DOUG RICHERT - 06/14/1960
was a crew chief in the NASCAR Cup series. He started out working for Rod Osterlund as a 16-year-old in 1976. He'd gone to High School in San Jose with Osterlund's daughter who dated one of his friends, who was interested in racing. Doug got interested in building dirt cars because his friends were, and one thing lead to another. In late 1976 he got the chance to move east with Roland Wlodyka who was forming a Cup team, initially living in a trailer on the property at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Osterlund bought the team in late 1977, and campaigned it with Dave Marcis in 1978, followed by Dale Earnhardt who went on to win the NASCAR Cup Rookie of the Year (now Monster Energy Nascar Cup Series) in 1979. In May 1980, Crew Chief Jake Elder left the team, and Richert who was still 19, replaced him. Richert may have inherited the job in the beginning, but he earned it fair and square when he went on to win the Championship with Earnhardt. Midway through 1981 Osterlund sold his team to J.D. Stacy, and Earnhardt moved to Richard Childress Racing taking Richert with him. At the end of 1981 Doug left to take a position with Junior Johnson.
From 1984 to 1986, Richert was the Crew Chief for Neil Bonnett in the #12 Budweiser car, but the pair didn't produce any wins. He looked for work in 1985, and only was a crew chief part time from 1986-1990. He headed up the teams of Phil Parsons (1993), and Joe Nemechek (1994). In 1995, he led Ron Hornaday in the Truck series in 1995 to six wins, and third in the points. 1996-2000 saw him again as a part time crew chief swapping from the Xfinity to CUP series. In 2003, Richert assume the crew chief duties from Randy Goss for driver Greg Biffle. The two stayed together for three more seasons, and produced ten wins. 2005 saw them win six times and finish second in the points. 2007-2011 saw Richert as a part time crew chief once again with drivers such as Brian Vickers, Regan Smith, Todd Bodine, Robbie Gordon among others. None of these efforts produced any wins. In 2012, he returned full time leading up the BK Racing team and driver Landon Cassill. 2013 saw him finish out the season as crew chief for David Reutimann after Pat Tryson was let go. The following season he led the efforts of a part-time entry for BK Racing. Various drivers raced the car for 12 events; but none of them were able to finish in the Top 10. BK Racing hired driver Matt DiBenedetto to drive for them in 2015 and paired him with Richert. They did not qualify for two races and had a season best finish of 18th. In 2016 Richert was promoted to Director of Research and Development. During 2016 and 2017 he often served as a crew chief also for a rotating group of drivers that included Joey Gase, Gray Gaulding, Corey LaJoie, Stephen Leicht, Brett Moffitt and Ryan Sieg. After seven seasons with BK Racing as a crew chief and Director of Research and Development, Richert announced he was leaving the organization. "I love the sport of motor racing," Richert told Motorsport.com. "It's all I've done my entire life. But the time had come to move on. Richert left BK Racing before the 2018 season, and became the crew chief for the No. 78 Mason Mitchell Motorsports team in the ARCA Series. However, MMM shut down mid-year, leaving him without a job until he quickly reunited with Max Tullman (one of the drivers he crew chiefed in ARCA that year) after he started his own new Xfinity team, Tullman-Walker Racing.[6] Richert and Tullman went to Carl Long's MBM Motorsports team in 2019, and there he crew chiefed Tullman in the races he ran with them along with some other drivers as well. For his career Richert has 13 Cup series wins. Three wins with with Dale Earnhardt Sr along with the 1980 Cup series Championship; - and the rest with Greg Biffle; where he captured back to back Southern 500 wins. It is believed Richert is the youngest crew chief to even lead his driver to a Cup Championship being only 20 years old at the time.
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