Driver, crew chief deal with deaths

Pete Iacobelli

Thursday, June 15, 2000 | 8:26 a.m.

MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. - George Church was ready to join driver PJ Jones' Busch series team as a consultant, which would have kept him close to racing but not involved full time.

But when Jones' crew chief, Christian Lovendahl, died last month in an auto accident, team owner David Ridling turned to Church, a former crew chief.

Church took the job, but not without a lot of thought.

See, he had already endured what crew members in racing fear most, a fatal crash by their driver. In this case, the driver, John Nemechek, also was Church's best friend.

"I didn't know if I wanted to deal with that again," Church said.

Church worked for Nemechek's NASCAR truck series team in 1996 and 1997. The combination worked well, on and off the track. The crew hung out together, and Church went to Nemechek's home for cookouts.

"It was a lot more than just a crew chief-driver relationship," said Church, who is preparing Jones' car for Saturday night's Myrtle Beach 250.

Church's voice still cracks a little when talks about the 1997 crash at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Shortly after Nemechek died, the shop closed down, and Church lost a job and a family.

"To this day, when Papa Joe sees me, he says he can still see me and John back there working on the truck," Church said, referring to Nemechek's father. "I think it brings them a lot of pain. They almost care for me too much, you know?"

So, Church wasn't sure he could walk into such a painful situation again.

"No matter how long ago it happened, you never forget. Never," he said.

But he met Jones - feeling plenty of his own pain - and they quickly established a camaraderie.

"It seemed like we were on the same page," Jones said. "It was a difficult time for both of us."

Jones, a Busch rookie who won the 1988 IMSA 24 Hours of Daytona teamed with his famous father, Parnelli, had also dealt with tragedy on the race track. His brother, Page, seriously injured his head in a sprint car crash at Eldora Speedway in Ohio six years ago.

Jones said his brother has improved, but still needs rehabilitation.

"As successful as I might become, I would trade it all for my brother to fully recover," he said.

Because of the quick closure of Nemechek shop, Church said he and other crew members never got the chance to fully share their grief. He let his new team know that he understood their pain and was feeling his own.

"But I didn't want that to be an excuse," he said. "They are no longer here."

Jones was close to Lovendahl, the 27-year-old nephew of Winston Cup star Mark Martin, but knew he needed someone to lead the team through the difficult times ahead.

"It was a tough two weeks," Jones said.

What he found in the 45-year-old Church was a confidante as determined as himself to succeed in racing.

"He's fit right in," the driver said. "When we were hurting, George stepped right up."

Now, it's on to racing.

Church says Jones has as much feel for a car as anyone he's worked with - even at the Winston Cup level, where Nemechek's brother, Joe, is a winner.

"I worked with Jimmy Spencer, and he would tell me it feels loose and to just fix it," Church said. "PJ can tell you what's happening and where the problems are. He believes in me and I believe in him."

Jones ran seven races this season for BACE Motorsports before moving to his current ride.

Slowly, Church and Jones believe things are turning around on the track. The team's best finish, 17th in Loudon, N.H., came in the last month. Despite an engine problem in Dover, Del., and an overheating problem last Saturday night in South Boston, Va., Church thinks the team is ready to break out.

"I'm looking for a top 10," he said of the race at Myrtle Beach Speedway, a tricky half-mile track.

Despite the volatile nature of the business, Church and Jones hope to be together for some time.

"If we mess this up, we're kind of stupid because it's something special," Church said. "We have that Evernham-Gordon relationship.

"Look what happened when that broke up."

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