“He Worked for Richard Petty”: Legendary Crew Chief Ryan Pemberton Reveals How He Got Into Racing

The NASCAR community lost an invaluable member, Ryan Pemberton, on Sunday. The former crew chief was a regular presence at NASCAR Cup Series races, leading his drivers on the track from the team radio. Having contributed to the growth of various projects, including the most well-known one at JR Motorsports, the former crew chief of Mark Martin has cemented his rightful place in the sport’s history.

However, his story of getting into the high-risk, high-reward sport of racing is relatively unknown to the majority of NASCAR fans. Speaking to the Scene Vault podcast before his death, Pemberton revealed his upbringing around racing and how his elder brother, Robin Pemberton, influenced his racing career. In honor of the late crew chief, the podcast released the interview and the episode recently.

Ryan Pemberton followed his older brother Ryan into racing

Ryan Pemberton’s NASCAR career started in 1988. At that time, his older brother Robin was the crew chief for fan favorite Mark Martin. While he took his sweet time, he eventually transitioned into the role of a crew chief, and after 561 Cup races, he had won races with Joe Nemechek and Brian Vickers. But the story didn’t start in 1988. To understand his origin in racing, one will have to head further back in time to Greensboro, North Carolina.

Reminiscing about his teenage days in the springs of North Carolina with his brother Robin, who worked for Richard Petty and Co., Ryan Pemberton revealed on the Scene Vault podcast, “You know, our family moved to Greensboro. He’s 12 years older than I am, so I was still in middle school when he moved out. He worked for Richard Petty, which was 15 miles down the road from where we lived in Greensboro.“

Divulging the details about his early affair with racing, “I just loved the racing part of it. We grew up around racing in New York. There was a dirt track down the road, the Albany-Saratoga Speedway. We always kind of rounded it, even when I was little. I got a chance to go to the race shop. Petty Enterprises when I was a young teenager. I was just in love with it and went to a lot of races. I used to go to  Martinsville, Charlotte, Rockingham, and Bristol, as you go to a lot of races.”

Robin and Ryan Pemberton eventually reunited at Roush Racing, with Robin being one of the founding pillars of the iconic team. It all started with one fine day: the crew members at Roush Racing inquired about the availability of young Ryan, who was focusing on basketball in high school.

“When he had the chance, Robin went to a couple of different teams. When Robin and Steve Hmiel started Roush Racing, they moved it to Liberty, North Carolina, which was 25 miles from where I was,” said Ryan Pemberton.

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“I was in high school, and I’d go over there every day after school, work at the shop, and hang out. I was playing basketball in high school, so that started taking up some of my time. At the shop, some of the guys were like, ‘Hey, where’s Ryan?’ and I think that’s when they decided to hire me. When I wasn’t there, they needed me, so I kind of leveraged them into a job there.”

Robin Pemberton eventually took on the role of NASCAR Vice President of Competition. However, that was in the late 2000s. At the start of his career as a racing crew, he served as a fabricator and mechanic for Petty Enterprises for four years. In 1983, he turned into a crew chief, and four years later, he took part in developing Roush Racing. In all fairness, having an inspirational elder brother was vital for Ryan Pemberton to grow as a racing fanatic. Continuing the interview, Pemberton revealed his initial days at Roush Racing.

Ryan’s first job at Roush Racing

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The journey from a starting crew member to a crew chief is peculiarly long. While grassroots drivers can turn into able Cup Series drivers in a matter of a year, it is rare for crew members to level up that fast. But it was relatively more manageable in the 1980s than it is currently. As the interview progressed, Ryan Pemberton revealed his affinity for the learning process during his days of learning with the team. “Pemberton revealed what he was asked to do: Whatever they told me to do.”

“I was young with a lot of energy. As everybody says, you start with cleaning up stuff, right? I started fabricating pretty quick and early. Taught myself how to weld so that became a great tool and built oil tanks and all kinds of stuff off the bat. Looking at the gas can, I made hundreds of those back in the day.“

“Those were great places to work when you’re young because they were all good guys but there were not many of them. There were maybe 12 of us on the racing team. Painting the car, building the car, going to the race track, it as only 12 of us doing it. You got a chance to do a lot of different things.“

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Ryan Pemberton’s career took a new direction in 1988. From then on, he became a crew chief with over 650 starts in NASCAR and oversaw three Xfinity Series-winning campaigns with JR Motorsports. It was a truly remarkable career, cut short by misfortune.