Where is ... B. Parrott?

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- The tired adage of "work hard and play hard" is a way of life that very few people truly embrace.

Buddy Parrott, silver-haired and in excellent physical condition at 67, is one of those few.

Parrott, who won 44 races as a crew chief, is ready to play less and work more. His 43-year marriage to wife, Judy, produced a pair of well-known crew chiefs, and the elder Parrott says he will spend time helping each of his sons in 2007.

Buddy Parrott

"Well, Todd and Brad are both still wide open," Parrott said. "I have two grandchildren that keep me pretty busy, but I am getting pretty itchy now.

"I am probably going to come back, and you will see me a little more at the racetrack. I am going to do some stuff with the Busch car and a kid that is getting his start with some ARCA stuff."

That kid is Brian Clauson, a promising 17-year-old who is under contract with Ganassi Racing, where Parrott's son Brad is crew chief in the Busch Series.

"I don't think that there is a day that goes by that, until recently, where I had to look for something to do," Parrott said. "There is always something to do."

Parrott also said he is going to help Robert Yates, one of his closest friends, with his Busch program. That friendship was cemented by motorcycles, not racing.

"As a matter of fact, I [recently] got him another motorcycle," Parrott said.

Parrott stopped working in NASCAR full time after the 2001 season, when he was Performance Development Manager for Roush Racing. At the time, Parrott could have joked that he was retiring to spend more time with his toys.

"I live on the lake, and I have two boats and three cars and four motorcycles," Parrott said. "I have a Harley house where I house all my Harleys.

"I have been working on a little project with [Charlotte-area dealer] Don Tilley. I have got a turbocharged Harley that makes 260 horsepower, so I have been riding a lot of motorcycles and enjoying myself a lot."

"I am 67 years old, but I ride a motorcycle down the road like a crazy man," Parrott said. "I still enjoy life and so I am getting myself pretty well fit and I don't have to go to the doctor all the time."

Parrott's career was as long as it was varied. He was crew chief for Darrell Waltrip in the late 1970s, when the two won 21 races. Parrott was also crew chief for Rusty Wallace at Penske Racing, in 1993, when Wallace won a career-high 10 races.

Parrott and Wallace had so much success at Penske that Parrott's son Todd, a mechanic on the team, was eventually lured away by Yates to be the crew chief for Dale Jarrett.

Buddy Parrott stills watches the races every Sunday, and he admits he still carries a torch for Jack Roush, where he was crew chief for Jeff Burton's first win in 1997.

"I stay up with it because I have an investment," Parrott said. "Todd and Brad, I pull for both of them and I also still pull for Jack Roush.

"[Roush] was probably the best car owner I ever worked for. I look at the Roush teams so I am still around, and I know what is going on in the NASCAR family."

It may seem incredible now, but Parrott recalled a time when Roush was apprehensive about starting a third Cup team at the end of the 1995 season. Roush eventually expanded to five teams in 1998.

"One time Jack called me when he wanted to start this deal with Jeff Burton," Parrott said. "He said, 'Buddy, I don't think I have the energy to start another team.'

"But Jack is still doing it."