Pressure rising

Daily News (West Bend, Wis.)
Published: Feb. 18, 2016

Pressure rising

Allenton native getting ready for Daytona 500 as rookie’s car chief

By NICHOLAS DETTMANN

Daily News

The days leading into the Daytona 500 are both exciting and scary at the same time.

“There’s a lot of money, prestige on the line,” said Greg Emmer, an Allenton native and the car chief for the No. 34 Love’s Travel Stop Ford of NASCAR Sprint Cup Series rookie Chris Buescher. “It sets the tone for the first half of the season.”

The Daytona 500, which is Sunday in Daytona Beach, Florida, is the first race of the season for the Sprint Cup Series. It’s also the race every driver wants to win. It is NASCAR’s Super Bowl.

Emmer said imagine if the Slinger Nationals at Slinger Superspeedway was held in April at the start of the season rather than July, the season’s midway point.

“Our biggest race is the very first one of the season,” he said. “There is no preseason. There is no regular season. That in itself is a daunting task. It’s a pressure point. This is what starts your season off.”

He wouldn’t have it any other way. “We love the pressure,” Emmer said. “It builds throughout the 10 days we’re (at Daytona). It’s the reason we do it. It’s an addiction.”

For Emmer, who attended Slinger High School and recently turned 30, there is pressure on him.

Emmer is going into his 12th season in NASCAR. This year is his second as a car chief.

The car chief is like the top assistant coach for a race team. The “head coach” is the crew chief.

The crew chief is responsible for the pit crew, the driver and what changes he wants to make to a car. As a car chief, Emmer is bestowed the responsibility to make those changes happen.

Last year, Emmer was the car chief for 2011 Daytona 500 winner Trevor Bayne.

“The pressure is definitely way higher than just being a mechanic,” Emmer said. “I’m in charge of the entire race car. To be at this point, I had to be a mechanic of every part of the race car.”

From 2007-11, Emmer held several roles while working on the pit crew of David Ragan. Then he worked on Greg Biffle’s pit crew (2012) and Carl Edwards’ crew (2013-14).

In NASCAR, crew members generally have specialties that help improve or fix a car. For Emmer, he did just about everything, which helped him elevate to key role with Bayne’s team in 2015 and Buescher’s team this season.

“It’s not something just anybody can do,” Emmer said. “It takes a lot of hard work. You have to keep your head down and keep going. It’s daunting at times, overwhelming at times, but the support is a tremendous asset.”

One of Emmer’s key responsibilities as car chief is to make sure the car is ready and passes technical inspection at every race track every week. If a car doesn’t pass tech inspection, lots of money can be lost, which adds to the pressure.

The ante is increased at Daytona.

“It has an aura that makes it special,” Emmer said. “It’s awesome and scary at the same time.”

Again, it’s an addiction and a desire to compete that keeps Emmer going and eager for Sunday’s race.

Emmer believes drivers like Biffle and Edwards have helped him reached the status he has in the sport.

“Those guys are superstars in the sport,” Emmer said. “You learn, as a team, being with those guys that it makes everybody better. They perform at a high level every weekend.

“When they win, it makes people notice who’s on that team. It advances everybody’s career. It’s a great feeling to have talented drivers like that.”

Emmer and Buescher’s crew chief, Bob Osborne, believe they have a talented driver in Buescher — the 2015 NASCAR XFINITY Series champion.

“Bob and I, think very highly of Chris,” Emmer said. “He’s very talented. He’s been working really really hard at it.”

Buescher, a 23-year-old native of Prosper, Texas, who was once coached by road-racing veteran and Hartford native Dick Danielson, won two races last season with the XFINITY Series. He also had 11 top-five finishes and 20 top-10 finishes.

Buescher is also a former ARCA Series champion (2012) and ARCA Series Rookie of the Year (2011).

“He drove his way to this level,” Emmer said. “Everything he drove, he succeeded with. For me, that’s a very important part. We’re looking forward to continuing that success with him. We think he’s going to be a superstar.”

This season, the goal for Emmer is to help Buescher win Rookie of the Year in a class that also features Ryan Blaney and Chase Elliott, who will start Sunday’s race from the pole position.

“We’re looking forward to it,” Emmer said.