hearing that Rick Ren, crew chief for the #42-Mike Skinner [oops not Kvapil, I forgot they switched back] has parted ways with Bang Racing and that former #50 Roush Racing crew chief, John Monsam will be the new crew chief.(7-28-2004)
UPDATE: Bang Racing announced today that John Monsam has been named crew chief of inaugural NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Champion Mike Skinner and the #42 Toyota Tundra team. Former crew chief and team manager Rick Ren remains with Bang Racing. “We had a lot of hopes going into this year and continue to have expectations for performance, and we just haven’t met a lot of those expectations,” Alex Meshkin, CEO and owner of Bang Racing, said. “We decided to make a change and hired John Monsam to take over crew chief responsibilities beginning this weekend at Michigan International Speedway’s Line-X Spray-On Truck Bedliners 200. Rick Ren is still with our organization, and next week, we will decide what his future role will be with our race team.”
Monsam, former crew chief for Jon Wood and the #50 Roush Racing team, brings more than 19 years of industry experience to the first-year Craftsman Truck Series team and has been a fixture in the truck series since 1997. “We felt that John was a perfect fit with how our organization works and are excited to have him on board,” Meshkin said. “We have a lot of former Roush employees at Bang Racing so there was already a comfort level with many 42 team members. He’s one of the crew chiefs that we had a relationship with and interviewed last year and feel like he will be able to continue to bring our two teams together into a cohesive unit. The chemistry that we’ve already seen between Mike and John is promising, and I firmly believe that that chemistry will transfer into success on the track.”
“I am extremely happy to have been given the opportunity to head what I consider to be the flag-ship Toyota team,” said Monsam. “The opportunity to work with Mike, a former champion and a man who undoubtedly is going to push the pedal, as well as with many of the same crew members whom I’ve worked with before is truly exciting.” For 11 years, Monsam has been calling the shots atop the pit box and securing numerous wins for many notable drivers including Todd Bodine, Joe Bessey, Ricky Craven, Ron Hornaday, Hermie Sadler and Lance Norick. He recently led Wood to six top-10’s in this year’s truck series competition and a fifth place finish in the 2003 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series championship and looks to recapture former glory with Skinner and continue Toyota’s championship legacy. “It’s my goal to bring Toyota’s first win whether it’s the 24 team or the 42 team,” Monsam said. “It’s extremely important for all of us to work together as a team and to benefit from each other being there. I’m already impressed with the Toyota engineers’ approach, ideas and commitment to their teams and this series.”
“John’s way of thinking and his sincere desire to do the job really impressed me,” Skinner said. “If first impressions mean anything, it was great. He’s made himself very flexible and has taken a lot of time to talk to the crew and spend every minute with them before working together at the track. And he’s worked with a couple of them before, so it’s not completely new. I think it’s going to be positive. In general, we’ve talked about our procedures and how we’re going to do things, and I’m impressed with his organized approach. We both talked with Toyota engineers this morning and already changed some things on the truck based upon the information that they’ve given us. We’re going to try to stay pretty basic for a while and see what happens – take it one day at a time and start to build a relationship.”(Bang Racing PR)(7-30-2004)
