| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Full name | Charles David Walter |
| Born | (1971-06-10)June 10, 1971 (age 53) Albion, New York, U.S. |
| Sport | |
| Country | United States |
| Sport | NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series |
| Team | 77.Spire Motorsports |
Charles David Walter (born June 10, 1971) is an American NASCARcrew chief who works forSpire Motorsports as the crew chief of their No. 77Chevrolet Silverado in theNASCAR Craftsman Truck Series driven byAndrés Pérez de Lara.
Walter landed his first crew chiefing job in2005, calling the shots forHendrick Motorsports' No. 5 Busch Series team with driversKyle Busch,Jimmie Johnson,Adrián Fernández,Kyle Krisiloff, andJustin Labonte in 2005 and2006. He had previously worked as an engineer for Hendrick as well asDale Earnhardt, Inc.
Walter was the crew chief for the No. 24Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet in the Busch Series in 2007, working with driversCasey Mears andLandon Cassill. In 2008, when Hendrick's Nationwide team merged intoJR Motorsports, Walter moved to JRM. Since the No. 24 team was shut down as part of the merger, he became crew chief of the No. 5 car, replacing Mike Bumgarner, who remained with Hendrick.
In late February 2008, he was suspended for six races for having an illegal rear spoiler in the opening inspection onDale Earnhardt Jr.'s racecar. He was fined $25,000 and placed on probation until December 31, 2008. He resigned fromJR Motorsports in July 2008 before the race atIRP.[1]
After not working for any team for the remainder of 2008, he joinedPenske Racing's No. 12 Nationwide Series team as the crew chief for rookieJustin Allgaier for the2009 season. They did not win any races that year, but they finished sixth in points. The duo remained together in2010, and they did score their first win at the springBristol race. Allgaier finished fourth in points and was the highest finishing Nationwide Series regular in the standings.
Due to sponsorVerizon leaving NASCAR after 2010, the No. 12 team could not find enough sponsorship, and Allgaier left forTurner Motorsports for2011. However, Walter remained with Penske and continued to crew chief the same car when it was fielded part-time forSam Hornish Jr. Hornish would run twelve races that year, picking up one win atPhoenix towards the end of the season. Additional sponsorship was found after they scored that win, which enabled the team to go back to full-time in2012. Despite finishing fourth in the standings, Hornish went winless.
Walter left forMichael Waltrip Racing in 2013 to work as an engineer. He returned to crew chiefing when MWR fielded a third part-time car, the No. 66, for ownerMichael Waltrip,Brett Moffitt, andJeff Burton, who joined MWR fromRichard Childress Racing after semi-retiring.
When MWR closed down after2015, Walter was picked up byTommy Baldwin Racing to work on their No. 7 car as the head of engineering.[2] However, TBR would also go on to close down (after2016), leaving him without a job again.
According to his LinkedIn profile, Walter joinedRichard Childress Racing as an engineer in 2017, where according to Racing-Reference, he also served for one race atTalladega as the interim crew chief forDaniel Hemric's No. 21 Xfinity Series team. After one year with RCR, he moved toDGR-Crosley starting in 2018, where he also served as an engineer.
Before the 2019 season, Walter was supposed to be the car chief forTy Gibbs' No. 17 team in theK&N East Series for DGR-Crosley, but ahead of the season, he was given another hefty suspension, this time for illegally testing in January of that year. His L-6 suspension was originally indefinitely,[3] but the team appealed and the suspension was reduced.[4] It is unclear when exactly he was reinstated by NASCAR, but after returning, he served as the engineer forTyler Ankrum's No. 17 team in the Truck Series.[5]
Walter returned to crew chiefing in 2020, leaving DGR-Crosley to joinGMS Racing to work on their new No. 26 truck, driven by Ankrum after he also left DGR.[5] In 2021, GMS switched Walter and their No. 24 crew chief Charles Denike, with Walter becoming the crew chief of the No. 24, now driven byRaphaël Lessard, and Denike becoming the crew chief for the No. 26 of Ankrum.[6]
He left GMS to be the crew chief forOur Motorsports' new No. 27 car in the Xfinity Series in 2022, driven byJeb Burton.[7]
Walter returned to GMS Racing in 2023 to be the crew chief forRajah Caruth in the No. 24 truck.[8]
GMS closed down after the 2023 season and Caruth and Walter moved toSpire Motorsports in 2024 to drive and crew chief the team's new No. 71 truck, respectively. They won their first race together atLas Vegasin March.[9] In 2025, Spire moved Walter from Caruth's No. 71 truck to their No. 77 truck, driven by rookieAndrés Pérez de Lara, thedefending ARCA Menards Series champion. He replaced Jason Trinchere as crew chief of the No. 77 truck, who left to crew chief forHaas Factory Team on their No. 41 car driven bySam Mayer in the Xfinity Series.[10]
Walter attendedCornell University where he joined the Formula Society of Automotive Engineers' race car design team. His design team won the national championship twice, enhancing his love for racing. He is married to Sherry Walter.[citation needed]