Crew Chief - Mike Shiplett
Mike Shiplett
Birthdate: May 17, 1972
Birthplace: Amherst, OH
Resides: Denver, NC
No matter what Richard Petty Motorsports' Mike Shiplett faces in 2009, he knows he can handle it after surviving all the challenges posed by the 2008 season.
He began his first -year as crew chief of the No. 10 (Now No. 43) Dodge in the 2008 with a car ranked outside the top 35 in owner points, a rookie driver, young team and forced to qualify for every race on speed. But the Ohio native used his more than 20 years of racing experience to turn the Richard Petty Motorsports team into a top-15 competitor over the final five races of the season and secure a top 35 position going in to Daytona.
Shiplett assisted the team in qualifying for 31 of the 36 races in the 2008 season. The team concluded the year with a pole at New Hampshire Motor Speedway -the 10 car's first pole in two years - led 11 laps and had four top 15 finishes. They also had three top five and five top 10 starting spots on the year.
Shiplett came to the team in 2000. Prior to that, he began racing on his own at Lorain Speedway and Sandusky Speedway around his hometown of Amherst, Ohio, when he was only 15 years old. He maintained and raced his own late model while also helping Jack St. Clair with an American Speed Association (ASA) team in 1990-91.
In 1995, Mike Shiplett stopped driving his own car fulltime and took a job with Liberty Racing out of Ohio. Liberty fielded a NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series team and Shiplett worked there with drivers Butch Miller and Kenny Irwin from 1995 to 1998.
In 1998, Shiplett made the move to North Carolina to be in the heart of stock car racing country. There he took his first car chief position with Butch Mock Racing.
In 2000, the team was preparing for its first season of NASCAR competition and Shiplett jumped at the chance to be associated with the up-and-coming Dodge team. He moved over from Ultra to work with Kenny Francis in building the No. 19 Dodge Team.
"Ray had everything in place for us to be able to do our best work," Shiplett said. "Even before we were a three-car Cup operation I saw the big picture. I knew where Ray wanted the company to be. He has structured it in such a way that it allows people to do what they're best at."
Since his move to Evernham Motorsports, Shiplett has served as car director on the No. 9 and 19 Dodge Chargers. After enjoying a highly successful 2006 Nextel Cup season with driver, Kasey Kahne that included six wins, Shiplett was tabbed to sit on top of the pit box in 2007, as crew chief for the No. 9 Dodge in the NASCAR Nationwide Series. He was promoted to crew chief of the No. 10 Dodge in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series in the end of 2007.
