FONTANA, CA -- Managing a repair shop and being a full-time Mom is enough to fill up anyone's schedule, but Donna Gaylord still manages to find time to work as a full-time crew chief on one of the most popular cars running in the Winston West Series.

About 15 times a year, Donna takes command of the brightly colored orange and white #00 Oliver Chevrolet driven by her husband, the 1998 NASCAR Winston West Most Popular driver, Scott Gaylord. The Gaylord's have witnessed the change in the NASCAR Winston West series as advanced technology, rising costs for parts and equipment and intense competition has forced budgets to rocket skyward.

Although the Gaylords lack the big budgets that some of the newer teams are entering the Series with, they do have experience and Donna is as qualified a crew chief as Scott is a driver. The Gaylords are down to earth, working extraordinarily hard doing their best and representing what NASCAR once was. Ask anyone of their fans and they will tell you that the Gaylords are racing the way they remember racing to be and all are looking for this talented duo to translate their efforts to a win.

RacingWest: What do you like about the California Speedway?
Donna Galylord: It's a great track, and Scott seems to love the speedways, if we can find an engine he'll be real good there.

RW: What do you dislike about the California Speedway?
DG: The fact that the race weekend actually takes place on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, this makes it real tough for volunteer crews and lower budget teams like ours.

RW: What time do you think it will take to make the show at California Speedway?
DG: Fast

RW: Since the Winston West is running the same weekend as the Busch and Cup series, there may be some drivers from those series cross over and run with the Winston West. What is your position on these drivers from other series racing with the Winston West?
DG: No doubt they do take some spots away from the regular Winston West drivers, the same thing happens to those drivers when Cup runs on the same weekends, funny how they complain and do the same to others! But everyone is in the same boat we will all just have to be fast off the trailer.

RW: Fontana is the fastest track on the WW circuit. Do you feel that your team will have the horsepower to run up front?
DG: If we had available to run one of our regular DC Engines I would say yes, definitely, but we don't at present and really are concerned about that right now.

RW: It will probably be quite warm at Fontana what do you do as a driver to prepare your self for the heat and fatigue of running under those kind of conditions?
DG: Scott has always handled the heat well as long as there are no outside fumes entering the cockpit, and 100 laps is not that long of a race for Scott, he would prefer a 500 mile event.

RW: Does your team have a good down force car ready for Fontana?
DG: Who knows, as we will be doing the best with what we are dealt.

RW: Has your team been practicing pitstops? If so how is their progress coming?
DG: Our crew comes from all over and often are different people, we always manage to hold our own in that area, which has been lucky cuz practice is not a possibility.

Source: RacingWest
Posted: 4/23/99