Pintaric's crew chief stabilizing force as season continues

August 13, 2014

(Team Release) David Pintaric can look back at the first half of the 2014 Trans Am Series Championship season and see a winding road of ups and downs. Pintaric current stands seventh in the points standing— finishing in the top five remains a good possibility. Pintaric and his Kryderacing team have scored their first ever podium finish in Trans Am, a mad dash in the closing laps to pass from fifth to third.

At the same time David's business responsibilities and his personal life have placed unusually high demands on his time and the results haven't always been up to Pintaric's high expectations. After mechanical issues in the first two races of the season left the team in a deep hole in the points, he laid down a gauntlet that the team needed to be on or near the podium. His team responded and the #57 Corvette finished 3rd and 4th in the next two races at two demanding, high speed tracks at Road Atlanta and Canadian Tire Motorsports Park. But a business emergency and a mechanical failure in the following two races have returned to the team to facing a challenge in the remaining races.

With all the trials and tribulations this season, the one constant that Pintaric knows will be there as a stabilizing force is his long-time crew chief, Matt Miller.

"I've put him in a bad spot. With all my business concerns right now, I just show up and drive,” said Pintaric.

As a rule David is there for all the pre-race test sessions and there to work with the team on set up changes and decisions to be made during the course of a race weekend.

This season his business has kept him away from the track on some of those test days. It worked out at Road Atlanta were he didn't turn a wheel until the official practice started the day before the race. Also this season his phone is constantly ringing with decisions that have to be made in his business. Distractions have so much this season, that even when testing time is found, it's less effective than desired, "I'll come in after a session on-track and Matt will ask, 'What does the car need?' I'll reply, 'A new driver.' Which doesn't really help him with set up."

This year its been up to Miller to not only prepare the car for a race weekend, but to make the calls on setting the car up knowing that they may get fewer laps to get the balance right for the race. "He's aeronautical engineer," Pintaric says of Miller, "He's a real smart guy. He gets it pretty right even without me being much help."

"Its true. We haven't been able to test as much this season.", Miller says, "It's harder when you start the weekend four sessions behind the other teams. We have a new tire this year. So, the other teams know where they need to be on set up for the new tire by that first practice session and we just getting started." The advantage that Kryderacing has is that Miller knows his driver very well. He is the only crew chief that Pintaric has known in ten years of racing.

"Yea, from a 240sx in ITS, to a Spec Miata, to the Corvettes and Vipers and now Trans Am. We brought in Doug for engineering and using the data better. He has a lot of experience and that has helped a lot," Miller says. "But David has been really busy even on race weekends with things that are more important."

For Pintaric's part he realizes that he has put extra pressure on his crew chief this season. Just because the forces of life can be demanding and distracting, it doesn't mean that he wants to win any less or is willing to settle for not being competitive. Living a life that is spinning faster than usual he finds Miller as a resource for stability. "He is very even keeled. Nothing flusters him. He's the right balance for me," Pintaric says.

The second half of the season starts at Pintaric and Miller's home track, Mid Ohio Sportscar course. Pintaric and his Kryderacing team will get some test time for this race. They are entered in the SCCA's IT(Improved Touring) Spectacular that runs at Mid Ohio the weekend before the Trans Am weekend. In fact Miller will be racing himself. "Yea, I've got a Mazda RX7.", Matt says with a laugh. " I am going to race, David will be there. We will have a bunch of people. It will be fun."

After that will be the big race for Pintaric. Last year at Mid Ohio, in front of a huge attendance, Pintaric had a brake failure and a fire on the first lap. This year he is looking forward to making up for that and really enjoying himself. He expects a busy weekend with family and friends around and with Matt Miller's help a chance to take one of those three spots on the podium when all is said and done.