“Big Race Teams Sometimes Aren’t What You Made Them Out to Be”—Veteran Crew Chief Exposes the Reality Behind a Big NASCAR Team

Life is nothing but a story of unexpected twists and tales. And who other than Larry McReynolds can spell it out better? A NASCAR crew chief and racing analyst, McReynolds is a reservoir of anecdotes. From serving as a crew chief in various major teams to co-owning a racing team to maintaining a column of his own, he has done it all!

However, like many of us, his life has been full of twists and turns. In Episode 61 of Fast Car 2 NASCAR with Mike Wallace, McReynolds talked about an incident he encountered during one of the darker chapters of his life.

In his conversation, McReynolds shared that during the initial phase of his career, he did not want to be rushed into anything. After coming back from Riverside, Larry McReynolds had no idea what he would do. And back then, all he wanted to do was to get through the holidays.

However, just two days before he was to leave for his home, McReynolds received a call from Tim Richmond. Talking about the call, he said, “Believe it or not, about two days before I was gonna leave to go home back to Birmingham for Christmas, Tim Richmond called me and said, ‘Hey, man! What are you gonna do next year?'”

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The question was stinging for the unemployed crew chief. Not expecting to actually hear about a job opportunity from Richmond, McReynolds continued the conversation.

“I said ‘Tim, I don’t know.’ I said ‘I’m trying to figure it out.’ He said, ‘Look! I don’t know if you’ve heard, but I am gonna drive for this new race team called Blue Max Racing. Raymond Beadle the drag racer is gonna own it. Tim Brewer is going to be the crew chief.’ He said, ‘Why don’t you go talk to Tim?’ I said ‘Well, I am leaving tomorrow to go home for Christmas. As soon as I get back, I’ll shortly do it.'”

When Larry McReynolds called Tim Brewer

Larry McReynolds revealed that he called Blue Max Racing’s crew chief Tim Brewer as soon as he came back from Birmingham. And after talking to him, he was hired as a tire specialist, mechanic, and truck driver. But even though McReynolds was glad to be a part of a major team with manufacturing support and a primary sponsor, things weren’t all good.

Talking to Wallace, he said, “I don’t know Mike, big race teams sometimes aren’t what you made them out to be. We went to Daytona and we had not been paid in over a month.” Furthermore, he revealed that Tim Brewer went and encashed a personal check to cover the expenses to go and race at Daytona.

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During the conversation, McReynolds revealed that the team had not paid their tire bills for over a year. And looking at the situation of the team, McReynolds said that he felt like even though Raymond Beadle was a great guy, he was a horrible businessman.