1on1: Jimmy Makar (cont'd)

Q: When you look back on your resume and see all that you have accomplished, and who you have worked for and with over the years, are you kind of amazed?

Makar: You think about it, and it's almost like a dream. I mean, it is a dream come true for me -- a kid from New Jersey who was just a race fan back in the 1960s and early '70s. To be able to get the opportunity to get a job to start with and then to get to work with people like Robert and Harry [Hyde] and Junior Johnson and Buddy Parrot, and drivers who were my heroes, has been just unbelievable. David Pearson drove a car for us in Daytona when I was working for Harry. He was a hero of mine when I was kid. And Darrell Waltrip ... when I worked for Junior, Darrell was driving for him.

Autostock

Joey Logano

Future is fine

With Denny Hamlin, Kyle Busch and Joey Logano, Joe Menzer says Joe Gibbs Racing will be the team to beat for some time.

• Complete story, click here

When you're a fan and these guys are your heroes, and then to actually get to go to work for them and be around them, it's just something that dreams are made of. And, you know, if you can have a dream and fulfill it in that way, it's very special.

Q: This has to be tough, if not impossible ... but do you have a favorite moment from through the years?

Makar: I tell you, there are a lot of 'em over the years. You tend to remember the ones that are closest (to the present time) the best. But the ones that seem to stick in my mind the most are the couple of times when I was involved with helping a driver get his first win. That's a special moment, and I've been fortunate to do that a couple of times. That's a lot of fun.

Q: How many times did that happen?

Makar: Dale [Jarrett] won a race right before he came to work for us, but he got the first one for us [as an organization] and it was a big one. Bobby [Labonte] won his first race with us. Tony [Stewart] got his first win with us. Denny [Hamlin]. It's just fun to see that happen, to see guys start a career.

Q: Is it hard to believe that with all the young talent you guys have added in recent years, Tony Stewart is now sort of the Papa Bear of the JGR organization?

Makar (laughing): Yeah, he's the daddy. It is strange to me because it wasn't that long ago that he came on board and he was our young guy, our new guy. Now he's the elder statesman of the group with all the time under his belt. It just kind of shows you how fast this sport gets moving, and how quickly the years roll by when you're not looking.

Q: What kind of stuff do you like to do away from the track?

Makar: I love fishing. That's probably my passion away from the racetrack -- any kind of fishing at all. Trout fishing up in a stream in the mountains, or out on a boat deep-sea fishing or out on a lake bass fishing ... it doesn't matter to me. I enjoy time on the water.

Really, anything outside. I enjoy going to the mountains. I enjoy going to the beach. Any outdoor activity, I enjoy doing that stuff with my kids [13-year-old twins Alex and Dillon]. My kids are very much into going and doing and being involved in all that, so we get together as a family whenever we can and try to go out on the lake or do something of that nature.

Q: What's the biggest fish you ever caught?

Makar: Probably a 150-pound or maybe even a 175-pound tarpon, about two summers ago down in the Florida keys. I took my son down there and we went for a little guide trip -- three days of fishing just as hard as we could go. It was a lot of fun. We went down there and started at 8 o'clock in the morning, just me and him, and we fished until 4 o'clock in the afternoon. Then we'd stop and get a little dinner or whatever, and then we'd fish from 6 o'clock in the evening until 10 o'clock at night. We were fishing for tarpon. Our guide did a great job, and we had an absolute blast.

Q: What's it like battling a 150-pound tarpon?

Makar: It was about an hour battle. Obviously we had to chase him a lot with the boat. It was dark by the time we landed him, and I caught him about an hour before dark. We finally landed him and got some pictures with him. It was a fun fish to catch. They are an awesome fish to catch.

Q: Do you have that thing mounted in your house?

Makar: Nope. All we got was a scale or two. We pulled a couple scales off him, took pictures, and released him. I'm a real big believer in catch-and-release, so other people have an opportunity to catch the fish, too. You can get pictures; you can get fiberglass replicas made all day long. So taking a fish out of the water, I'm not real big on that.

Q: What did you do with the scales?

Makar: We've got 'em at the house. My son has one and I've got one.