CONCORD, N.C. – Each Wednesday, a new edition of #MorningsWith airs live on the Hendrick Motorsports Twitter account, introducing fans to teammates all across the organization’s Concord, North Carolina, campus.
This week, we got to know No. 88 team crew chief Greg Ives.
From an early age, racing was instilled in the Bark River, Michigan, native’s blood.
Both his father and older brother raced throughout his childhood, and Ives knew he wanted to follow suit.
“We had a barn that went from holding cows and hay to holding racecars,” Ives smiled.
Like his brother and father, Ives starting his career in racing behind the wheel as a driver, but he soon developed a passion for the mechanical side of the sport. Working on cars and making the proper adjustments to make them run faster grabbed Ives’ attention.
“I love the art of coming home, making changes to the car and going back to the racetrack and feeling those,” the crew chief said.
Ives earned his mechanical engineering degree from Michigan Tech in 2003, and from that point on, he was “bound and determined” to land a job in racing.
He began his career with Hendrick Motorsports as a mechanic in 2004 and was offered an engineering position the following year. Ives initially declined the offer and stayed in his mechanic role for another year – wanting to learn more about the industry before eventually becoming a race engineer for the No. 48 team in 2006.
“I wanted to understand not just the car, but I wanted to understand the managing side of it,” Ives said. “I wanted to understand how the shop worked before I got into a role where I might have been interacting with the mechanics or the setup guys and didn’t understand what they went through.”
Here more about how Ives’ career with Hendrick Motorsports has unfolded in the full edition of #MorningsWith below – including his current role as the No. 88 team crew chief and how he feels heading to his home track, Michigan International Speedway, this weekend.