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Ford Racing announced the hiring
of Robin Pemberton as its new NASCAR Field Manager during a
teleconference earlier today. Pemberton, along with Ford
Racing Manager of Performance Operations Greg Specht,
participated in the teleconference and spoke about what
brought both parties together and how they will work
together in the future.
GREG SPECHT - Manager, Performance Operations, Ford Racing
Technology - "Obviously, we're very excited about bringing
Robin on board. He brings a capability to our program that
we just haven't had in the past. We've been looking for
somebody with those capabilities for a long time and there
aren't very many people out there that fit the bill and, of
course, Robin fits the bill to a "T". So we're just over the
top in terms of the excitement around here. All of our
engineers are so happy to have somebody with his background
and experience on board because he complements the people we
have in place already. Most of our people are Ford Motor
Company employees and they spend a lot of time within the
company doing a lot of good work. They're very technically
capable people, but they clearly don't have the kind of
experience that Robin has, and you can only get that
experience by being on, what I would call, the inside of the
racing activity within the teams. It's a tremendous boost to
our program. It's boosted our morale and boosted our
technical capability. We can't wait until February 1 comes
around and then we're going to hit the ground running."
ROBIN PEMBERTON - NASCAR Field Manager, Ford Racing
Technology - "I'm just thrilled to death. I've had my best
relationship with Ford Motor Company and their motorsports
program for as long as I can remember - starting with Roush
Racing in '87 and spending five years with Jack and his
bunch, and then spending seven years at Penske with Ford
cars. I've got a lot of good friends and good teammates at
the Roush camp and the Yates camp and I'm excited. Every day
that goes by I look at things I can do to help and by just
being there and having good relationships with the crew
chiefs and the team owners. Trying to clear some of the
muddy waters on the technology side and getting it handled
better between Ford and the race teams and vice versa will
be important, so I can't tell you how excited I am about it.
It's a great opportunity for myself and my family and I
can't wait to get started."
WHAT DID YOU LEARN AT DODGE LAST YEAR THAT YOU CAN HELP
BRING TO FORD? "The way the cars and the rules are right
now, basically, everybody starts from a clean sheet of
paper. I think being involved with some different projects
over the past few years and surrounding ourselves with the
good engineering that we have at the various teams in the
Ford camp will help. I think the important thing and the
goal is to monitor our progress through the first five or
six races and be able to react to problems that we may have
or capitalize on some of the things that we've already got
going. Basically, it's a clean sheet of paper. You've got to
look at it that way because of all the rules and
regulations, but I think everybody is ready for the game
now."
TONY STEWART SAID THE TEMPLATES HAVE TAKEN THE MANUFACTURER
OUT OF THE GAME. WHERE DO YOU LOOK FOR GAINS NOW TO MAKE THE
FORDS STRONGER? "It's more important now that you have to
look in other areas that aren't being monitored or critiqued
quite as hard by the sanctioning body. So you take the
templates that aren't the same and you use them to your
advantage. You've got to be smarter on your springs and
shocks and your handling package. It's a time for good
multi-car teams to pull together and use what they have to
make the cars handle better. From a manufacturer's
standpoint, we've got to be there and we've got to be ready
to react and give the resources to the teams when they need
it and not drag our feet on it."
WHERE DO YOU SEE MOST OF YOUR PRESENCE BEING? DO YOU SEE
YOURSELF AWAY FROM THE TRACK MORE? "Not really. I'll
probably be there for at least three-quarters of the races.
You have to be there to evaluate the competition and make
sure that we're getting a true evaluation. A lot of times I
think we may make mistakes because we'll get ranting and
raving as groups or manufacturers that our cars aren't as
good, but maybe our teams aren't doing as well as they need
to be doing. Maybe our teams are working way too hard or
maybe our cars aren't as good as they need to be from the
manufacturer. So being involved in trying to evaluate that
and not going in trying to beat up NASCAR every two seconds
for something we may or may not need is important. We have
to use those times and chances to talk to NASCAR as wisely
as we can."
