Greg Ives to become crew chief for Dale Earnhardt Jr. next season - MotorSportsTalk

Hendrick Motorsports has announced that Greg Ives will take over as crew chief for Dale Earnhardt Jr. and the No. 88 team beginning next season, replacing the NBC Sports-bound Steve Letarte.

Ives currently serves as crew chief for Nationwide Series points leader Chase Elliott on the No. 9 JR Motorsports team. He also worked as a race engineer for HMS’ No. 48 Sprint Cup team during Jimmie Johnson’s run of five consecutive Cup championships from 2006-2010.

“This is an incredible opportunity for me and my family,” Ives said in a team release. “Dale Jr. and I have a great relationship from being in the same shop at Hendrick Motorsports and my time at JRM.

“We have a lot left to do this season in the Nationwide Series, but I’m excited about what’s ahead and look forward to sharing some wins with JR Nation in the future. I couldn’t ask for a better situation than working with one of the best drivers and teams in racing.”

Ives will work directly with No. 48 crew chief Chad Knaus in the same shop that the 48 and 88 teams share. Before joining JRM late in 2012, Ives and Knaus collaborated on 42 Sprint Cup wins over a seven-year span.

In his own comments, HMS team owner Rick Hendrick indicated that Ives’ familiarity with Earnhardt (who co-owns JRM with Hendrick) and Knaus was critical to him getting the nod.

“Greg was our number-one choice,” Hendrick said. “This is a talented guy who already has a terrific rapport with Dale Jr. and is a fit with the organization.

“He and Chad had a lot of success together, and all of our crew chiefs think the world of him and what he’s accomplished. Greg’s proven that he can win races, and he has all the tools to do big things.”

In 2013, Ives guided JRM’s Regan Smith to a pair of wins (Talladega, Michigan) and a third-place finish in the Nationwide Series standings before moving over to work with Elliott, the 18-year-old son of former Sprint Cup champion Bill Elliott.

So far this season, Ives and Elliott have put up impressive results in Nationwide with three wins (Texas, Darlington, Chicagoland), eight Top-5s and 13 Top-10s. Going into Saturday’s race at Iowa Speedway, Elliott holds a four point lead over Smith in that series’ championship.

Elliott has tweeted his congratulations to Ives on his new opportunity:

Rly happy for Greg and his new opportunity @ HMS. It's been a blast so far this season, n we're lookin forward 2 the rest of it! #deserving

— Chase Elliott (@chaseelliott) July 30, 2014

As for Earnhardt, he hailed Ives as “a strong leader with a cool personality” and a competitive streak that matches his own.

“It was important to find someone who would fit at Hendrick Motorsports and inside our shop, and he will for sure do that,” said NASCAR’s most popular driver. “We got the best guy for the job, and I look forward to working with him next year.

“From a JR Motorsports perspective, I’m extremely proud of how this worked out. Since the end of 2012, we’ve focused on JRM and Hendrick Motorsports working together as closely as possible and developing talented people for the next level. This is a perfect example of that happening the way we hoped it would.”

Earnhardt later tweeted that he and his team “couldn’t be more excited” about Ives coming on board next year, but also stressed that there’s still lots of racing to do this year.

.@DaleJr takes his reaction to Twitter #NASCARAmerica pic.twitter.com/hI6qArBVU2

— NASCAR on NBC (@NASCARonNBC) July 30, 2014

As happy as we are about putting the crew chief decision in the rear view, there's still a lot of season left. Races to try and win.

— Dale Earnhardt Jr. (@DaleJr) July 30, 2014

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Vicki Golden has earned a career worthy of a thousand stories and 805 Beer tells at least one of them, as “Inverted Perspective” premiered March 30 on the company’s website and YouTube channel.

Golden did more to break the glass ceiling in SuperMotocross than she ever thought possible. She knows this because riders have never felt the need to explain any of her accomplishments with the disclaimer, “for a girl”.

At this point in Golden’s career, she’s been the first woman to finish top 10 in AMA Arenacross Lites, the first woman to qualify in the Fast 40 in Monster Energy AMA Supercross and the first woman to compete in freestyle Moto X competition, earning a bronze medal by doing so.

Her love for moto came from childhood while she watched her dad and brother ride. By seven she was on her bike and making waves throughout Southern California.

Golden, 30, is still madly in love with the sport and has no plans on moving away but her career is already one to talk about. 805 Beer’s film series wanted to do exactly that.

“I’m taken aback by it all,” Golden told NBC Sports about the documentary. “It’s just crazy to see your story, it’s one thing to live your life and battle everything that comes about but it’s another to just sit there and talk about it.”

805 approached Golden about the feature by asking, “Do you even realize that what you do, and your story is special?”

Golden took the question as a blank canvas to map out the highs and lows of her career and life.

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The title “Inverted Perspective” came from a brainstorming session with Dominick Russo and it highlights Golden’s outlook on the sport of SuperMotocross and her life in general.

“My whole life, my whole career was thinking differently and looking at things that shouldn’t be done and aren’t there, while being able to make a place for myself, where no one thought there should be a place,” Golden said. “It’s inspiring someone to think in different ways. It sums up my life.”

*Vicki Golden is not “fast for a girl”; she’s just fast. – 805 Beer*

While Golden is no stranger to the spotlight, this was the first time she’s been fully involved with the storytelling and creation of a feature about herself.

“It’s not like a full new experience,” Golden said. “Obviously, you get your standard questions about your upbringing and accomplishments, but I’ve never really put into perspective things that happened in my past with my dad and putting that to light. Also, certain other things that maybe got overlooked in previous interviews or films. I wanted to touch on these and Dom wanted to create a story. It’s just cool to see it come to light, it’s a nearly impossible thing to tell somebody’s life story in 40 minutes.”

Golden’s father was left paralyzed after an ATV accident, robbing him the opportunity to ride again. This happened a few months before the father-daughter duo was set to compete in the Loretta Lynn’s Amateur Nationals when Vicki was 12. While she might have been unable to grasp the severity at the time, it’s something she carries with her. Golden continues to ride in his honor.

Years later, an accident in 2018 nearly sidelined the then 25-year-old Vicki when a freestyle accident almost resulted in the amputation of her lower leg.

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Golden 805 Beer — *Vicki Golden has ridden a variety of disciplines in SuperMotocross, which gives her a unique perspective. – 805 Beer*

“Inverted Perspective” highlights her father’s diligence in helping Vicki continue with her career and the kindness and strength he carried while fighting his own battle.

“My dad was the entire reason that I started riding in the first place,” Golden said. “So, to honor his memory and to honor what we went through and how hard he pushed to keep our dream alive and keep everything going – in that sense then, it was really special to be able to honor him and talk about him.”

The 40-minute feature was filmed entirely in black and white, a stark contrast from the oversaturated world of motocross where the brighter the suit the easier it is for fans to find their rider and follow him in the race. By filming in monochrome Russo and Golden had the chance to focus on the race and track from a different perspective.

“It was cool to be able to film it differently,” Golden said. “It created a challenge in the sense of what was going to be more visually impactful for the film.

“I couldn’t be here without the companies that back me but at the same time, it’s not like the logos or colors disappeared, it’s just different lights shed on different spots. It’s just a cool way to do it and to take color away and still be impactful. When you think of black and white, you think of old school, the OG way of doing things.”

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