Terry Wilbert

Team Manager (driver assist on pit stops)

A member of GAINSCO/Bob Stallings Racing since its debut season in 2005, Wilbert was promoted to Team Manager prior to the 2007 season. He is responsible for the day-to-day and at-track operation of the team and its personnel.

Wilbert has worked in motorsports for more than 30 years and began as a mechanic in drag racing before moving up to the NASCAR Truck Series and IRL Indy Car competition. He has participated in five Indianapolis 500s and nearly won the race in 1998 with driver John Paul Jr. Wilbert has worked with other race-winning, second generation drivers such as Al Unser Jr., Casey Mears, Robby Unser and currently Alex Gurney. He was promoted to GAINSCO’s Crew Chief in 2006 before taking over the Team Manager position in 2007.

A native of Louisville, Kentucky, Wilbert, his wife Jean and step-daughter Saige, live in Highland Village, Texas.

Link Smith

Crew Chief (front tire changer on pit stops)

Smith is in his sixth season as GAINSCO/Bob Stallings Racing Crew Chief but brings more than 25 years of experience in motorsports and sports car road racing to the team, including wins in the Rolex 24 At Daytona, 24 Hours of Le Mans and the 12 Hours of Sebring. He took over the position in late 2006 when Terry Wilbert was promoted and was among the key personnel additions credited with winning the 2007 championship, Smith’s first full season with the team. He has managed the GAINSCO/Bob Stallings Racing crew ever since, including the team’s second championship season in 2009.

The son of former Dyson Racing Crew Chief Pat Smith, Link Smith began his career with his father’s team in 1985 as a Dyson crew member, winning the very first race he ever worked. Other sports car career highlights include winning the Rolex 24 with Dyson in 1997 and a taking a Le Mans win in 1998 with a Risi Ferrari 333SP. His GRAND-AM Rolex Series Daytona Prototype experience includes running Pontiac Crawfords for Rob and Chris Dyson and an all-star Rolex 24 team led by Dario Franchitti and Dan Wheldon in 2005. That same year, Smith led the crew that saw Mark Patterson and Oswaldo Negri make their Daytona Prototype debut at Laguna Seca. Ironically, it was that same 2005 race in which GAINSCO/Bob Stallings Racing also debuted.

Smith has been attending races since he was 10 and later drove shifter karts, midgets, sprint cars and motorcycles. A skilled shooter, Smith is active in the off season in the International Handgun Metallic Silhouette Association and Cowboy Action Shooting. He lives in Lewisville, Texas nearby the GAINSCO/Bob Stallings Racing shop with his wife Tina. The couple has two daughters.

Eric Crowder

Data Acquisition and Shock Specialist (fuel “dead man” on pit stops)

Eric Crowder is in his eighth season with GAINSCO/Bob Stallings Racing and has been with the GRAND-AM Daytona Prototype team since its inception. Among his duties as Data Acquisition Specialist is the critical task of managing fuel mileage and capacity during races. He has a spot on the team’s six person “war wagon” during races to maintain close contact with the drivers and his fellow engineers, but he does leave his post during pit stops to operate the fueling system’s “dead man” safety valve. 

He also serves as the team’s Shock Absorber Specialist and manages all team radio communications, including the important crew to driver radio interface. Prior to entering sports car competition with GAINSCO/Bob Stallings Racing, Crowder worked on several race and championship-winning teams in Toyota Atlantic Championship competition. 

The first race he worked in a professional capacity was a 1996 Toyota Atlantic Championship event at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Crowder is a graduate of the Russell Racing mechanic training program.

Personal: Single… First race he ever attended as a fan was an IMSA Camel GT event at Portland International Raceway in 1985… Enjoys trail running, electric cars, photography and computers. 

Bob Chambers

Truck Driver

Bob Chambers is in his second season with GAINSCO/Bob Stallings Racing as the team’s truck driver and also serves as a race weekend tire assistant. He has worked in sports car racing since debuting with Team Corvette at the 1999 Rolex 24 At Daytona, the year after he retired from the Indianapolis Fire Department. 

He most recently worked with Riley Technologies and was part of that team’s GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series championship effort in 2005 with SunTrust Racing, a winning season that also produced a victory in that year’s Rolex 24 At Daytona. Prior to that, he worked as a truck driver and fueler on the factory GM Cadillac LMP program that raced at Le Mans in 2000.

Personal: Married to Carolyn for 46 years and the couple has two grown children… First race ever attended was the 1955 Indianapolis 500 at the age of nine.

Bryan Howard

Tire Specialist

Bryan Howard has been part of GAINSCO/Bob Stallings Racing for eight years and currently serves as team tire specialist. He is one of the few members of the crew that worked for the team before it entered the GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Series in 2005. Then known as Blackhawk Motorsports, Howard began working on the open-wheel race cars driven by then driver and team owner Bob Stallings in 2002. 

