Dale Earnhardt Jr. welcomed one of the fiercest competitors and hardest workers in the NASCAR garage to the Download this week, longtime championship-winning crew chief Jimmy Fennig. Best known for his thirty-year tenure at Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing, Jimmy helped elevate a young Kurt Busch to his lone NASCAR Cup Championship in 2004. Jimmy’s journey to the top of NASCAR’s crew chief rankings came from humble beginnings in southeastern Wisconsin. After growing up under the roof of two generations of dirt racers, Jimmy and his brother Jeffrey decided to try their own hand at the craft, building and racing a sportsman car out of local Hales Corner Speedway. Jimmy quickly realized he preferred turning wrenches to rubbing fenders, and he took a job preparing cars for Wisconsin legend Al Schill.
It was through this connection that he’d meet Bobby Allison at Slinger Speedway, beginning a long friendship that brought Jimmy into the NASCAR fold. Jimmy experienced a short track pinnacle, winning the 1986 American Speed Association Championship with Mark Martin, and it was off to the races in stock car land. Jimmy would join Bobby at the burgeoning Stavola Brothers Racing outfit, and they’d capture the 1988 Daytona 500. After Bobby’s tragic career-ending crash at Pocono, he’d take on an ownership role, and Jimmy would follow along, sitting atop the box for Hut Stricklin, Jeff Purvis, and others. When Bobby Allison Motorsports shuttered in 1996, Jimmy was the last one out of the shop, and he’d part for the Liberty, North Carolina location of Roush to reunite with Mark Martin.
Dale and Jimmy’s conversation covers the tough competition of ASA in the 1980s, the loyalty and grit of Bobby Allison, and achieving the top accomplishments NASCAR has to offer.
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