Racing Career
Hammond's NASCAR career began in 1974 as a tire changer for Walter Ballard, but soon moved to the jackman position. He served on the crew for three championship seasons between Cale Yarborough and Darrell Waltrip. In 1982, Hammond was promoted to the crew chief position at Junior Johnson Motorsports for Darrell Waltrip and Waltrip won his second consecutive championship. Hammond and Waltrip became the top driver-crew chief combination in NASCAR, winning 43 races during the eighties including the 1985 Winston Cup championship. Hammond followed Waltrip to Hendrick Motorsports, where they won the 1989 Daytona 500.
In 1991, Waltrip and Hammond formed Darrell Waltrip Motorsports, where the combination clicked again, but in mid-1992, Hammond left after a win at Pocono Raceway when car owner Felix Sabates named him to work with Kenny Wallace for the 1993 season. Hammond teamed up again with Waltrip in 1997, but the two were unable to recapture the magic of the '80's. In 1998, Hammond joined Roush Racing as the crew chief for Chad Little. The combination was an immediate success. Despite failing to qualify for the spring race at Atlanta Motor Speedway, Little finished second at the Texas 500, and had a career high 15th place in the championship standings. Hammond stayed at Roush Racing until the end of the 2000 season, including a stint where he was crew chief for the first six races for Kurt Busch, before leaving after he was hired to work at Fox Sports.
Hammond has worked with four NASCAR champions in his career—Cale Yarborough (a mechanic), Darrell Waltrip (a crew chief for two of the three), Terry Labonte (1987 for a few races), and Kurt Busch (2000 in his first races).
Read more about this topic: Jeff Hammond (sports Broadcaster)
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