Jimmy Makar (born March 24, 1956) was the Senior Vice President of Racing Operations at

Joe Gibbs Racing Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) is an American professional stock car racing organization founded by Pro Football Hall of Fame coach Joe Gibbs. His son, J. D. Gibbs, ran the team with him until his death in 2019. Founded in Huntersville, North Carolina, ...

. Born in

Morristown, New Jersey Morristown () is a Town (New Jersey), town in and the county seat of Morris County, New Jersey, Morris County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey.

, he was previously a crew chief for

Rusty Wallace Russell "Rusty" William Wallace Jr. (born August 14, 1956) is an American former NASCAR racing driver. He won the 1984 NASCAR Cup series NASCAR Rookie of the Year, Rookie of the Year and the 1989 NASCAR Winston Cup Series, 1989 NASCAR Winston Cup ...

Dale Jarrett Dale Arnold Jarrett (born November 26, 1956) is an American former race car driver and current racing commentator for NBC. He is best known for winning the Daytona 500 three times (in 1993, 1996, and 2000) and winning the NASCAR Winston Cup Series ...

and

Bobby Labonte Robert Allen Labonte (born May 8, 1964) is an American semi-retired professional stock car racing driver and current analyst for ''NASCAR on Fox''. He also currently competes part-time in the SMART Modified Tour, driving the No. 18L for Hermie Sa ...

Career

In 1976, at the age of 20 years, Makar began his NASCAR career after being chosen to take his father's

NASCAR The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC (NASCAR) is an American auto racing sanctioning and operating company that is best known for stock car racing. It is considered to be one of the top ranked motorsports organizations in ...

Winston Cup Series The NASCAR Cup Series is the top racing series of the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR), the most prestigious stock car racing series in the United States. The series began in 1949 as the Strictly Stock Division, and fro ...

car to Robert Gee, where he helped with the repairs. After two weeks, he was offered a job at Gee's shop. Makar accepted the job, and moved from

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...

North Carolina North Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. stat ...

. He continued to work at Gee's shop until he was offered a job as a mechanic from

Harry Hyde Harry Hyde (January 17, 1925 – May 13, 1996) was a leading crew chief in NASCAR stock car racing in the 1960s through the 1980s, winning 56 races and 88 pole positions. He was the 1970 championship crew chief for Bobby Isaac. He inspired t ...

in 1979. Two years later, he was hired by Ron Benfield and Buddy Parrott. Makar spent three years with Benfield and Parrott before he was hired by

Junior Johnson Robert Glenn Johnson Jr. (June 28, 1931 – December 20, 2019), better known as Junior Johnson, was an American professional stock car racing driver, engineer, and team owner as well as an entrepreneur. He won 50 NASCAR races in his career befor ...

. However, after one season, he moved to Blue Max Racing, where he continued to work to 1990. During

's 1989 championship, Makar was the team's chassis specialist. In 1990, he became a crew chief for the first time. He was the crew chief for Wallace in seven races. During the 1991 season, Makar joined Penske Racing South, where he continued being Wallace's crew chief for 17 races. The combination recorded their first win at

Bristol Motor Speedway Bristol Motor Speedway (formerly known as the Bristol International Raceway from 1978 to 1996 and as the Bristol International Speedway from 1961 to 1978) is a oval Oval track racing#Short track, short track in Bristol, Tennessee. The track ha ...

in the spring. Midway through the season, Makar left Penske to work for

Joe Gibbs Joseph Jackson Gibbs (born November 25, 1940) is an American auto racing team owner and former American football, football coach. He served as the head coach of the Washington Redskins of the National Football League (NFL) from 1981 Washingto ...

, who was building a new team around

, Makar's brother in law. He was Jarrett's crew chief from 1992 to 1994, winning two races together, one of which was

's first win, the

1993 Daytona 500 The 1993 Daytona 500 was the first stock car race of the 1993 NASCAR Winston Cup Series season and the 35th iteration of the event. The race was held on Sunday, February 14, 1993, before an audience of 150,000 in Daytona Beach, Florida at Da ...

. After Jarrett left following the 1994 season, Makar remained at Joe Gibbs Racing to become

's crew chief. With Labonte, he won 19 races, 143 top-tens and 20 pole positions, as well as the

2000 2000 was designated as the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematics, Mathematical Year. Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium, because of a tende ...

championship. In 2002, Makar was assigned to the position of the team's Senior Vice President of Racing Operations, until his retirement at the end of the 2022 racing season. He also assists the team's engineering and aerodynamic departments. Throughout Makar's crew chief career, he won 22 races with three different drivers.

Private life

He is married to Patti (Jarrett) Makar, and has two children, Alex and Dillon. Jimmy is the brother in law of

. His family resides in

Statesville, North Carolina Statesville is a city in Iredell County, North Carolina, United States, and its county seat. The population was 28,419 at the time of the 2020 census. Statesville was established in 1789 by an act of the North Carolina Legislature. It is part ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Makar, Jimmy 1956 births Jarrett family Living people NASCAR crew chiefs People from Morristown, New Jersey Sportspeople from Morris County, New Jersey