FRANK "FRANKIE" KERR - ?/?/?
Kerr started his career in quarter midgets when he was six. At 15, he moved to big block Modifieds and toured through his native Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware for the next seven years until he discovered Sprint Cars. For Kerr, it was love at first ride. He won four track championships at Eldora Speedway, four All-Star championships and five Ohio Speed Week championships. He collected over 250 trophies and been inducted into the Pennsylvania Sprint Car Hall of Fame. After Kerr’s children were born, his search for stability led him to the NASCAR Cup Series where he has been a crew chief since 2005. Kerr's first start as a Cup crew chief was with Shane Hmiel (son of crew chief Steve Hmiel). In 2007 he led the crew chief position for David Reutimann for owner
Michael Waltrip; however he did head up PJ Jones, who started the two road course events that season instead of Reutimann. The following season he moved over to help Robby Gordon for ten races, and also worked with Marcus Ambrose who drove for the Wood Brothers in six events. Ambrose took a full time Cup ride in 2009 with JTG-Daugherty Racing, and Kerr went with him. The duo posted six Top 5 finished in two seasons. 2011 saw Ambrose go to Richard Petty Motorsports, and JTG-Daugherty hired Bobby Labonte to replace him. The pair kicked off the season with a fourth place finish in the Daytona 500, but it would be all downhill from there as it would be their only top five finish. In 2012 Kerr only had one race as crew chief as he led David Reutimann at Phoenix. 2013 saw him hired by Bob Jenkins to head up the full time efforts of David Gilliland. Gilliland would finish second at Talladega as he and team mate David Ragan paired up to push to the front and get Ragan an upset win in the Aaron's 499. The following season Gilliland had a best finish of 17th, coming at Pocono. Kerr moved to work for Richard Petty Motorsports in 2015 and driver Dakota Armstrong in the Xfinity series. They had a best finish of 6th in the July Daytona race. 2016 saw Kerr moved to work for owner Mark Smith and TriStar Motorsports; and he started off the season with driver David Starr for the first seven races. He had a best finish of 17th before Smith made a crew chief swap and moved Kerr over to his other drivers JJ Yeley for the remainder of the season. They posted three Top 10 finishes and finished 14th in the points. Smith moved Kerr back up to the Cup Series in 2017 and paired him with driver Cole Whitt. They posted a best finish of twelfth at Indianapolis; but mostly due to 18 starters crashing out. The only other two finishes they had better than 20th came at Daytona and Talladega. To make matters worse; while the Cup series was at Bristol Kerr had the race car fall on him and it fractured his sternum. Less than 24 hours later Kerr was back at the track ready to call the shots for that nights race. They had four Top 20 finishes. Tragically Mark Smith would die during the 2017 season from cancer. His son Bryan assumed ownership of TriStar Motorsports. The team acquired a NASCAR Charter and raced full time in 2018. Kerr split duties calling shots from Cole Whitt and Corey LaJoie as they both wheeled the #72 car. Whitt had a season best finish of 19th at Texas, while Lajoie had a best of 16th at Las Vegas. It was the only two results better than 20th all year. In 2019, Kerr spent most of his time working with Natalie Decker. She was a new driver in the trucks and struggled to learn how to drive the heavy vehicles fast. In 19 starts, Natalie had a best finish of 13th at Las Vegas. She had six finishes in the Top 20. She did not finish eight of the races due to crashes. On January 28, 2021; Live Fast Motorsports, NASCAR’s newly formed team to join the Cup Series, announced that Frank Kerr would join the team as a crew chief. McLeod made a surprisingly good run at Daytona in August, finishing ninth. His next best finish was 22nd at Texas. Being a newly formed team, the team didn’t expect much success their first year; but rather used it as a learning experience to prepare for 2022 when the NextGen car was introduced. Kerr led the efforts of several different driver in 2022. Stefan Parsons made the most starts under Kerr as they paired together for 12 events. The duo had a best finish of eighth at Bristol. It was the only top ten finish any of the drivers had. Some of those drivers included Josh Bilicki, Julia Landauer, and Sage Karum among others. In 2023, Kerr again led a series of drivers in the Xfinity series. Rajah Caruth and Jeffery Earnhardt made eight starts each, while Sage Karem made seven. But it was the lone start made by Caesar Bacarella that produced the lone top ten finish of the season. The pair finished sixth at Talladega. In 2024, Kerr led driver Brennan Poole in the Xfinity series, as they worked for owner Tommy Joe Martins. This is a low funded team, but usually runs mid-pack and their drivers keep the cars clean and avoid accidents. The season started the first five races saw a worth finish of 20th. They had a great run at Talladega as Poole brought the car home with an impressive fifth place finish. Their only top five on the year. When the series returned to Talladega, they finished ninth. They posted 20 top 20 finishes, and seven runs inside the top 15. They only failed to finish three races all season; once because of a crash, and twice because of mechanical failures. It is not known as of now what Kerr's plans are for 2025
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