When the SRX – Superstar Racing Experience – opens its inaugural season on Saturday night – June 12 – the drivers won’t be the only stars at the track.
The short track, short season racing series created by Hall of Famers Tony Stewart and Ray Evernham announced the crew chiefs for the series’ opening season that includes crew chiefs with 77 race victories.
Veterans Mike Beam, Jeff Hammond, and Todd Parrott will be atop the pit boxes when the season kicks off in Stafford, Connecticut. Bill Elliott, Darrell Waltrip, and Dale Jarrett all earned race wins during their careers with one of these all star crew chiefs at the helm.
With each crew chief responsible for three drivers, a local all star crew chief will be joining Beam, Hammond, and Parrott.
Co-founder Ray Evernham spoke on the choice of the crew chiefs for the series saying, “even though we’re shining a spotlight on 12 of the most accomplished drivers in racing every Saturday night in the Camping World SRX Series, racing is not an individual sport.”
Evernham added, “the driver is the quarterback, but the crew chief is like the head coach. He sees things the driver doesn’t, and he finds ways to get the best out of the driver by rallying a team around him. That’s always been a part of motorsports and it always will be. We wanted to highlight that in SRX by bringing in three of the most accomplished crew chiefs in NASCAR and by showcasing some equally talented crew chiefs who have excelled at the grassroots level. Mike Beam, Jeff Hammond and Todd Parrott – they’re all still very competitive people. They’ll have the unique challenge of making sure their team performs the best in a single race, but then again every week with a different group of drivers as they’ll also have their eye on the championship. And the local all-star crew chiefs will keep them on their toes. Each of them knows their respective racetrack better than anyone. All of these crew chiefs will be able to coach their drivers and make some subtle changes to the cars based on their drivers’ feedback. They’re all in this thing to win. Times may have changed, but their will to win hasn’t.”
Joining Beam, Hammond, and Parrott in Connecticut will be Mike Christopher who has 28 victories at Stafford and three track championships.
The other local all star crew chiefs are Guy Forbrook at Knoxville Raceway, Keith Kunz at Eldora Speedway, Tim Clauson at Lucas Oil Raceway, and Scott Hansen at Slinger Speedway. The local crew chief for the Nashville race is yet to be determined.