Tech Q&A: Shawn Parker

BROOKLYN, Mich. -- Apprenticeships at Hendrick Motorsports and Roush Racing positioned Shawn Parker to move to Robert Yates Racing for the start of the 2003 season.

But after only a handful of races as co-crew chief with Raymond Fox III marshaling equally youthful driver Elliott Sadler, Parker found himself suddenly promoted to the role of crew chief with 1999 NASCAR Winston Cup champion Dale Jarrett.

After leading Jarrett for only three point races, Parker took a break for a few minutes while preparing for Sunday's Sirius 400 at Michigan International Speedway to sit down with NASCAR.com's Dave Rodman to discuss the timing of his first crew chief's job, DJ's radio manner and the answer to that ever-present 2003 question: Technoid or mechanic?

	Shawn Parker had worked as co-crew chief with the No. 38 team of Elliott Sadler before taking over as crew chief of the No. 88 team. Credit: Autostock

Your career has been a series of moves positioning yourself for this. Is this the right place at the right time, with the right guy?

I think it really is. I got a little bit of a taste of it for the first seven or eight races this season working side by side with Raymond, and having a position that matters. The input that I put into things, the team took into consideration, whereas in the past I think if I suggested something it was kinda like in one ear and out the other. It wasn't like they didn't think about it, but now, hopefully, I have some influence on the final decision that's been made.

Some people might say that DJ is pretty fixed in his ways, and a strong personality. With you being a first-time crewchief, is that a plus or a minus?

I think it's a plus because being my age and being inexperienced, you might say, or a rookie, I am willing to take more chances probably than some of the veteran crew chiefs that have been around. They might take four tires all day long. At Dover, Scott Elkins, our engineer and Jason Burdett our car chief sat down and we said, 'We've got to get track position back -- how are we going to do it?'

We were aggressive and we put on two tires. At the time it was the right move. Some other people tried it later in the race and it didn't work out for them, but at the time we did it, it did work out for us.

Particularly with the way DJ has run at Michigan, as the most recent winner, is that kind of an ace in the hole for you guys?

Well, one thing we've got is the horsepower that Doug Yates gives us under the hood. You've got to have that, and of course you've got to have a car that handles really good. DJ really likes that place and he knows the feel he's looking for in the car. It's a case where he's a teacher to us and we're a teacher to him.

We kind of all work on this deal together and just put all of our heads together. Our shock guy, Chris Hill and Scott and Jason and I all put our heads together and we come up with the set-up we think is best; and DJ is involved there, too.

What kind of radio personality is DJ? Has that been a good fit with your style?

The first couple of races have been pretty interesting and I'm having fun with it. I'm not one to really talk a lot on the radio because the driver is concentrating and Dale is a focused driver who gives 100 percent every lap.

ALSO  •  Jarrett's Driver Page  •  Team Page: Robert Yates Racing

I don't want to break his concentration, but, on the other hand, I want to keep him cheered up and motivated and let him know how good he is as far as lap times. I've been having fun with it and I've got good support with Scott and Jason up there with me.

They help me with everything, so it takes a lot of the pressure off of me because I don't have to worry about fuel mileage or what the tire wear looks like. They're giving me all the data while they're looking at it, so it makes it pretty easy.

What's your assessment on the current state of aero equality?

NASCAR has got the rules so regulated on everything that we do, and I think that they've got the playing field as level as they possibly can get it. There might be some tweaking that needs to be done, but I think from what we've seen in the first 13 or 14 races they have actually been good, competitive races among different drivers, so I think we've got like 10 different winners.

They have got the cars pretty well maxed out so that we can't do anything in terms of fudging with them. When we show up at the racetrack, we're by the rules and then we've got to rely on our knowledge to get the cars to drive better than everybody else's or to get them down the straightaways faster. That's what our motor shop is doing. They're working night and day to give us the horsepower we need.

What do you feel like your strong points are as a crew chief?

Right now I really don't know, because this is only my third week of doing the job. I have tried to be a quieter type of crew chief but I have a lot of good people surrounding me.

We all work together well, we all put our heads together and we all have different ideas and that's what we've got to have. Somebody has got to be the leader of the program and luckily I'm in that position. Robert (Yates), Doug and Dale sat down and said, "He's the right guy to do the job."

I have worked with some great crew chiefs, like Jimmy Fennig at Roush Racing and Ray Evernham at Hendrick Motorsports when I first moved down here and the big thing is that you have to be able to learn from every situation you get yourself in. You can't ever think you know everything, because you don't. Those guys are better crew chiefs, but they're also learning every day is the way I look at it.

Are you a technology guy or a mechanical guy? How does your driver relate to the advent of technology in racing?

	The No. 88 Ford has three top-10 finishes this season. Credit: Autostock

Once you get the basics down, you're all right as far as the mechanical end of things. But you always have to be staying ahead of your competition, whether it's by using advanced technology that comes out, or new products.

You might have a buddy that works at a company that is coming out with something unique and different that everybody else might not have. That is why our program is structured so that different people look at different aspects of the program, and they're always looking at ways in which we might get an advantage on everybody else.

To an outsider, DJ would seem to be a seat of the pants kind of driver, like Rusty Wallace. Has he embraced the technology you have available to you?

Oh, absolutely. He knows exactly what he wants in that race car. He's built race cars himself, he's driven them, and he's been around them all his life. That's what's made this a good deal for all of us -- he's given us the input on what needs in the car.

We can give him all the information on what is going on, but he can tell us what he feels in that race car and then we just throw things at it while he keeps telling us what he's feeling in the car.

At Michigan, what's the biggest tuning tool you have?

Probably our aero package, which is real good. We had a car up there and tested it and it worked real good, so that's a plus.

I also would say our motors are by far the best, if not the best on the whole circuit. So we've got some good areas and different departments that make our whole package, altogether, pretty impressive.