IS THIS POTENTIALLY MORE STRESSFUL HAVING TO WORK WITH THREE
DIFFERENT SERIES? "I don't know (laughing). I haven't been
too smart here lately on some of my choices, but I'm really
excited about this. Yeah, it's more teams and more
personalities, but not having the day-to-day, head-to-head
conversations with the crew chiefs and drivers - being able
to do it in a different form or something like that - I
think that will be better. The bright side is that you
really have a lot more opportunities to go to Victory Lane
this way, so that excites me also."
HOW DIFFICULT WILL THIS BE TO PUT YOURSELF IN SITUATIONS
WHERE YOU'RE ASKED TO KEEP SOME SECRETS? "It's important
from the team's standpoint and for their confidence that the
manufacturer rep, or whoever it might be, is not going to
take their proprietary information to another team. It's
important for the manufacturer to develop things that they
can hand out to all the teams and it's probably gonna be
hard for me at first to keep that extra distance. It'll be
difficult. I don't need to get right in there and get in the
mix. That's really not my job. My job is with Ford, so it's
gonna take some adjustment. It's along the same lines as I
think myself and a lot of other crew chiefs have gone
through over the years, where you go from a mechanic to a
crew chief, a crew chief to a manager and what not. It's
hard to go to that next level and understand that you need
to step back just a little bit and observe a little bit
more. Once I get that down, I think that will be the best
situation for everybody. Generally, it's not the easiest
thing to do for someone right off the bat."
WHAT WILL YOUR DAY-TO-DAY RESPONSIBILITIES BE? "We'll have
to adjust it as we go along, but the day-to-day things will
probably be interfacing with the teams - the crew chiefs in
particular - to make sure that they're getting the parts and
pieces that they need. From time to time the manufacturer
will have trouble with stamping the sheet metal and
different things, so trying to get across and let the crew
chiefs know that there is a large group of people at Ford
Motor Company that are waiting and trying to help and
improve the situation is part of it. From engine
development, chassis dynamics, aerodynamics, there are a lot
of programs going on in parallel. Every week the crew chiefs
and drivers are out at the race track working as hard as
they can and a lot of times you'll lose sight of the fact
that the manufacturer has programs going on that need to be
utilized by the teams because it can help them. I think from
my background and having needed some of that help in the
past, it's important to find out and understand that
manufacturers can provide those services. I think being a
constant reminder to the teams and letting them know to
utilize these things is important because it will be to
their advantage. I know how hard the teams work and
sometimes you can't see the forest for the trees."
GREG SPECHT CONTINUED - CAN YOU EXPAND ON THAT? "What we're
looking for from Robin, and I think in one of the areas
where he'll be able to help, is just what he said. We've got
engineers back here pounding away on things that we think
can help a race team and he can help guide that effort. He
can say, 'Here's an area where the teams in general can
really use some help,' and that will help us get ahead of
the curve from a development standpoint so then we can
deploy that technology with all the teams. That's something
that's been a little difficult for us to do in the past
because we haven't been in the type of position to know or
be able to understand the specific problem that the race
teams are facing. So, we're looking for Robin to give us
that guidance and interpret for our engineers what they need
to be working on."
HOW DID YOU GET TOGETHER WITH ROBIN? "We've had this need
for a long time, number one. This wasn't the first time that
we approached Robin, but this was the first time the timing
was right to have him come on board. It was not a new idea
on our part by any stretch of the imagination. The
opportunity was right where we had the opening and Robin was
available. When we knew that, we jumped all over it."
WHEN DID YOU FIRST START TALKING WITH EACH OTHER? "We've
been thinking about this for more than a year. For a couple
of years we realized we had a gap in our program that needed
to be filled with somebody that was really a NASCAR insider,
so to speak. We spoke to Robin after he left Penske, but it
was too late. He had already made another commitment. This
time we got a phone call from one of our sources that gave
us a heads-up that Robin was gonna be available, so we got
his home phone number and gave him a call in late December.
From that point, things came together very quickly."
The author can be contacted
nascar@autoracing1.com
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