CONCORD, N.C. -- Andy Papathanassiou is back for the second round of the "North Jersey's Greatest Male Athlete" challenge. The former crew athlete for Jeff Gordon’s No. 24 team blew past the first round of the bracket-style competition, winning 79% of the votes.
"The Bergen Record," Papathanassiou's hometown newspaper in New Jersey, is continuing the competition this week. Seeded fifth in the Icons Region, Papathanassiou will be going up against Craig Beardsley, a former swimmer.
Papathanassiou, who now serves as Hendrick Motorsports’ director of human performance, joined the organization before Gordon’s rookie season in 1993. He is credited with revolutionizing the way NASCAR pit crews operated. Instead of having pit crews as a group of individual operators, Papathanassiou created an environment that saw pit crews work as an athletic and cohesive unit.
“Because we turned into a very strong overall race team and Jeff was such an amazing driver and Hendrick Motorsports had everything in place, the pit crew got a lot of recognition,” Papathanassiou said. "Like everything in NASCAR, when you do something different and it produces an advantage, people start to copy."
After Gordon won his first championship in 1995, most pit crews were using the same techniques Papathanassiou implemented a couple of years earlier, which made him a big name on the NASCAR circuit and a hometown hero in New Jersey.
Before his run on the NASCAR circuit, Papathanassiou was an accomplished track and football athlete. He was the New Jersey shot put record holder for over a decade, played football at Stanford and still holds the Bergen County shot put record.
To vote for Papathanassiou in the "North Jersey's Greatest Male Athlete" challenge and see the field of competitors, click here. Voting in the second round starts April 23 and goes through April 24 at 7 p.m. ET.