Gary Nelson (NASCAR) - NASCAR Crew Chief

NASCAR Crew Chief

Nelson was born in Elgin, Illinois on June 5, 1953, the sixth child and second son of Mildred Ollendorf and Arnold Nelson. Arnold moved his family to Redlands, California one year later to get out of the cold. Nelson left school in the 11th grade and years later got his GED.

Nelson started in the racing business cleaning up the shop for San Bernardino, California driver Ivan Baldwin. Later became a crew chief for Darrell Waltrip, and the team won at Nelson's first race as a NASCAR crew chief in Darlington in 1977. Nelson was the crew chief for two wins for driver Bobby Allison in 1982, and their team finished second in season points. He was the crew chief for several other wins, including the 1985 Pepsi 400 with Greg Sacks and the 1986 Daytona 500 with Geoff Bodine and Hendrick Motorsports. He also was the crew chief for Kyle Petty in 1990 for Felix Sabates Racing He had been a winning crew chief at every track on the NASCAR circuit when he moved on to other things.