up front
CHAD KNAUS C
had Knaus has come a long way. Te five-time Sprint
Cup championship-
winning crew chief began his journey through the racing ranks wrenching on his father’s short track cars. But after guiding his father
to a track title and a regional championship, Knaus moved from his hometown of Rockford, Ill., to Charlotte to pursue racing as a career. He landed a job at Hendrick
Motorsports in 1993, worked in several departments, and won championships going over the wall for Jeff Gordon in 1995 and ’97.
Anxious to take the next step,
Knaus left Hendrick in 1998 for greater responsibility on other teams — even getting his first shot as a crew chief. In 2002, team owner Rick
Hendrick lured Knaus back to HMS and matched the aspiring crew chief with a rookie driver: Jimmie Johnson. Fast-forward to the 2011
season, and Knaus and Johnson are still together — much to the chagrin of the competition — and have won 54 races and five straight Cup championships. Poised to claim another
Chase berth yet again, we caught up with Knaus, who turned 40 in August, prior to the start of the Chase.
—JON GUNN
NASCAR ILLUSTRATED: DO YOU STILL LIKE YOUR JOB? CHAD KNAUS: It’s an awe- some job and I love it. It’s changed a lot over the years.
NI: HOW HAS IT CHANGED? KNAUS: You go from more of a mechanic, car guy to more of a manager and facilitator. With more people, more money, more outside influence, it’s changed tremen- dously. It’s not always just about trying to make the car go fast. We’ve got 500-plus employees at Hendrick Motorsports and almost 90 that work in our shop, so there are a lot of people to take care of.
NI: HOW DO YOU MANAGE TEAM CHEMISTRY? KNAUS: Just like any team, it’s difficult to do and you have to try to introduce things to keep it exciting for the guys and to keep the driver excited. With a 36-week schedule of points rac- ing, it can get mundane, it can get tiring and you can get worn out and burned out.
NI: DO YOU ALWAYS THINK ABOUT RACING? KNAUS: Tat’s all I think about.
NI: WHAT SPECIFICALLY DO YOU THINK ABOUT? KNAUS: Even if you’re not working, you’re working. It’s still on your mind. Your mind is like Microsoft Windows on the computer: You’ve got different
‘‘
pages up and they come and they go. You can minimize them and maximize them all the time. Tat’s how I work. If it’s a person- nel issue that I have to deal with, it’s on my mind. If it’s a race car issue, it’s there at some point. It’s always running; the computer is always grinding.
He pisses me off; I piss him off.
NI: SET THE RECORD STRAIGHT: HOW GOOD IS JIMMIE JOHNSON? KNAUS: Jimmie Johnson is by far the best driver I’ve ever worked with. I think we’ve got a great team, but he’s part of the team. We’ve got a great organization and we both are a part of that organi- zation. We wouldn’t be where we are if it weren’t for one another. I think we complement each other very well. Would he be suc- cessful with another crew chief? Absolutely. He’s a fantastic driver. Am I a good crew chief? Yeah, I think I do a good job and I think I would be successful somewhere else. But I’m glad I don’t know.
NI: HOW HAS YOUR RELATION- SHIP WITH JOHNSON CHANGED? KNAUS: I hate to use this ref- erence, but it is like a married couple. He pisses me off; I piss him off. It’s the way that it is. We get aggravated with one another.
It’s a difficult job for both of us. You have to realize, all that he does is tell me what’s wrong. Every time he goes on the track, he tells me what’s wrong with the car. All I want him to do is to do a better job and go faster. Over a period of time, that gets difficult, but that doesn’t have a bearing on our rela- tionship. It may test it from time to time, but it’s still good. It’s solid. We’re great friends.
’’
NI: HAVE YOU ALWAYS VIEWED YOUR RELATIONSHIP THAT WAY? KNAUS: It changes; it’s not consistent. Tere are no secret ingredients. You’ve got to be able to move and change with the situation. If you don’t change things up, you’re not going to be successful. You have to change your personality and you have to change your outlook.
NI: DO YOU HAVE ANY AMBITIONS BEYOND BEING JOHNSON’S CREW CHIEF? KNAUS: I wish I could answer that truthfully because it’s difficult to do. I wanted to be an owner when I was younger, but the situation would have to be so spectacular that I don’t know if that situation will ever be out there. I know what we have at Hendrick Motorsports. I don’t know that I could ever build — and beat — what Hendrick Motorsports has. If I can’t beat it, why would I go out there on a limb and try to do that?
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Opposite: Elmer Kappell
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