Roush starting to scale back: Having achieved nearly everything
he'd wanted in his racing career, [Jack Roush] the 71-year-old captain
of industry prefers to revel in others' success in the dusk of his
NASCAR career. "There aren't so many firsts left for me, but I've not
lost my passion for competition or my desire to operate at the top of my
game," the founder of Roush Fenway Racing told USA TODAY Sports. "I
just look forward to enjoying vicariously the success of drivers winning
their first race or championship, and the crew chiefs and engineers
able to share in those firsts. It's less about me and more about being a
parent or a grandparent to them."
Once the Sprint Cup Series' quintessential hands-on team owner, Roush
quietly is moving toward the sidelines. After a quarter-century of
owning stock-car teams that have 314 wins in NASCAR and two
championships in its premier series, Roush still works seven days a week
but doesn't set his alarm for dawn anymore. He no longer spends 90
minutes before every race tinkering with each of his cars' carburetors,
which have been excised from stock-car racing by electronic fuel
injection. The mechanical wizard & has been marginalized somewhat by
advances in technology. The survivor of two plane crashes has eased
into a role he jokingly labels as public and human relations manager.
"I've gone from wanting to be the mechanic that I hoped everyone else
would be to now I'm the point-and-grunt guy," Roush said with a laugh,
"hopefully, I'll become less viable before I'm gone. The challenge is to
give up the management and decision-making at the right time." Within
the next five years, the plan is he won't attend every team meeting or
race anymore, scaling back to spend more time with five grandchildren
who range in age from 8 months to 12 years old.
"He's trying to empower the folks running the team on a daily basis,"
team president Steve Newmark said. "I suspect that is sometimes hard for
him, but he's doing it of his own accord, which is great because you
see a lot of patriarchs that hold on for too long and don't leave the
company in a good state. He's focused very much on making sure the
company continues regardless of the level of his involvement." So is
there a clear plan for the enterprise once Roush steps away? "There's no
written plan," Newmark said. "We'll welcome his leadership as long as
we can get it."Read much more at USA Today.(7-11-2013)
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