NHRA: John Force's new crew chief just 27 years old - MotorSportsTalk

Jon Schaffer will be stepping into some very big shoes when the NHRA season-opening Winternationals begin in Pomona, Calif., Feb. 6-8.

Schaffer was announced Wednesday as the new crew chief – and successor to Jimmy Prock and John Medlen – for 16-time NHRA Funny Car champion John Force.

(Prock and Medlen left Force’s operation after lengthy stints at or near the end of last season and have joined rival Don Schumacher Racing.)

Schaffer is only 27 years old, which will provide quite a contrast with his 65-year-old driver, who will wheel a new car manufacturer (Chevrolet Camaro) with a new primary sponsor (PEAK Antifreeze).

But Force has always been a team owner and driver who likes and encourages young team members.

“We have developed the next generation of drivers and now I want to do the same thing with our crew chiefs,” Force said Wednesday in a team media release. “We have so much young talent I want to start giving these guys a chance to grow and develop their talents.”

Schaffer had previously served as assistant crew chief with Mike Neff, who is crew chief for Force’s teammate, son-in-law and president of John Force Racing, Robert Hight. Long-time crewman Tim Fabrisi will step in to fill Schaffer’s role and assist Neff on Hight’s Auto Club Camaro SS Funny Car.

“We will always have a braintrust and our lead man will be Mike Neff,” Force said. “You have to have stability and that is one thing that we have had over the past couple of decades.

“You don’t win as many championships as we have with as many different guys without a great core group. I know crew chiefs will move around. That is the nature of this business. I want to continue to develop talent inside John Force Racing and continue to keep winning.”

Other promotions or new hires include:

* Nick Casertano is the new car chief for John Force’s PEAK Camaro SS Funny Car team.

* Ronnie Thompson has been hired to assist Todd Smith, crew chief on Force’s daughter Brittany’s Top Fuel team. Thompson comes to JFR after working for Al-Anabi Racing, which suspended operations two weeks ago.

* Courtney Force’s Traxxas Camaro SS Funny Car will continue to be led by Ron Douglas and Dan Hood.

* Long-time crew chief Dean “Guido” Antonelli has been promoted to general manager of Force’s shop in Brownsburg, Indiana. One of Antonelli’s key tasks will be future expansion of JFR.

“Mike Neff, Ron Douglas, Dean Antonelli, Todd Smith and Dan Hood have a lot of experience and we want to continue to grow and be competitive at a championship level,” Force said. “Guys like Jon Schaffer and Tim Fabrisi, as well as new hires Ronnie Thompson and Nick Casertano, will keep us young and on the cutting edge.”

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INDIANAPOLIS — The first Indy 500 victory for Josef Newgarden also was the richest in race history from a record 2023 purse of just more than $17 million.

The two-time NTT IndyCar Series champion, who continued his celebration Monday morning at Indianapolis Motor Speedway earned $3.666 million for winning the 107th running of the Greatest Spectacle in Racing.

The purse and winner’s share both are the largest in the history of the Indianapolis 500.

It’s the second consecutive year that the Indy 500 purse set a record after the 2022 Indy 500 became the first to crack the $16 million mark (nearly doubling the 2021 purse that offered a purse of $8,854,565 after a crowd limited to 135,000 because of the COVID-19 pandemic).

The average payout for IndyCar drivers was $500,600 (exceeding last year’s average of $485,000).

Indianapolis Motor Speedway owner Roger Penske, whose team also fields Newgarden’s No. 2 Dallara-Chevrolet, had made raising purses a priority since buying the track in 2020. But Penske but was unable to post big money purses until the race returned to full capacity grandstands last year.

The largest Indy 500 purse before this year was $14.4 million for the 2008 Indy 500 won by Scott Dixon (whose share was $2,988,065). Ericsson’s haul made him the second Indy 500 winner to top $3 million (2009 winner Helio Castroneves won $3,048,005.

Runner-up Marcus Ericsson won $1.043 million after falling short by 0.0974 seconds in the fourth-closest finish in Indy 500 history.

The 107th Indy 500 drew a crowd of at least 330,000 that was the largest since the sellout for the 100th running in 2016, and the second-largest in more than two decades, according to track officials.

“This is the greatest race in the world, and it was an especially monumental Month of May featuring packed grandstands and intense on-track action,” Penske Entertainment president and CEO Mark Miles said in a release. “Now, we have the best end card possible for the 107th Running of the Indianapolis 500: a record-breaking purse for the history books.”

Benjamin Pedersen was named the Indy 500 rookie of the year, earning a $50,000 bonus.

The race’s purse is determined through contingency and special awards from IMS and IndyCar. The awards were presented Monday night in the annual Indy 500 Victory Celebration at the JW Marriott in downtown Indianapolis.

The payouts for the 107th Indy 500:

1. Josef Newgarden, $3,666,000
2. Marcus Ericsson, $1,043,000
3. Santino Ferrucci, $481,800
4. Alex Palou, $801,500
5. Alexander Rossi, $574,000
6. Scott Dixon, $582,000
7. Takuma Sato, $217,300
8. Conor Daly, $512,000
9. Colton Herta, $506,500
10. Rinus VeeKay, $556,500
11. Ryan Hunter‐Reay, $145,500
12. Callum Ilott, $495,500
13. Devlin DeFrancesco, $482,000
14. Scott McLaughlin, $485,000
15. Helio Castroneves, $481,500
16. Tony Kanaan, $105,000
17. Marco Andretti, $102,000
18. Jack Harvey, $472,000
19. Christian Lundgaard, $467,500
20. Ed Carpenter, $102,000
21. Benjamin Pedersen (R), $215,300
22. Graham Rahal, $565,500*
23. Will Power, $488,000
24. Pato O’Ward, $516,500
25. Simon Pagenaud, $465,500
26. Agustín Canapino (R), $156,300
27. Felix Rosenqvist, $278,300
28. Kyle Kirkwood, $465,500
29. David Malukas, $462,000
30. Romain Grosjean, $462,000
31. Sting Ray Robb (R), $463,000
32. RC Enerson (R), $103,000
33. Katherine Legge, $102,000

*–Broken down between two teams, $460,000 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, $105,500 Dreyer & Reinbold Racing/Cusick Motorsports

NHRA: John Force’s new crew chief just 27 years old

Winner Josef Newgarden earns $3.666 million from a record Indy 500 purse of $17 million