wins today but on a hot track weird things can happen. But I am impressed at how many full pulls were accomplished this weekend vs heat events of the past where only a couple cars made it.

 

[LasVegas87]

Grubnic put 0.066 on the field yesterday. That car moves so hard on the back half of the track (indicated by the big speeds). Truly impressive.

The 'double step' mid race firing that changed Top Fuel.

 

[aakar]

Grubnic put 0.066 on the field yesterday. That car moves so hard on the back half of the track (indicated by the big speeds). Truly impressive.

The 'double step' mid race firing that changed Top Fuel.

That double step seems to have created a Monster!

 

[5150 mechanic]

I thought I read even back then he wanted to tune more than drive.

 

[Pete]

I thought I read even back then he wanted to tune more than drive.

You are correct...the Director of IT at Kalitta back in the day...Grubby lol

 

[Cliff]

Well, Tony wasn't exactly a "shoe in" for this race, but....... Grubby did good getting to the final on a hot track. Tony took a big withdrawal from the luck bank, but I think the bank owed him. Wonder what would happen if Grubby was the CC for Tony Shoe?

 

[Butch]

A new BOSS can make a big difference.

 

[camaro]

. . . . . The 'double step' mid race firing that changed Top Fuel.

changed Top Fuel ??? . . . . . . Mr. Torrence might disagree with that statement !!!

 

[LasVegas87]

No disrespect to Torrence or his brain trust. My reference was to the performance (ET and MPH records) that the Grubnic combination holds.

 

[DanTheFan]

And as much as I’m not a Torrence fan, I expect him to be the favorite in the countdown.

 

[Ramjet]

And as much as I’m not a Torrence fan, I expect him to be the favorite in the countdown.

It is very possible that the countdown will be decided on PARTS attrition and not who can run the best. You may soon see more teams having problems because of running marginal parts since the supply chain isn’t doing very well. Teams that have a good supply of “backup stuff” put away are in the best shape. The low car count in the Western Swing could be that people had to decide if passing on these races was the best plan for later in the year as much as the travel cost or both.

 

[Bruno]

I think you would need to work backwards to try to guess a crew chief's salary. What is an average budget for a fuel team these days, really? $5M? Let's assume that for a minute. No way are you going to be spending 10% of your total yearly budget on one salary. You have so many more mind crushing expenses - 10-15 more salaries, trucks, insurance diesel fuel, parts, tires, nitro, travel, motels, food, uniforms.....The list is never ending. This isn't F1. I would assume any winnings get dispersed as well. Maybe out of winnings 20% goes back into the account. The other 80% gets divided up with X% of that going to the crew chief(s) and the rest going to the crew. Don't really know, just speculating what it costs to run any business. I think it is a very interesting question and wish we had more information on real costs for this crazy sport we love.

 

[none]

My brother is a crewchief and I don't know what he makes. It is none of my business...................

 

[Oz_NHRA_Fan]

Not in a million years will ever believe that David Grubnic or Dicky Venables make only 200 or 250k per year with the level of responsibility they have for the success of multi million dollar race teams. Don't really care what the number is but I personally know several people who make 200k plus per year for jobs with one tenth the responsibility and required travel. I'm sure there's crew cheifs making less but the high level ones are making more than that.

It’s not about responsibility though, it’s about revenue. The winner’s check for a championship is $500k plus whatever the race to race winnings are so the most the team is likely to generate is let’s say $1m in winnings maybe $4m in sponsorship (based on it costing $4m to run a top flight nitro team), so at best it’s a $5m business. You wouldn’t pay any one employee 20-25% of total budget. I’m not suggesting you’re saying this rather I’m just trying to articulate what would be feasible for the budget allocated.

Of course this is all speculation but I would think $250-500k for a crew chief and probably another $500k in wages for the rest of the staff is probably about right.

 

[Butch]

I believe and practice in my business that if you land a top shelf person you treat and pay them extremely well and they won't want to go someplace else.
It's worked for me.
I'm sure this is the case with Grubnic.