In the escalating battles among car owners to hire away crewmen from rivals, Richard Childress says the bidding war in the NASCAR garage for aerodynamicists, engineers, fabrication specialists and pit crew men is getting way out of hand. Anyone is fair game in this struggle. DEI just hired two key pit-road men from the Woods; RYR hired away a key aerodynamicist from Childress; and Childress just hired an excellent fabrication-shop guy away from DEI. “Hey, this is a major-league sport,” Greg Zipadelli, Tony Stewart’s crew chief, says. “You’ve got to take care of your players.” “It’s bad, and we’re our own worst enemies, because the salaries have been pushed sky-high,” Childress says. “Some salaries have skyrocketed, because of someone trying to hire someone else. Everybody is after the (fabrication) guys now. When you lose somebody, you’ve got to replace them, and it usually winds up costing you more. The price of this sport keeps going up.”( Winston Salem Journal )(2-17-2003)
