GREGORY C "ZIPPY" ZIPADELLI - 04/21/1967
an American crew chief in NASCAR. Zipadelli began his career in the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour series, becoming the crew chief for his family's team and immediately winning a championship with driver Mike McLaughlin in 1988, at the age of 21. When McLaughlin advanced to the Busch North Series in 1990, Zipadelli joined him, winning five races during the pair's four-year tenure together, and claimed another championship in 1997 as the crew chief for Mike Stefanik. In 1999 he joined Joe Gibbs Racing, partnering with Indy Car Series champion turned NASCAR rookie Tony Stewart. Their accomplishments include the 1999 Rookie of the Year title, winning a rookie-record 3 races, and finished fourth in the Cup points. In 2000 the duo won on six occasions and again posted 12 Top 5 finishes. Stewart won three more times in 2001 as Jeff Gordon beat out Stewart for the Cup Championship. 2002 would see Stewart only win twice but they duo would claim the Cup championship by beating Mark Martin by 38 points. 2003 and 2004 saw the pairing of "Smoke" (Stewart) and "Zippy" (Zipadelli) continued
to produce multiple wins as he won twice both seasons. In 2005 they upped their game winning five times including a win at the Brickyard 400. They also would claim their second Cup championship. The following year they won five times again, but inconsistent finishes saw them miss the Chase. In 2007 Stewart again would win the Brickyard 400 and an additional two races; and he would finish sixth in the points. 2008 was the final year Stewart and Zipadelli teamed together. The Stewart/Zipadelli combination lasted from 1999-2008. Those ten years produced at least one win every season; and they made the Chase every season - finishing in the top seven in points eight times. They also claimed the Cup championship twice (2002 & 2005) and 33 race wins. In 2009 Stewart joined with Gene Haas to form Stewart-Haas Racing. Zipadelli stayed at Joe Gibbs racing to lead young driver Joey Logano for the next three seasons. Their first year together produced a win and three top five finishes. The next two season they only posted 11 top five finishes. 2012 saw Zipadelli leave Gibbs to go to Stewart-Haas racing to be the competition director and oversee Danica Patrick's part time Cup season. He is still currently the competition director at Stewart-Haas Racing. Greg Zipadelli has been called into duty several times in 2020 and 2021 to fill in for crew chiefs on suspension. He served as crew chief in 2020 twice for Clint Bowyer and one in 2021 for Kevin Harvick. He also was the crew chief for Chase Briscoe four times in 2020. Three of those races they went to victory lane. Zippy climbed aboard the top of the pit box on one occasions in 2023. He filled in for regular crew chief Jonathan Toney at Sonoma, when he had been suspended one race. Custer started 26th and worked his way through the field to come home with a sixth place finish. For his career as crew chief, Zipadelli posted 34 career Cup wins; the Brick Yard 400 twice, and the Cup Championship twice.
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