Hypothetical thread: drivers who could/should/might be crew chiefs someday (1 Viewer)

[BaldyLochs]

This is interesting to think about. Since we now have guys like Jim Dunn, Johnny West, Mark Oswald & Glen Mikres (to name a very few) who used to drive and enjoyed varying levels of success doing so; but now tune race vehicles for a living, who else do you think could someday hang up the gloves and still make a heck of a Crew Chief?? There's alot of talent out there in every class. I imagine this list will grow very long.

 

[Jer]

Nice thread

Waren Johnson
Jim Yates
Jason Line
Greg Anderson
Mike Edwards
Larry Morgan
Kurt Johnson
Allen Johnson
Greg Stanfield

Jim Head
Tim wilkerson
Gary Densham

 

[paoldtimer]

Larry Dixon, Jr.
Cory Mac

 

[d'kid]

Del W
DCjr
Mike Neff (duh)
Robert H.

d'kid

 

[BaldyLochs]

I nominate Scott Kalitta. Aside from working on his Pop's race cars all his life, some people may not know that at age 13 or so he was officially on Muldowney's crew when she won the big prizes both times in the 80's. Over the years he's worked with the likes of Tobler, LaHaie, McCullough, Brissett, Richards and Meyer. Scott is incredibly knowledgable about nitro motors.

 

[Paul]

Here are a few that pop into my head.
Mike Dunn
Del Worsham
Wilkerson
Head
Dale Creasy Jr
Scotty Cannon
Bobby Lagana
Zippy

 

[The Counterfeiter]

This is interesting to think about. Since we now have guys like Jim Dunn, Johnny West, Mark Oswald & Glen Mikres (to name a very few) who used to drive and enjoyed varying levels of success doing so; but now tune race vehicles for a living, who else do you think could someday hang up the gloves and still make a heck of a Crew Chief?? There's alot of talent out there in every class. I imagine this list will grow very long.

Mike Neff? Oops . . . he's doing it backwards! This is interesting to think about,
but if we restrict this to fuel teams, I can't come up with a single driver who could transition to crew chief/tuner and contend for a championship. The organizational and personnel skills required of a modern crew chief (let alone the experience to make tuning decisions as conditions change) are not learned by driving a fuel car. Pro Stock is an entirely different issue - the line between crew chief and driver is often blurred. JMHO

 

[Rajunz]

Scott Kalitta was the first one that popped into my head!