CONCORD, N.C. -- Greg Ives was shocked when Alex Bowman and the rest of the No. 48 team revealed this year’s throwback scheme at Darlington Raceway would pay homage to one of his looks from his early days of racing.
The crew chief of the No. 48 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE was transported back to 1998 when the seafoam and grapefruit colors were unveiled, and he recalled the effort and time his family took to put him behind the wheel of his own race car.
“I grew up in a big family; I have six sisters and my brother is 17 years older than I am, so he was basically out of the house by the time I was coming into the house,” Ives said. “Most of my pit crew was my sisters and my brother so we had the best calligraphy tire notes you could possibly want.
"But it took a lot of sacrifice on their part for me to have a career in racing. A lot of good times, but you think of how much time, effort, money goes into racing and for them to be okay with me having all that attention and maybe for them having to sacrifice a little bit of their career, whether its basketball or high school sports just so I could race, it’s pretty cool.”
Ives’ father, who was his crew chief in his grassroots career, made the push for Ives to go to medical school. It was his mother who encouraged Ives to make the switch to engineering when she saw how adept and passionate he was around race cars.
“My mom was a big contributor to me pursuing my racing career. When I was going to be a pediatrician and or a surgeon, she suggested I take my talents to the racetracks and get an engineering degree,” Ives said. “The fire suit that Alex is going to be wearing was actually my first brand-new fire suit that my mom bought me.
“Usually, I had my brother’s hand-me-down suits and he’s about 5’7” or 5’8” and I’m 6’3”. At the time, I wasn’t 6’3” but you could definitely see my ankles on most of those fire suits that I wore. She bought me that fire suit, had it embroidered and it had my name on it, so it’s definitely truly special to have not only the car but something my mom contributed to my racing career with the colors and the racing suit.”
The unique scheme Bowman will sport when he takes the track Sunday also is a testament to Ives’ relationship with the 28-year-old driver. Bowman said Ives treats every member of the No. 48 crew as family and invests time to get to know each teammate, which is why honoring Ives was so important to him.
“Alex has said in the past he thinks of us as a family, like the team and the guys, and whether he is going through something big as a win or something as low as a crash, he relies on us to be part of that,” Ives said. “It means a lot. He could have used one of his paint schemes and he could have done something to dig back at what he grew up doing, but for him to put me first before himself is a big deal.”
The throwback race at Darlington Raceway will be on Mother’s Day this Sunday. The race will begin at 3:30 ET and air on FS1.