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| Six Years Later, Team Engineer Gets Shot in Nascar | |
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| Topic Started: Apr 2 2007, 02:38 PM (598 Views) | |
| Cody | Apr 2 2007, 02:38 PM Post #1 |
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This weekend’s race at the Nashville Superspeedway has been six years in the making for a dedicated crew member at Team Rensi Motorsports. After working his way up the ranks at Rensi from an intern to an engineer, Richard Johns will finally get a chance behind the wheel of the No. 25 FreeCreditReport.com Ford. “I've been working at Rensi for the last six years. I started in the fab shop kind of as an intern. I worked all over the shop on every aspect of the car. Two years ago I became an engineer,” he explains. “I was just in the right place right time really. I just kept working the driver angle. I was going home to Georgia on the weekends working on my own stuff. The ARCA program came together and that got my name out there in the racing world that I was there and I can drive a car. FreeCreditReport.com wanted to have a Cup driver and it worked out they didn't want the Cup driver flying back and forth. I was just the natural choice to step in when the two are separated.” Up until now, Johns has had to work on the cars and painfully step aside as David Gilliland filled the seat. With a standalone event falling this weekend in Nashville, Johns will finally get the chance to drive on the NASCAR circuit, something he’s been building towards since he was just nine years old racing go-karts in his native Georgia. “Sometimes it's tough because you think that you can get in and you can do it. It was a learning experience every time I come to work and go to the races, seeing what the drivers are doing and learn what the crew chiefs do so they can drive the cars faster. Sometimes it can get frustrating wishing somebody would give me a shot but it's part of the deal.” As he’s waited and worked Johns did more than just tinker on the machines hoping one day it would all come to be. He’s spent his time climbing the proverbial ladder in series such as the Southern All-Stars Super Truck Series and the Georgia Asphalt Series before finally moving up to the ARCA RE/MAX Series. In 2003 Johns finished just 21 points shy of the SAS championship. In 2005 he claimed his first series win before moving on to Late Models. Last year he made two starts in ARCA driving for the Roulo Brothers. “My biggest goal is to turn this part-time gig into a full-time gig. I want to be a racecar driver full-time. I like being an engineer but my lifelong dream has been to be a racecar driver. What I need is go out, finish the races, just learn and gain experience,” he says. Preparing for his Busch Series debut hasn’t been an easy task. Over the last year he’s only driven a Busch machine twice, once in a one-day test last year in Lakeland, Florida and the other last week during the Busch test at Richmond. Entering Nashville, he has yet to race on a concrete surface. Thank goodness for a little friendly competition. “My teammate Bobby Hamilton, Jr. is really good there. He's given me a few pointers and told me how to approach the racetrack. I've been talking to Greg Biffle. He's been helping me out just giving me pointers and trying to help get me up to speed before I get in the car.” With 11 races in all on his racing schedule this season Johns will have to surrender the wheel to Gilliland in time for Texas. After waiting so long for the opportunity of a lifetime is he prepared to yield his duties as a driver so quickly? “The way it works now, in the shop I work on both cars with the other engineer Louie Louchart. We team up during the week. On the weekends I work primarily on the 35 car. When I will be in the 25 car Ron Drake will take over engineering duties on the 35 and Louie will be the engineer on the 25. I will just step out of the engineering role completely when we go to the racetrack and just be the driver,” he explains. “When we come back on Monday morning, I'll be engineering again.” |
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6:59 PM Jul 4