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Tenure of crew chiefs growing shorter because of pressure to succeed.
By JOANNE KORTH, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times, published October 19, 2002
Through the years, driver Bobby Labonte and crew chief Jimmy Makar got to the point where, in discussing the No. 18 Pontiac, they could finish each other's sentences.
It used to be a plus.
Now, it's a problem.
Labonte and Makar, whose eight-year partnership is the longest in the Winston Cup garage, are mired in a lengthy slump neither knows how to correct. Next season, Makar will move to a management role at Joe Gibbs Racing to make way for a new crew chief.
"We got a lot of success out of being like-minded and thinking the same way," said Makar, who won 19 races and the 2000 championship with Labonte. "When you're thinking right, that's great. But when you get in the position we've been in for more than a year, where you're floundering and looking for different ways to go racing, if you're thinking the same way it's really hard to get out of the slump.
"We both have the same ideas. We don't have that out-of-the-box idea. It's hard with the success we've had to take what used to work and throw it out the window. We need somebody to come in and bring fresh things to the mix."
Labonte and Makar aren't the only team making changes.
In the past two years, racing has changed because of the harder tire Goodyear provides and the increased role aerodynamics plays in setting up the race car. Long-term relationships between drivers and crew chiefs recently have been dissolved in hopes of solving racing's new riddles.
Veterans Mark Martin, Rusty Wallace and Dale Jarrett each began 2002 with new, young crew chiefs, though Jarrett since has been reunited with Todd Parrott. Last month, Jeff Burton replaced fifth-year crew chief and friend Frankie Stoddard with Paul Andrews.
Two years ago, Burton and Stoddard were the team of the future after finishing a career-best third in the standings. Expected to challenge for the title the past two seasons, Burton was 10th in 2001 and is 14th with five races left in 2002, the only one of Roush Racing's four teams not to win a race.
"It gets to the point where you both look at each other with a blank look, and that's not going to win races," said Burton, who won 14 with Stoddard.
Though his results with Andrews are not much different through six races, Burton is excited by a change in attitude he thinks will pay dividends in 2003.
"We've gone through a major change, and everybody has responded really well," Burton said. "The crew members are really open to Paul's ideas and Paul is open to their ideas. There's a tremendous amount of information flying around the 99 right now."
While Stoddard claims he was ambushed by the decision to change crew chiefs, Makar and Labonte are parting amicably -- before it's too late. Labonte said the strain of the team's performance was taking a toll on the pair's close friendship.
"This is a tough one," said Labonte, who is 18th in the standings, his only victory this season coming in April at the site of Sunday's Martinsville 500. "Jimmy has been more than a crew chief for me the past eight years; he's become a best friend.
"We've been through a lot together, good and bad. We have lost a championship together and won a championship together. We lost races that we should have won and won races that we should have lost. Eight years is a long time to be in our position."
Makar, the first person Joe Gibbs hired for his team more than a decade ago, looks forward to the team manager job he planned to take in a couple years. His first task: helping to pick his replacement.
"Bobby is going to need somebody with some experience and somebody that he can have a lot of confidence in, right from the beginning," Makar said. "I think he needs someone he can rely on, that he is not going to have to question in the back of his mind whether it is the right guy or not."
Stoddard, unwilling to accept a management job at Roush, is finishing the season as crew chief for Ward Burton's No. 22 Dodge. Tommy Baldwin left Bill Davis Racing three weeks ago after four years with Burton, Jeff's brother.
Baldwin's departure leaves Greg Zipadelli's four-year relationship with points-leader Tony Stewart on the No. 20 Pontiac, also owned by Gibbs, as the longest in Winston Cup.
"Tommy was like a family member and all of a sudden he's gone," Ward Burton said. "It really surprised me that he left. I would never in my wildest imagination have seen any of it coming.
"I think with the sport as success driven as it is, you're going to see changes. As time goes on, we're going to see more and more changes in time frames a lot shorter than we've seen before."