JOHN "JOHNNY" KLAUSMEIER - 02/01/1981
grew up as a kid in the Baltimore area as a massive NASCAR fan. His family always got all-access passes for the races at Dover International Speedway; he was brought up around cars; the whole sport was in his blood. His family had a repair shop (Klausmeier & Sons) there on Bel Air Road in Perry Hall and cars had always been an interest to him. As he got older he would help out some guys up at Lincoln Speedway and at local tracks. All this is taking place during the evolution of technology in NASCAR, where engineering was becoming more and more important. So he decided to go to University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC) and get his mechanical engineering degree; hoping to get a job in the NASCAR industry as a race engineer. Jay Gerst had worked at the family's auto shop, and Klausmeier had helped him with his cars on weekends. Gerst was about 6 years older than Klausmeier, but he was already working in the business with Dale Earnhardt, Inc. Gerst was able to help Klausmeier get his own start in the sport. He started interning at Dale Earnhardt, Inc. while going to UMBC, In 2002, he would do a semester at school, then a semester down in Mooresville, North Carolina, at their headquarters. He just bounced back and forth until he graduated. When he graduated, they offered him a full-time position, so he
worked there for six years. Then when Dale Earnhardt Jr. left to go to Hendrick Motorsports, he saw the end was near for that company, so he moved over to Stewart-Haas Racing, Tony Stewart's team, when they started in 2009. So here he sat, atop the pit box calling the shots for the first time ever as a crew chief for SHR driver Kurt Busch. A week prior Busch's regular chief had been suspended for one race due to rules violations. So Klausmeier was called upon to lead the efforts for the race at Pocono. When they made their final pit stop they knew they were five laps short on having enough fuel to make it to the end. As the race wound down; he decided to gamble and see if they could stretch the fuel to get a much needed win. Busch would often cut the car off and coast to help save fuel. In the end Kurt was able to get the win, giving Klausmeier his first win as a crew chief, in his first ever attempt. It was the only race he called in 2016. Then in 2017 he was again called upon to lead up Kurt Busch's team when the regular crew chief was again suspended. Busch would go on to finish sixth in this race held at Watkins Glen. Then in 2018 Klausmeier would be called on to lead the efforts for a full season for driver Aric Almirola. Aric had several times when he almost won; but some unfortunate incident prevented him visiting victory lane. Finally at Talladega Almirola was able to get Klausmeier back in victory lane. They were a formidable pair and they posted 17 Top 10 results. The duo paired together in 2019 looking for improved success. Unfortunately the season proved to be a small step backward. They wasn't able to claim a win as they had the previous season having only one second place finish and three Top 5's. They had 12 Top 10's down from 17 the previous year. Klausmeier moved over to lead the efforts of Clint Bowyer in 2020. Bowyer and Klausmeier had a miserable year in 2020. His best finish was a second at Bristol. He only had one other Top 5 and only had twelve Top 10 finishes as season. Toward the end of the season it was announced that Bowyer's contract would not be renewed in 2021. Klausmeier will call the shots for the #14 car in 2021 with Chase Briscoe at the wheel; while Bowyer will go to word for FOX Sports as a Cup Series race announcer. Briscoe has always been a good little road racer, and posted his best results on them. He finished sixth COTA, and Road America. He had a ninth place finish at Watkins Glen. These were his only Top 10 finishes on the season. He spent most of the year finishing between 11th and 20th. He had 19 Top 20’s on the season. In their second year together Briscoe and Klausmeier's efforts began to bear fruit. They finished third as the season opened at Daytona. A sixteenth place run followed at Fontana before Briscoe crashed out at Las Vegas. Then in a surprise, Briscoe and Klausmeier put together a great run and won at Phoenix and locked themselves into the Chase. After that most runs saw them finish 15th or worse. But as the second half of the season rolled around; they began to show signs of improvement. When the Chase started they ran well enough to advance to the second round; and in that round finished no worse than tenth. In the semi-final round, a crash at Homestead left them going into Martinsville in a must-win situation. The car was good; but not good enough to win. A late race yellow saw the leaders pit; and Klausmeier had no choice to leave Briscoe out on old tires and hope for the best. When the final green flew; Briscoe was no match for the snarling pack behind him as they used their new tires to fire off the corners and bypass him. He ended up ninth when the checkers flew. Even though they missed making the final four to race for the Championship; the duo had shown they had figured out their issues. During the play-offs, eighth of their finishes were 14th or better; with six top tens. Things looked positive for 2023. Klausmeier and Briscoe worked together the first 14 races of the season. Following the Coke 600, NASCAR issued an L3 penalty on the #14 after a post-race inspection revealed a counterfeit engine panel NACA duct; as a result, the team was docked 125 owner and driver points and 25 playoff points, and Klausmeier was suspended for six races and fined US$250,000. In June, it was announced that Richard Boswell would be taking over for Chase Briscoe for the rest of the season, while Klausmeier would be moved over to the part of the company's vehicle performance group after his suspension was over. They had three top five and four top ten finishes in their 14 starts. As of the end of 2023, Klausmeier’s drivers have three wins in 193 starts. 19 Top five and 59 top tens.
All Photos copyright and are property of their respective owners