The creation Circle Track crew chief - App

It was the summer of 2015, Rob was in Canada, trying to figure out what to do with his race car and feeling frustrated.  He emailed Zach, the co-owner of KBR Development,

"Hey the car is still pushing in the middle of the corner, and no matter what I seem to do, I'm cooking the RF tire."

"Can you send me some tire temp info?"

"You bet, let me just write it down and I'll send you a picture of what I've got for information."

"Your RF pressure is too high and your hot pressures shouldn't go above 28-29psi, so if you're if you're racing at 33psi then it's no wonder the car is pushing. No matter what you do, that car will not turn if the pressures are that high so you need to address that first, then we can look at making some adjustments but no doubt there is an underlying push in the chassis."

"Ok, sure thing. I'll see if I can get a test session planned before the next race, so we can do some long runs and get the pressures figured out. I don't want to squander another one of these races and the next 150 lap main is coming up in a few weeks."

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This exchange had become somewhat commonplace.  Rob had access to one of the best crew chiefs in the U.S. and was struggling to utilize his advice.

 

Rob grew up in a racing family and after taking a break, dove back in head first into Super Late Models as a driver and team owner.  He was struggling and it seemed that no matter what he did, he was always missing something. One fine tuning adjustment here and another one there and just couldn't get the whole package put together. 

 

He scavenged the internet for all racing related articles, books and forums, re-read old books, but he still struggled. All the racers were spending a small fortune on shocks and Rob was struggling so he followed suit and did what every racer does, spent money.

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Rob bought the newest front end with the "right" spindles, control arms, sway bar and spring package. Then ordered the best shock package that the rules would allow and that's where Zach came into the picture.  He was good, but the magnitude of who Rob was dealing with didn't hit him until he started looking into the stuff Zach was doing, and then Rob's mind was officially blown.

 

Zach was racing Super Late Models with Erik Jones.  Erik, who was at that time driving trucks for Kyle Bush Motorsports and they were winning.  Erik won the triple crown in 2015 and Zach formed his continued to add to his win list as the time went on as a professional team owner and crew chief.  Rob surrounded himself with the best crew he could find and made the priority listening to Zach. Zach's words were the racing gospel and was growing in numbers of faithful followers.

 

As their dialogue continued so did the learning.  Rob's small local team progressed from frustration to success based on the help and direction from Zach. The crew would diligently measure tire temperatures after every time the car was out on the track and we took a very orderly approach that didn't stray. Any changes that were made to the car, were done based on the measured information. Gone were the days of guess and check, or decisions based on a gut instinct. When the car came into the pit, one crew member would measure the right front temperature and another would write down the information, then move to the right rear, left rear, and left front.  After that was complete Rob put the numbers into a computer spreadsheet that he had created so it would do all the math.  The information was good and orderly but it was slow.  They accepted it because they thought it's better to make an educated decision instead of making the wrong decision. 

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When Rob had free time he revamped his calculations with input from Zach so the tire temperatures would correlate simple tuning options.  Within a few weeks, the prototype was created.

 

Rob brought the questions and the perspective of a hobby racer and Zach brought the insight, experience and intelligence of a true professional Crew Chief. Together they created an app to meet the basic needs of every asphalt racer in North America. It's quick, simple and effective so that all racers regardless of experience can make informed decisions on what to tune and when.