Everyone in stock car racing dreams of being on a Daytona 500-winning team, but how about three wins in five years? For Tony Glover, that dream became reality in the early 1990s, and on this week’s episode of The Dale Jr. Download, he joins Dale Earnhardt Jr. and co-host Mike Davis to discuss the pieces of the puzzle that made it possible.

Glover has been a part of racing his entire life. He attended his first race at three weeks old. Tony recalls his earliest memory in racing, which consisted of his father Gene flying out of Cleveland Speedway in Tennessee. The trauma of seeing his father’s crash did little to deter his love for the sport though, and by his teenage years, Tony was cleaning parts and turning wrenches.

After spending many years on the road crew chiefing for his father’s late model program, which yielded the 1979 NASCAR Sportsman National Championship, Tony accepted a position at Petty Enterprises. Tony explains that the year he spent in Level Cross, North Carolina was the equivalent of a four-year college education. But, when his grandmother became ill in ‘83, he decided to move closer to home to spend time with her. As fate would have it, Larry McClure and Tim Morgan had just bought out G.C. Spencer and established their Morgan-McClure outfit in nearby Abingdon, Virginia and Tony was hired to work as part of the pit crew. 

Tony shares the story of how he became a crew chief for the team when Spencer, who had stayed on in the chiefing role, quit suddenly during the teching process at an event at Nashville Fairgrounds. This bumped Tony into the position and he remained there for the duration of his time with the outfit. They discuss the revolving roster of drivers Morgan-McClure had during the ‘80s, which included Lennie Pond, Tommy Ellis, Joe Ruttman and Rick Wilson. Tony explains that when Rick departed for RahMoc after ‘89, his choice to fill the seat was the hard charging Ernie Irvan. And while Phil Parsons would start the ‘90 season in the cockpit, after a few failed outings Irvan would eventually get the seat and help put Morgan-McClure on the map.

The Irvan-Glover combination was quite successful, bringing home seven Cup wins including the ‘91 Daytona 500, but would only last a few seasons as Irvan would depart for Robert Yates in ‘93. His replacement was a driver Tony was well acquainted with from his years in the late model scene: fellow Tennessean Sterling Marlin. The new pairing won in their first outing, the ‘94 Daytona 500. When they followed up with a back-to-back triumph in the Great American Race in ‘95, they had the entire NASCAR garage looking in their direction. 

Dale and Tony get into some of the innovation on the plate-track cars in the Morgan-McClure stable. Tony talks about the revolutionary X-pipe exhaust system that was brought to them by Boyd Butler, better known as Dr. Gas. The story of how they kept the technical advantage a secret is incredible, including a non-disclosure agreement and wrapping the car in blankets in the garage. Ultimately a crash photo on the cover of Stock Car Racing Magazine leaked the guarded secret to the world.

In ‘97, the desire to move up in rank and a little white lie from his wife convinced Tony to move on from Morgan-McClure and take a management position at SABCO Racing. Tony shares experiences from his years there.After a dismal season in 2011, Tony was released from the team and sought out a position at NASCAR through Mike Helton. In 2013, he became the overseeing technical director of NASCAR’s many touring series, a role he continues to fill today. 

DIRTY AIR:

·        NASCAR’s big weeked at Bristol 

·        NextGen parts failures

·        Dirty Mo Fan Experience recap

·        Chris Buescher’s big win

 

ASKJR presented by Xfinity:

·        Impressions about the 2023 NASCAR Cup schedule

·        Downtown Chicago’s worries about upcoming street race

·        SAFER barriers at North Wilkesboro

·        Brandon Jones to JRM

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