New #44 Crew Chief: Gary Putnum, 32, has been named as crew chief for the #44 Georgia-Pacific Dodge team and driver Jerry Nadeau effective immediately. Greg Steadman, who had been crew chief, will now take the position of Manager of Shop Operations. Steadman’ duties will include overseeing the day-to-day activities of car preparation for all cars in the shop at Petty Enterprises. The opportunity to bring a talent like Gary into a leadership position and further organize what we are doing at the race shop at the same time was too good to pass up, said Kyle Petty, CEO of Petty Enterprises. Greg Steadman suggested we look at this kind of setup and when we saw we could add Gary to that mix, we went for it. This is the kind of move that might not seem as big as it is. This is a major positive move for Petty Enterprises, and one that will help us as we continue to move forward with our organization, he added. Putnum joins Petty Enterprises after two years with MBV Motorsports, serving as car chief for driver Johnny Benson. A native of Vermont where he developed on the NASCAR Featherlite Modified Series, Putnum has been working in NASCAR Winston Cup competition for seven years.(Williams Company PR)(9-11-2002)
