Quick, name the hardest working man on Jimmie Johnson’s team.
If you said crew chief, Chad Knaus you’d be wrong. Earlier this year, Johnson said that his car chief, Ron Malec, is “the hardest working person I’ve known my entire life. I thought I met a lot of hard-working people who might give Ron a run for his money. There’s not a chance.”
Malec, a Wisconsin native, became Johnson’s crew chief in 1998 when the four-time Sprint Cup Champ was cutting his teeth in the ASA stock car series. Ron said that partnership “set his path,” in racing.
He’s been car chief for the No 48 Chevrolet at Hendrick Motorsports for the last seven years after being hired as a mechanic for one year. He explains: “I manage the guys that work on the car at the shop and during the race weekend. I'm responsible for the preparation of the race car and getting it through technical inspection.”
Although Johnson went into Miami Homestead Speedway with a large lead, needing only a 25th or better to clinch that record fourth-straight title, Malec said the race was a nail-biter for him. “You're just thinking about everything that could go wrong – mechanical failure, engine breaking, getting into an accident, someone wrecking in front of you. Everything that's bad that could happen in a race, you're thinking about it.”
He knows he’s part of team like no other in NASCAR history. He said “it's probably the greatest accomplishment of my life. I can't even put words to it yet. I don't even fully understand what we've done. It's such a relief every year at the end of the year that it's over. But it's over in such a great way this year, that it's hard to understand.”
On the other hand, the concept of winning the third-straight championship last year hasn’t completely sunk in. Malec adds “No, because the next season comes so quickly. It's like it never ends.”
After the banquet is over it is only a few weeks to Daytona testing.
Yes, it never ends for the hardest working man on Jimmie Johnson’s team.
photo:Getty Images for NASCAR
If you said crew chief, Chad Knaus you’d be wrong. Earlier this year, Johnson said that his car chief, Ron Malec, is “the hardest working person I’ve known my entire life. I thought I met a lot of hard-working people who might give Ron a run for his money. There’s not a chance.”
Malec, a Wisconsin native, became Johnson’s crew chief in 1998 when the four-time Sprint Cup Champ was cutting his teeth in the ASA stock car series. Ron said that partnership “set his path,” in racing.
He’s been car chief for the No 48 Chevrolet at Hendrick Motorsports for the last seven years after being hired as a mechanic for one year. He explains: “I manage the guys that work on the car at the shop and during the race weekend. I'm responsible for the preparation of the race car and getting it through technical inspection.”
Although Johnson went into Miami Homestead Speedway with a large lead, needing only a 25th or better to clinch that record fourth-straight title, Malec said the race was a nail-biter for him. “You're just thinking about everything that could go wrong – mechanical failure, engine breaking, getting into an accident, someone wrecking in front of you. Everything that's bad that could happen in a race, you're thinking about it.”
He knows he’s part of team like no other in NASCAR history. He said “it's probably the greatest accomplishment of my life. I can't even put words to it yet. I don't even fully understand what we've done. It's such a relief every year at the end of the year that it's over. But it's over in such a great way this year, that it's hard to understand.”
On the other hand, the concept of winning the third-straight championship last year hasn’t completely sunk in. Malec adds “No, because the next season comes so quickly. It's like it never ends.”
After the banquet is over it is only a few weeks to Daytona testing.
Yes, it never ends for the hardest working man on Jimmie Johnson’s team.
photo:Getty Images for NASCAR