Makar to steps down as Crew Chief of #18 at end of 2002, will be full time Team Manager for Gibbs: Over the last several years, Jimmy Makar has maintained two very important roles within the Joe Gibbs Racing organization. He has not only served as the crew chief for the # 18 Interstate Batteries Pontiac, currently driven by Bobby Labonte, since the teams inception in 1991; but he has also been the Team Manager of the racing program at Joe Gibbs Racing. Given the demands on a crew chief within the NASCAR Winston Cup Series, due to schedule length and the amount of testing needed to be a championship caliber team, everyone agreed that Makar’ management and leadership skills would be best suited solely in the role of team manager. As a result of our continued expansion at JGR and the magnitude and scope of racing today, Jimmy will be focusing his full-time attention on his role as Team Manager in 2003, added team owner Joe Gibbs. Jimmy will be initiating the search for his replacement as crew chief on the # 18 car for the 2003 season and while that is on going, he will continue to handle both roles through the end of the 2002 season. For Makar, the announcement of a change from the role of crew chief to that of team manager is something that had already been planned. Though not expected to make the change for a couple of more years, Makar decided it was best to make the transition now in order to help ensure the continued success of Joe Gibbs Racing for many years to come. For driver Bobby Labonte, the upcoming change is bittersweet, as he and Makar have become very close friends over the years. They have shared many of the highs and lows the sport of auto racing has to offer and have always been able to find a way to see the positive in any situation. This is a tough one, admitted Labonte. Jimmy has been more than a crew chief for me the past eight years. He has become a best friend. We have been through a lot together, both good and bad. We have lost a championship together and we have won a championship together. We lost races that we should have won and we won races that we should have lost. Eight years is a long time to be in our position.(Joe Gibbs Racing PR)(10-1-2002)
