Jim Head is an adrenaline junkie? .... I've always understood him to say he liked the technical challenge (not being a driver).
My wife is an adrenaline junkie and I love my crew chief role, I think Jim likes the crew chief side much more than driving.
I laughed at the $650k to $1million ... just based on what we end up spending on "operating" expenses to run 16 fast bracket sportsman races a year (we only went through 24 pistons the whole year). You could have a pretty decent TAD/TAFC schedule on that budget .... but blown nitro, not close.