INDIANAPOLIS - Drew Blickensderfer swears his commitment never wavered, not once.
Even as he raked what must have been his 1,000th sand trap, as he mowed his 1,500th fairway, as he ate his 3,000th sandwich in his tiny, virtually empty apartment in Charlotte N.C., Blickensderfer today would testify under oath that he never once thought about coming home to Central Illinois and giving up his dream of working for a NASCAR racing team.
Now, those days are 10 years gone. The former Mount Zion all-state wrestler is long past assuring his parents - Jack Blickensderfer and Laura Brown - that he would be OK moving nearly 800 miles away to a town in which he knew no one and with just a month's rent paid and $300 in his pocket.
``He said he had a couple of interviews and some other things lined up,'' Jack said last week at the Nationwide Series' Kroger 200 at O'Reilly Raceway Park in Clermont, In. ``But I guess he didn't. He just wanted to chase his dream. I admire him for that.''
His only sibling wasn't so sure.
``I thought he was NUTS,'' said Matt Blickensderfer, who went a different direction after undergraduate school, completing law school at Northwestern. ``He was going out there with no idea how to get a job with NASCAR, only that he wanted a job with NASCAR. I thought `there is no way this is going to happen.' But it did.''
He went, working for a county club as a greenskeeper before months of pounding on doors, cold-calling race teams finally landed him a job.
Now a crew chief for Roush Fenway Racing, heading up Carl Edwards' Nationwide Series No. 60 car, some would say he's caught that dream. Drew, however, isn't quite satisfied.
Outta my way
Growing up going to races with Jack and Matt, Drew gained an early affinity for the sport, though not for the garage part of it. He just liked the going fast part.
And with both Jack and Matt barely able to turn the windshield wipers on in their cars, he was getting little help from them. They did try to help once as pit crew when Drew was racing modifieds during his high school and college summers.
``We were more of a hindrance than anything,'' Jack said. ``I know how to put gas in a car, and usually - usually - know how to start it. That's about it.
``We just kind of got in the way.''
Luckily for Drew, Jack's dad, Bob, and brother, Rick, were mechanics and they helped all they could. Still little rubbed off on Drew wrench-wise before he got involved with NASCAR.
``I spent time at (Bob's) garage, but I didn't pay much attention,'' Drew said. ``Just about everything I know now I learned after I got here. Now I wish I was back racing at Macon knowing what I know now. That would be fun.''
He's apparently learned plenty.
From do whatever to do-it-all
Drew caught a break from raking and mowing when Bobby Hillin needed help not only in his crew but paying his taxes as well.
``He noticed I had a college degree (kinesiology and sports management from Millikin) and wanted me to help him with the books and with the car,'' Blickensderfer said. ``I ended up being a tire carrier and a bookkeeper.''
That lasted until he went to work for Dale Earnhardt Inc. as a shock builder and tire changer. He moved to Roush Fenway to help on Mark Martin's car as a tire carrier in 2003 before eventually being promoted to car chief (in direct charge of the pit crew). He was the crew chief, overseeing not only the setup of the car, but calling the strategy during the race itself, for Danny O'Quinn's Nationwide rookie of the year run in 2006. He ran Matt Kenseth's No. 17 Nationwide ride all last year and started with Kenseth this year.
To be a crew chief has been the goal since shunning conventional wisdom and moving to North Carolina nearly 10 years ago.
``From Day One I wanted to be on top of the box,'' said Drew, referring to the crew chief's birdseye spot on top of the team's tool chest. ``I had no other desire. Just about everyone that works on these cars thinks they can drive one, but I have always wanted to be on this side of it.''
Blickensderfer's plan, even in the sand traps of that country club in North Carolina, was to lead a team by 30 years old. The 32-year-old wants to be running a Sprint Cup car by 35.
``You never know what's going to happen so you have to be prepared for it at all times,'' Drew said. ``I've always thought that if you put yourself in position to succeed, you will. I've put myself in that position, now I just have to keep working hard to make sure I don't fall behind and things will work out.''
A different kind of coach
As a crew chief, Blickensderfer's week begins on Monday in North Carolina as the team plans an attack on that week's racetrack. He's there Monday to Wednesday at 6 a.m., leaving around 5 p.m. to spend as much time as he can with wife Candice and their kids, Viktoria and Slater McCray. The team flies out on Thursday and Friday is spent tweaking the car. Saturday is Race Day. Sunday he gets to rest, working on Slater's motocross bike or midget car most of the time.
``I'm around racing all the time,'' he said. ``It's a lot of fun.''
A good crew chief knows as much about the car he's been entrusted with as he does about the people he works with.
Blickensderfer, according to the No. 60 car's Jack man and tire specialist Blair Patterson, who also worked with Blickensderfer on Kenseth's car, is one of the best, and that his boss' biggest quality is his ego-less management style.
``He's really open-minded. If you have an idea, he's going to listen to it. It's nice to have that kind of communication,'' Patterson said. ``He also expects the best from you every time out. That's not hard to give when you know you're getting it from him too.''
Blickensderfer says that trait comes from a combination of watching his dad, who coaches basketball at Meridian High School, playing football, first for Ted Phelps and then Tim Nolen, and wrestling for Grant Eckenrod at Mount Zion.
``(Being a crew chief) is a lot like being a coach. You have to know when you can get on a guy, or when you need to put your arm around him and give him a little confidence,'' he said. ``I had a lot of good teachers of that growing up.''
Big shake up
The marriage of Blickensderfer to Edwards was abrupt when the Roush Fenway higher-ups decided to mix up the teams, swapping Blickensderfer from Matt Kenseth. It appeared to be a seamless transition with Edwards piloting the No. 60 to a win in their first race together.
``He's a competitor and he's a smart guy. He picks up on things very quickly,'' said Edwards, who sits third in the Nationwide Series points standings. ``I like that he wants to win as badly as I do. He's no nonsense and he's good at what he does.''
They won again a month later in St. Louis and pulled off a miraculous turnaround at the Kroger 200 after falling behind three laps early in the race before finishing 11th. They've been together just six races and Edwards has moved to within 180 points of Nationwide points leader Clint Bowyer in his pursuit of a second straight Nationwide title.
In fact, the only thing that has been screwy at all was a little trouble with the new crew chief's last name.
``I was a little afraid to mess it up at first. I just called him Drew that whole first week,'' Edwards said. ``But I've met a lot of Blickensderfers since the change, so I'm good with the name now.''
Happy but not content
It took Blickensderfer just eight months to land that first job, and only eight years to become a crew chief for one of the sport's fastest growing stars. He swears that he wouldn't change anything about the route taken to his victories as adamantly as he does for his resolve during those days of Ramen Noodles and broadcast television.
``I look back at it like an internship. I did even then,'' he said. ``And I would do it again in a second.''
It's an internship that has led to nearly every monumental event in his life.
``I have a great job, I met my wife and our kids because I moved (to North Carolina),'' he said. ``This is still a little unbelievable when I think about it. I'm very fortunate to have a job that I wake up in the morning and can't wait to get to. They pay very well but it's one of those jobs that you'd do... I don't want to say for free, but almost nothing. How could I do anything different? Why would I? It's been a little like a dream so far.''
And who would want to change that?
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