OXFORD — Crew chief Shane Tesch learned from a young age that all the money in race car driving went to the people outside of the driver’s seat.

“If you’re driving, it costs money,” Tesch said. “But if you’re willing to give up the driving piece, you can make a living at it. You’ve got to hustle at it and stay busy, but it’s like anyone that’s self-employed: if you’re not moving, you’re not making money.”

Tesch is in his first year as crew chief for Hallowell’s Johnny Clark, who will be racing for his second Oxford 250 victory Sunday at Oxford Plains Speedway.

Tesch’s responsibilities include prerace tune-ups and repairs, constant headset communication during the race, repairs in pit lane, and postrace vehicle assessments. Clark called Tesch his right hand in racing.

“I’ve really come to realize this year that after 30 years of doing this, sometimes I’m just completely wrong with what I feel like I need,” said Clark, who won the Oxford 250 in 2020. “Sometimes I think that I’m looking for straightaway traction, but if you leave the corner with a lot of wheel input, you can see that at some point, that grabs and makes the rear end come around.”

Clark also said it’s helpful to pass off car maintenance duties to someone else so that he can manage the four locations of his family’s business, Clark Scrap Metals.

“I’ve always worked on my own cars,” Clark said. “This is my 30th year racing, so I’ve always worked on them, or been part of it. It’s hard for me, because I’ve been kind of the man in charge for so long. It’s hard for me to put that trust in somebody else.”

Tesch was thrown off the deep end working with Clark at the Oxford Plains Speedway season opener in April, after Clark’s vehicle suffered extreme damage from a head-on collision with the race leader on Lap 1.

“The first race of the year at Oxford, in a heat race, the leader spun out and drove right back into the field of the cars, trying to save it, and hit us head-on and stuffed us in the outside wall,” Tesch said. “That probably did $15-20 grand of damage. Being that was Lap 1, you’re full of fuel, so when you go into the wall full throttle with 22 gallons of fuel, it wants to keep moving, so it bends the back half of the car that didn’t even hit anything, so both ends got wrapped.”

Shane Tesch demonstrates the use of a spring-load machine, which ensures that the load on each spring is optimal, on Wednesday at Oxford Plains Speedway. Tesch is the crew chief for Johnny Clark. Andree Kehn/Sun Journal

Tesch, with his background as a mechanic, is capable of getting Clark’s car back into racing condition even when there’s extensive damage.

Tesch is a native of Chaska, Minnesota, and lived in North Carolina for 18 years before moving to Maine in 2020 to start a Port City Racecars location in South Paris.

He began working on race cars in the 1990s, and since then has worked with NASCAR’s American Speed Association (1999-2004), Richard Childress Racing, Roush Racing, and local short-track teams.

Naples driver Derek Kneeland also has NASCAR experience, as a spotter, including this season for Kyle Busch. His work includes traveling to races, and this week he’ll be at the NASCAR Xfinity race in Daytona on Friday, and the Cup Series race with Busch on Saturday.

Kneeland joked that he will be racing in Sunday’s Oxford 250 on about an hour of sleep, but said he is excited to burnish his reputation as a racer rather than as Derek the spotter.

For Kneeland, car repairs are typically done by him and his father, Jeff Kneeland, at their shop. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, longtime friend Nick Brown will come in and help.

At the Pierson Heating and Cooling 150 at Oxford Plains on Aug. 6, Kneeland finished fourth despite major damage to his transmission. Two bolts that hold a box in place in the transmission broke after he changed gears, and it was too late in the race to make a repair. Instead, he took the shifter and linkage off the transmission and put the car into high gear from underneath the vehicle, with the clutch still intact.

That level of mid-race troubleshooting required him to get parts from North Carolina, on a tight deadline before the Oxford 250.

“Those (pieces) actually came in yesterday,” Kneeland said Wednesday at Oxford 250 media day, “we finished the car last night, and we’re loaded and ready to go. I actually didn’t expect them to come in until (Wednesday), I thought we would be grinding today, because I have to be in Daytona tomorrow morning. I thought that tonight would be when we would be finishing it up, but we finished it last night.”

Kneeland said that it’s well-known that drivers win races in the shop more than on the track.

“When you get to the track, it should be the least (amount of) work that you’re doing, until you get in the car and you’re actually racing,” Kneeland said. “If you’re having to do body pieces or changing rear ends, or changing right front spindles, anything of the mechanics of the race car, if you’re having to do any of that stuff at the track, then it’s probably not going to be a great (race).”

Norway driver Kate Re also works with her father, Rick Re, on repairing her vehicle during the season. Her shop is located across the street from Oxford Plains Speedway, which is important because she’s racing without a backup car this weekend.

Kate Re said that repairing her own car and learning about auto mechanics has made her more comfortable in her car.

“I know how to get the guys feedback, or the adjustments and things like that, especially coming into 250 weekend,” Re said. “It’s good to know your car inside and out, gives you that advantage where some of these guys don’t get to spend as much time in the shop as some of us do. It gives you that little bit more of an edge.”

Re said that any repairs to her car during qualifying will need to be completed quickly to keep the 20-year-old vying to earn a spot in the 250 for a fourth time.

“We’ve had parts and stuff ready to go with the shop, if needed,” Re said. “Our shop is actually right across the street, so it’s all close. Everything’s here if needed.”

Replacement parts are an expensive but necessary part of racing. Tesch said that as a crew chief with experience, he knows when and where to find a bargain. He also knows when a repair is vital and how to diagnose an issue correctly.

“The average guy, he’d spend a fortune trying to cover all that, so when I come in, I can already steer you, I’ve done that,” Tesch said. “You just kind of save them money by your experience, you don’t need them parts. It’s shiny, fancy, but that doesn’t make you win.”