November 16, 2005

By Rebecca Gladden

Tony Stewart and Greg Zipadelli have been together longer than any other driver/crew chief tandem in the Nextel Cup series - seven years, to be exact. Since Stewart first moved up to Cup in 1999, Zippy, as he is known around the garage, has been the man on Stewart's pit box - through good times and bad, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health …

If the marriage comparison seems a bit farfetched, consider what driver Greg Biffle told ESPN magazine recently about his relationship with his crew chief: "Doug Richert and I are like a married couple. Listen to us on the radio during a race. I'm bitching and he's all calm. 'Good point, Biff. You're right. My fault.' He's usually right. He just says it to make me feel better."

Tony Stewart sees his relationship with Zipadelli as one of brothers. "(Zippy's) been able to keep everybody pumped up and tried to keep me out of trouble in bad times," Stewart wrote on TonyStewart.com. "But to me, it's like having a big brother who's a couple of years older than me. To him, it's probably like having a younger brother. No matter what happens with the rest of our careers - if we never win another race or another championship from here on out - we consider each other family. When you have a working relationship like we do, where we're with each other as much as we are with our friends and family, that's something that's very important."

At times companion, confidant, cheerleader and counselor, a good crew chief also has the courage to confront a driver when no one else will. Fox Broadcaster Larry McReynolds has been crew chief to some of NASCAR's best drivers, including Dale Earnhardt, Davey Allison, Ernie Irvan and Ricky Rudd. When it comes to the driver/crew chief relationship, McReynolds was clear about his role: "You know them drivers, they always think they're right," he writes. "Sometimes us crew chiefs just have to straighten 'em out."

In Stewart's case, Greg Zipadelli did just that at the end of the 2004 season, confronting Stewart about his temper issues. Stewart credits Zipadelli for the dramatic transformation in his demeanor this year, from pugnacious hothead to calm competitor. "He's been the one to sit me down and say, 'hey, you don't realize how much your attitude affects everybody else,' " Stewart said. "This hasn't been something that [team owner] Joe Gibbs has sat me down and said, or [team president] J.D. Gibbs. Zippy has said, 'hey, you don't realize what you're doing to your own race team.' So, it's not something that I've done myself or anybody else has done single handedly, other than Zippy. Zippy is the one that led. When you look at Rusty Wallace, you think of him as the boss of his race team. I'm not the boss. This guy sitting next to me is the boss of this race team. He runs the show, and he's been the leadership of the whole team since 1999."

While a crew chief is sometimes credited with a driver's success, he is almost always blamed when a driver struggles. Two of NASCAR's marquee drivers made crew chief changes this year, as did several other teams who thought it would improve their chances for success.

The crew chief saga attracting the most attention this year was that of Dale Earnhardt, Jr., who started the season with a new man at the helm after finishing fifth in the 2004 Chase for the Championship. The change was prompted in part by Earnhardt's oft-tempestuous relationship with long-time crew chief Tony Eury, Jr., his cousin. Earnhardt started the season with Pete Rondeau on the box, but abruptly replaced him after just 11 races with Steve Hmiel - who in turn was replaced by Tony Eury, Jr., returning to his previous post. The re-pairing of the two is considered essential for Junior's success in 2006, particularly after a sub-par '05 season in which Earnhardt's team missed the Chase by seven spots. "By putting Tony Jr. back with Dale Jr. now, it enables us to start working towards our goals for next season," explained DEI Vice President Richie Gilmore in September. "Those two can start finding their rhythm, and Steve Hmiel can return his full focus on the technical aspect of our programs."

Four-time Cup champion Jeff Gordon also changed crew chiefs in September when, like Earnhardt, his team failed to qualify for the Chase. Robbie Loomis, Gordon's crew chief since 2000, was replaced by 26-year-old Steve LeTarte, who had been with the team for several years. "I think it takes a unique personality to be able to be a crew chief," Gordon said after the change was made. "You know, the good crew chiefs always have that ability to step up to the plate when it's on the line. You just don't expect it to happen from guys who are 26 years old and have never been in that position. I don't know, I've just always sensed something about Steve that when the time was right - and the time has just worked out to be perfect for everybody."

If Tony Stewart does win the championship on Sunday, it will likely be a much different team celebration than occurred in 2002 when he and Zipadelli won their first title together, because Stewart himself is a different person than he was then. "We've figured out how to get back to make things simple again and get back to doing this for the right reasons - not to get a paycheck at the end of the day," Stewart said before the Checker Auto Parts 500 in Phoenix. "We're going to work to win races, like we did when we all started."

Asked specifically what would be different this time, Stewart again alluded to the special bond between driver and crew chief. "It would be ten times different for sure, and ten times for the better. This is a season that is a year like I think Zippy envisioned in his mind of what a championship year would be like. In 2002, with all the stuff that happened on the track, and off the track more so, and the turmoil that it caused with myself and the team - it was more of a babysitting duty for him. Now, it would mean so much more, because we've all been pointing in the same direction all year."

And that direction is up.

The word most often used to characterize the ideal relationship between driver and crew chief is chemistry. Like actors auditioning for roles in a buddy movie, some duos will click right from the start, while others never will. A NASCAR driver may be able to compete without great crew chief chemistry, but will probably never achieve the same level of success as those fortunate few who have found the magic.

The thoughts and ideas expressed by this writer or any other writer on Insider Racing News, are not necessarily the views of the staff and/or management of IRN. Although we may not always agree with what is said, we do feel it's our duty to give a voice to those who have something relevant to say about the sport of auto racing.