Our Interview with Rodney Childers, #4 Crew Chief
April 17th, 2015
Michelle Hoskin
Rodney has racing in his blood. He’s been racing his whole life himself. Starting out in karts, late model stocks, and eventually the Busch series, racing is his career and love. Childers retired from driving in 2003 to concentrate on becoming a mechanic.
On August 23, 2013, “Childers announced that he was leaving MWR to become Kevin Harvick’s crew chief at Stewart-Haas Racing in 2014”… and what a year that was (1)! Childers led Kevin to 5 first place wins, 23 top 10 finishes, 8 Poles, and the inevitable Sprint Cup Championship.
Our Interview:
Michelle: Has it hit home yet…the magnitude of winning last years Championship and the outrageous start of the 2015 season?
Rodney Childers: No. Our whole team is very appreciative of all of it and we want to keep the momentum going into this season…it hasn’t quite yet set in!
M: In terms of racing style, you and Kevin appear to be on the same page. Is this an on-going, building relationship, or do/did the two of you just automatically mesh?
Rodney: We seem to have meshed since day one of our partnership. BUT, it IS a constant deal of learning. We are still learning together every race.
M: Who were you with prior to Kevin and Stewart-Haas?
Rodney: I will with Michael Waltrip Racing for 5 years, with Mark Martin, Brian Vickers, and David Reutimann.
M: What’s the best part of being a Crew Chief?
Rodney: Winning and seeing the smiles on the faces of the #4 team for sure. We are a family.
The #4 SHR Team…Texas Motor Speedway
M: What’s the hardest/worst part of being a Crew Chief?
Rodney: Conflicts…and the mechanical difficulty side.
M: What’s your own history in racing?
Rodney: I have raced my whole life, since I was 12 years old. Started out in Karts, late model stocks, and eventually in the Busch series.
M: Schooling?
Rodney: I went to Community College for engineering and left! I sold my books, and continued racing!
M: Your honest opinion of the latest 2015 NASCAR rule changes?
Rodney: Overall, I think it’s a good thing, not too many actual changes besides the tapered spacer bars and the cars running closer together.
NOTE: I learned that the large end of the spacer mates with the carburetor and the narrow end points toward the intake manifold. The tapered spacer gradually narrows the path through which the air must travel to reach the engine. Try breathing through a scuba tube and then pinching the tube down. A smaller hole decreases the flow, which decreases how much air/fuel mixture is getting into the engine and thus how much horsepower the engine can generate.
M: Your favorite racer when you were growing up?
Rodney: Dale Sr. I used to go to school with Dale Jr. Then, when Jeff Gordon came along, I became a Gordon fan.
M: Your family?
Rodney: Married to Katrina and we have twin boys.
Rodney and Katrina Childers
M: What do you like to do after a bad day at the track?
Rodney: Go home…spend time with my family and play with my kids J Take a breather…
The Childer Twins…ready for racing!
M: If you could race, one on one, against ANY racer, who would it be?
Rodney: After MUCH thought…Kevin Harvick!
Rodney & Kevin Harvick, 2014
External Links:
@RodneyChilders4
@KevinHarvick
@StewartHaasRcng
http://www.stewarthaasracing.com/
http://www.kevinharvick.com/