UPS Racing finds itself in an interesting position as the 2008 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season approaches. It will be represented by two different drivers and teams during the season as Dale Jarrett prepares to retire from full-time NASCAR competition. David Reutimann waits in the wings to become the driver of the UPS Toyota in late March after Jarrett makes his last championship race start at Bristol Motor Speedway. Leading the charge for these two men during the 2008 season are two crew chiefs with diversely different backgrounds but a common goal of getting UPS to victory lane.
Ryan Pemberton brings in a heritage rich in NASCAR racing while Bill Pappas comes from a long, successful open-wheel background filled with engineering expertise. Pappas will fill the role of crew chief for the UPS Team during Jarrett's races in 2008 while Pemberton will fill the crew chief role with Reutimann for the entire season and, along with Reutimann, will make the move to the UPS colors at Martinsville Speedway in late March.
Pemberton has worked as a crew chief in NASCAR's top series since 1997 when he oversaw the team for former Daytona 500 champion Derrick Cope. Most recently Pemberton had been leading the efforts of the #01 Dale Earnhardt Inc. team with drivers Mark Martin and Aric Almirola. The opportunity to work with an up-and-coming driver, like Reutimann, throughout the entire season appealed to Pemberton and played a factor in his decision to join Michael Waltrip Racing for the 2008 season as well as the opportunity to help grow the organization that is entering its sophomore season.
"I think the team definitely has the idea in place," Pemberton said. "That's why I'm here. They have things lined up and that's what I like to see. In a year's time, or two years' time, you'll see a big difference in Michael Waltrip Racing. They have great vision and some nice goals to shoot for and I think we're all happy about that."
Pappas has been the equivalent of a NASCAR crew chief in open-wheel racing for more than a decade, leading the efforts for drivers such as Gil de Ferran, Juan Pablo Montoya and even Tony Stewart during his 2001 bid to win the Indianapolis 500. While there are a number of differences between stock-car and open-wheel racing, the current state of NASCAR makes for more of a seamless transition for someone with Pappas' background.
"A crew chief in NASCAR today does what a chief engineer does in open-wheel racing," Pappas explained. "My responsibilities were specking the build of a car, talking to engine manufacturers, tire manufacturers, chassis manufacturers, overseeing an engineering department that did wind tunnel testing, seven-post rig testing - so it is very similar to what NASCAR crew chiefs are today."
While there are differences between the two racing genres, Pappas said in the end the organizations are driven by the people working on the cars and that is something that applies to any race team whether it is a stock car team or an open-wheel team.
"They're all race teams and the way I told someone, the cars are like the heart and everything keeps feeding the heart to keep it alive," Pappas explained. "The only difference is the arteries here are a lot longer. We didn't have a fabrication shop where we were building cars every day and we didn't have the manufacturing capabilities that they have here in the Sprint Cup Series. Ultimately, everybody down working on the floor - they're all racers and you could take them to an open-wheel team and they'd be able to do the same thing."
