At the Altar of Speed by Leigh Montville

Author:Leigh Montville [Montville, Leigh]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-0-307-48173-3
Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
Published: 2008-12-31T00:00:00+00:00

“I wasn’t looking to change jobs,” Andy Petree says. “I had been working for Leo Jackson for ten years, crew chief for Harry Gant’s car, and I was happy. A mutual friend contacted me and asked if I would meet with Richard. And I did.”

The meeting was with Childress on a Sunday at the shop in Welcome. Petree was surprised to see that Earnhardt also was there. Petree liked the idea that Earnhardt was that involved. The three men sat in the closed shop and talked about racing, about philosophies and goals. Petree liked what he heard. He decided on his drive home that he would take the job. He wanted to win championships and thought this was the place where he could do that.

Another frustrated driver, he’d grown up in Hickory, North Carolina, and gone to school with Dale Jarrett. They’d become involved in racing together, and when it had become time to decide who works on the car and who drives the car, well, Jarrett had the driving genes and driving name from his famous father, Ned. Petree had the adjustable wrench in his hand. That was the deal.

He had a different crew-chief style from Shelmerdine. Shelmerdine was laid back, philosophical. Petree was straight-ahead forceful. At first, he wondered if that style was going to work. He wondered how long he would be able to stick with the operation.

“The first six months were tough,” he says. “Everybody had been there so long, they were a tight-knit group. They were used to a certain style, a certain way of doing things. When I’d push, they pushed back.”

The operation was twice as large as the fifteen-man garage Petree had run for Leo Jackson. There was more money involved more pressure. There also was a different car-building philosophy. Petree had arrived to say that the old concentration on endurance, on durability, had become a liability. He was a promoter of performance.

“Durability had become almost an obsession with these guys,” he says. “Endurance racing certainly is what we do, but there comes a time when you have to push the envelope. This game is a constant evolution. You’re always weighing performance against durability. You think you have the right formula, but all of a sudden you’re getting beat. You have to change.”

Petree pushed for more lightweight components. Childress and Earnhardt pushed back, asking him to prove his ideas. Push and push. This was the new dynamic. Petree wasn’t afraid to push. He found himself in a number of corners with Earnhardt. That was where Earnhardt liked to go.

“One day he was on the track, practicing, and there was something I wanted to talk to him about when he finished,” Petree says. “He pulled the car into the pits, jumped out, and was gone. Ten seconds and he was gone. I went looking for him.”

Earnhardt was inside his trailer. The door was shut. Petree opened the door and stepped inside. The trailer was filled with businesspeople. Earnhardt was talking about some deal.

“I’m busy,” Earnhardt said.

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