Pemberton makes his mark as crew chief (cont'd)

"As I recall I started there in 1995," Pemberton remembered. "[Team owner] Mac Martin deserves a lot of credit. He really didn't even know me but he made me the youngest crew chief in the Busch garage. He put a lot of confidence in me, letting me call the shots and really run the team. I learned a lot from that experience. Mac deserves a lot of credit."

In 1997 he took a Cup series job at MB2 Motorsports as crew chief for former Daytona 500 winner Derrike Cope. Drivers have come and gone from MB2 Motorsports, even the name has changed to Ginn Racing. Ryan even left for three years, from 2000 to 2002 (He had moderate success at Jasper Motorsports finishing 19th in points in 2002).

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Martin has full-time
ride if he wants

After a dramatic second-place finish in the season-opening Daytona 500, Ginn Racing has expressed if Mark Martin wants to race full-time in Nextel Cup, they have a car waiting for him.

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But Ryan came home in 2003 returning to MB2 to team with Jerry Nadeau on the U.S. Army car. In May of 2003, Nadeau was critically injured in a crash during practice. A head injury left Nadeau in a coma or semi-conscious state for nearly three weeks, but the team had to race on. Pemberton had to hold his team together. And he did.

"That was one of the hardest things I've ever had to do," Ryan told me.

"Everybody on our race team had a job description, Jerry's just happened to be "driver". He really was a part of the team. He was always right in there with us. All the guys were very close with him. And that made going on even more difficult when he got hurt."

But race teams have to go on, and this one did.

"You'll hear guys that win the championship talk about how tough things were," Ryan said. "Well, I can tell you this, it's a lot tougher when things go bad then it is when things are going well. We had to keep this good group together. We had to keep working hard."

They used five drivers to do the work of one: Boris Said, Jason Keller, Mike Wallace, Mike Skinner and Joe Nemechek.

Said earned a pole at Sonoma. Skinner did the same at Richmond. Nadeau continued a slow recovery.

With "Front Row Joe" in the seat in 2004, Pemberton got his first win as crew chief, when Nemechek won at Kansas, from the pole, of course.

"Yes, I have the trophy, and the champagne bottle," Ryan said. "I don't know how I got the trophy. Maybe they gave one to the driver, the owner and the crew chief. It's in my office at my house.

"I live and breathe racing. But I think that is the only piece of racing memorabilia that I have in my house. It's pretty special."

The team was really gaining momentum and was one of the strongest the last ten races of 2004. Ryan was now a well-recognized crew chief. And MB2 Motorsports was growing. In 2005 they finished 16th in points. Last year, while undergoing an ownership change, the team slipped to 27th in points.

One thing I really admire about Ryan is his honesty. These days it is hard to get some crew chiefs to admit the sun comes up in the east. But Ryan never hesitates to explain what they found to make the car better, or why they are struggling.

I was making my way through the garage at a track one Saturday morning and I passed Ryan.

"How are things going?" I asked.

"Where are we next week?" he replied.

I told him.

"We'll be great there."

Not a lot said, but plenty of information. (Continued)