OFFICIAL: DOUG RICHERT NEW CREW CHIEF

Robby Gordon Motorsports announced Doug Richert as the crew chief of the #7 Camry for the remainder of the 2009 season. Richert, a NASCAR veteran with more 25 years of experience and 15 Cup wins, will assume the crew chief responsibilities starting at Martinsville this weekend. "Doug brings experience and knowledge to our team, which I hope will help elevate our Cup performance. He has spotted for us since early June, but we are happy to have Doug come on board as crew chief this weekend. He will fill this role for the final five races, and we will see where it goes from there," commented Robby Gordon. "I am really looking forward to this opportunity. Even though I have helped Robby and the #7 team as a spotter, I haven't been associated directly with a team since last May. This opportunity will allow me to be more hands-on in the decisions of the #7, which I hope will directly improve the team's performance. I am looking forward to the rest of the year and continuing to push forward," commented Doug Richert.(RGM)(10-20-2009)

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Permalink Reply by Kevin Sweeney on October 20, 2009 at 2:46pm

agreed dana

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Permalink Reply by Bigzoom on October 20, 2009 at 3:34pm

Listening to the team during the races, Doug always had to remind the team to give Robby lap times, or make suggestions that should abvious to a crew chief. That's were Doug's experience comes into play. The COT is a huge hunk of metal that won't turn. Teams fight loose & tight conditions weekly. When Robby says it's "Very, very, very , very loose." You can switch over and the other drives like Jeff Gordon are saying the same thing. The only driver that seems to night fight the COT is Jimmie Johnson.
Doug has lots of experience to fall back on, so hopefully we will see that benefit RGM.

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Permalink Reply by Matt on October 20, 2009 at 3:35pm

The circus continues. I remember the kind words everyone had for Walter, Kirk, Peter, Frankie, Greg, Gene, etc when they came on; only to be booed off the pit box when everything was said and done. I think the only reason Kirk avoided the typical (and stupid) fan response was because TOG and others have backed him so much on this site.

I do not think any of the crew chiefs (maybe Greg Irwin, maybe) RGM has had have the capability of making things work with a single car COT team. Honestly though, I dont think anyone does. Right now Hendrick is so far in front of every other team, its ridiculous. Look at how much money has been dumped into MWR just to get that team close to the chase and one win.

This single car forumula might have had its moments with the old car, but lets face it, it has not come close to working after the COT debuted in 2007. The only way things will get better is to have a crew chief that has Hendrick/Gibbs/Roush experience with the COT, align with a larger team for technical support, and stop crew chiefing from the drivers seat. Robby knows a lot and is a sharp guy, but I dont recall him having an engineering degree or experience running an R&D program for the COT.

In closing, I dont think Doug will produce results any different from Kirk. Doug has been around RGM long enough to have his ideas and concepts being used on the cars, as well as have his way of doing things influencing Kirks decisions. Have we seen an improvement since he has been at RGM? I dont see it, regardless of how many press releases come out claiming the car was running laps as fast as the leader while in 30th place....

I am not trying to be negative, just giving my opinion.

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Permalink Reply by Ryan Plowman on October 20, 2009 at 4:29pm

Slugger Labbe and Kevin Buckler seem to be doing alright. When they actually race, they run really well, with beyond limited resources.

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Permalink Reply by Matt on October 20, 2009 at 5:01pm

Yep. Slugger was a big part of the COT R&D program at Ganassi before he left though. Also keep in mind TRG gets equipment and some help from RCR, and they have a driver that lets the crew chief do his job...

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Permalink Reply by GrayAntiMatter on October 20, 2009 at 5:04pm

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Permalink Reply by TOG on October 20, 2009 at 5:11pm

Kirk did a good job, especially after coming from the depths of the unknown. Not many even knew his name when he first became active on the pitbox in Sept of 2008.

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Permalink Reply by alan4s on October 20, 2009 at 6:12pm

I knew of him from that "Physics of NASCAR" book. The author followed some of the GEM teams when she was writing the book, and Kirk was an engineer there at the time. He's mentioned several times in the book.

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Permalink Reply by Scott B on October 20, 2009 at 3:36pm

I couldn't think of any better track for Doug to make his debit at than Martinsville...wait, actually I think I could think of a better track...any other track on the Nascar schedule.