He was part of the 2004 Formula Atlantic National Championship effort the team won with Stallings and stayed with the team when it stepped up to the Rolex Series the following season with GAINSCO’s entry into GRAND-AM Daytona Prototype competition.

Personal: Married to Lisa and the couple has two teenage daughters.

Ted Schlote

Mechanic and Gearbox Specialist (air jack and inside rear tire changer on pit stops)

Ted Schlote first worked with GAINSCO/Bob Stallings Racing in 2006 and returned to the team in 2010, serving on both occasions as the team’s gearbox specialist and an “over-the-wall” tire changer and air-jack man. He will also serve as the team’s backup fueler in the 2012 season, a position he has also held before with the team. In between his stints with GAINSCO, Schlote worked two seasons for Galles Off Road Racing, serving as a Crew Chief on a Class 1 Buggy in the SCORE Off Road Series, including competing in the legendary Baja 1000. 

He also served as the Crew Chief for a Galles SCCA Corvette team in addition to assisting GAINSCO in the 2008 Rolex 24 At Daytona. Early racing experience included working for the Galles Racing Indy Car effort, a championship and Indianapolis 500 winning team, with drivers Al Unser Jr., Casey Mears and Didier Andre in 2001. Schlote has also served as Crew Chief for an Outlaw 360 non-wing Sprint Car. 

Personal: Married to Brenda for 25 years and the couple owns several show horses that have won World and Reserve World Championships… Other family pets include two Catahoula hound dogs and an Australian Shepherd… Avid trap shooter with an AA ranking… Has worked at Galles Chevrolet in Albuquerque for 20 years, currently as Shop Foreman.

Ryan Heller

Mechanic (outside rear tire changer on pit stops)

Ryan Heller is in his first year in 2012 with GAINSCO/Bob Stallings Racing and serves as a mechanic and outside rear tire changer on pit stops. He comes to GAINSCO most recently from top GRAND-AM Continental Tire Challenge entrants APR Motorsport where he was a lead technician, car chief and fabricator in support of the team’s VW GTIs.

Heller helped APR finish third in the 2011 Street Tuner (ST) championship. He made his professional debut as a mechanic and lead fabricator for Momentum Race Group in the Continental Tire Challenge race at Miller Motorsports Park in Utah in 2010.

Personal: Single… First race ever attended as a fan was SCCA Trans-Am at the Reunion Arena street circuit in Dallas in 1993… In addition to earning a Bachelors Degree in Automotive Restoration from McPherson College in 2010, Heller’s education included an internship at the Mercedes Classic Center, in Fellbach, Germany, in 2009, where he maintained vintage race cars and sports cars… Attended the 2009 Monaco and German Grand Prix races as well as the 2009 24 Hours of Le Mans… Hobbies include SCCA Autocross, go-karts and downhill mountain biking.

Derrick Park

Mechanic (front tire assist and sign board on pit stops)

Derrick Park is in his second season with GAINSCO/Bob Stallings Racing and is a team mechanic in addition to handling the sign board and assisting with front tire changes on pit stops. He joined GAINSCO most recently from the Primus Formula Ford 2000 team where he worked as a race mechanic and driver coach. Park began his professional motorsports career as a mechanic in 1999 in U.S. Formula 2000, and his first race was at Phoenix International Raceway

He has spent more than a decade working with several Texas-based Formula Mazda, Pro Formula Mazda, Formula Continental and Formula Ford teams. Previous sports car racing experience came in 2007 and 2008 as a mechanic and driver assistant with RISI Competitzione and its American Le Mans Series (ALMS) and 24 Hours of Le Mans Ferrari F430 GT campaigns. The team won the 2007 ALMS GT2 championship with wins in eight of 12 races, including the 12 Hours of Sebring, and followed it up one year later with a victory in the 2008 24 Hours of Le Mans. As a driver, Park has won Southwest Division SCCA Regional Championships in Formula Continental and Formula Mazda and he still competes in SCCA regional competition today in Formula Continental.

Personal: Recently married to Kristi in December, 2011… Has a Bachelor’s Degree in Physical Education with a minor in Mathematics from Texas A&M University, class of 1985… Tried out for the baseball team and was a 1983 football team walk-on under coach Jackie Sherrill while at Texas A&M… Also holds a Texas Secondary Education Lifetime Teaching Certificate in Physical Education and Mathematics… Has worked 19 years as a High School Mathematics Teacher and Coach in recent years… First race he ever attended as a fan was the 1992 NASCAR/ARCA Shootout at Texas World Speedway… Has volunteered for the past six years at the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo on the transportation committee.