 Parrott in 1997 | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Born | Todd T. Parrott (1964-02-09)February 9, 1964 (age 62) |
Spouse | Billie Kiser-Parrott |
| Sport | |
| Country | United States |
| Sport | ARCA Menards Series /ARCA Menards Series East |
| Team | 67.Maples Motorsports |
Todd T. Parrott (born February 9, 1964) is an Americanstock car racingcrew chief who works forMaples Motorsports as the crew chief of their No. 67 car driven byRyan Roulette part-time in theARCA Menards Series. He is most well known for his long tenure as aNASCAR Cup Series crew chief atRobert Yates Racing crew chiefingDale Jarrett's No. 88 Ford. The duo won 27 races together as well as the1999 NASCAR Winston Cup Series championship.
Parrott also worked withErnie Irvan,Elliott Sadler, andDavid Gilliland while at Yates. Over his career, Parrott has also worked forPetty Enterprises,Hall of Fame Racing (which was in a partnership with Yates),Roush Fenway Racing,Richard Petty Motorsports (the successor team to Petty Enterprises),Tommy Baldwin Racing,Richard Childress Racing,Circle Sport,Leavine Family Racing, andPremium Motorsports. Parrott won two races with Sadler in 2004, and his last two wins as a crew chief came withMarcos Ambrose at RPM in 2011 and 2012.
He last served as a crew chief in 2020 and at the time was one of the most successful active crew chief in the Cup Series with 31 career wins, behindChad Knaus (81 wins) andPaul Wolfe (32).
Parrott spent his early years working with his father Buddy, and brother Brad forDiGard Motorsports, andCurb Motorsports. Todd and Brad would then go to work for car owner and legendary drag racerRaymond Beadle and the Blue Max team under crew chiefBarry Dodson. Both brothers were crew members onRusty Wallace's1989 NASCAR Winston Cup Series Championship team. Following the disbanding of the Blue Max team after the1990 Winston Cup season the Parrott brothers would follow Wallace to the newly formedPenske Racing South, where Todd worked as a chassis specialist and tire manager, as well as a tire carrier during pit stops. Two thirds of the way through the 1992 season Todd and Brad would be reunited with their father Buddy, who was hired as Wallace's crew chief. Together they formed the core of the crew that won the1993 Unocal Pit Crew Championship, and 19 races between 1992 and 1994. Buddy departed at the end of 1994, while Todd would remain at Penske until October 1995, with Brad following Todd to Yates soon after.[1][2]
Parrott's first crew chief position was working withErnie Irvan in 1995 atYates Racing on the new #88 Ford for two races. When the No. 88 went full time in 1996, Parrott became the crew chief for Dale Jarrett, winning the 1999 Cup Series championship. After 2002, Parrott worked for periods with several Yates drivers including Jarrett,Elliott Sadler,Travis Kvapil, andDavid Gilliland.
In 2006, Parrott left RYR to crew chief the famous No. 43Petty Enterprises Dodge, driven byBobby Labonte, but returning to Yates during the season to work with rookieDavid Gilliland, who had just replaced Sadler in the No. 38 car.
After Parrott returned to RYR, he and Gilliland won the pole for the Talladega race. The pair remained together for the entire 2007 season. However, for 2008, Parrott was moved to the other Yates car, the No. 28 (formerly No. 88), withTravis Kvapil.[3] For 2009, Parrott was movedHall of Fame Racing, a satellite team to Yates Racing which switched from Toyota to Ford that year after previously having an alliance withJoe Gibbs Racing. HOF would begin operating out the Yates shop in 2009. The driver was Bobby Labonte, who Parrott reunited with after previously working with him in 2006, but once again, the duo failed to make it through a full season, and Parrott was replaced on the No. 96 car by Ben Leslie during the season. Both Hall of Fame Racing and Yates Racing would close down after the 2009 season due to lack of sponsorship, with Yates equipment and owner points being inherited byFront Row Motorsports.
Parrott remained in the Ford family in 2010, initially working the speedway program in the Research and Development department ofRoush Fenway Racing but quickly became Matt Kenseth's crew chief on the No. 17 after the2010 Daytona 500, replacingDrew Blickensderfer, who was reassigned toCarl Edwards' No. 60 car in theNationwide Series.[4] Midway through the season, however, Parrott was released, and he joinedRichard Petty Motorsports (which had an alliance with Roush at the time) starting atChicagoland Speedway as crew chief for Elliott Sadler's No. 19. After RPM reduced from four cars to two for 2011, he moved to the No. 9 team and driverMarcos Ambrose. Two-thirds through the 2012 season, RPM's teams switched crew chiefs with Parrott going to the No. 43 ofAric Almirola,[5] where he remained for 2013.
On October 17, 2013, it was announced that Parrott had been indefinitely suspended due to failing to meet NASCAR'ssubstance abuse policy.[6] He was released by Richard Petty Motorsports on October 21.[7]
On February 3, 2014, Parrott was named the crew chief of the No. 36 Chevrolet ofTommy Baldwin Racing,[8] driven byReed Sorenson.[9] On December 13, 2014, it was announced that Parrott would be the Competition Director forRichard Childress Racing in theNASCARXfinity Series.[10]Parrott was also named the crew chief on RCR's part-time No. 33 Cup Series car, working nine races for driversTy Dillon,Michael Annett, andBrian Scott. Parrott also substituted forLuke Lambert on the RCR No. 31 Cup car ofRyan Newman for six races, while Lambert served a suspension.[11]
Parrott began 2016 working five races on the No. 95 Cup entry ofCircle Sport – Leavine Family Racing, eventually being named full-time crew chief in October for driversTy Dillon andMichael McDowell. He continued in that position for most of 2017 as well.
In the 2018 season, Parrott moved toPremium Motorsports to crew chief their No. 55 car, where he reunited with Reed Sorenson. He also worked withRoss Chastain (on the No. 15 in one race),J. J. Yeley,Jeffrey Earnhardt,D. J. Kennington, andJesse Little that year. The No. 55 also switched numbers to the No. 7 during the season after Premium started sharing owner points withNY Racing Team, who previously used the car number by themselves.
After not crew chiefing for any team in2019, Parrott returned to the pit box in2020 as the crew chief forB. J. McLeod Motorsports in that team's first season in the Cup Series. After working ten races with the team, Parrott finished out the season withRick Ware Racing, crew chiefing for various drivers within the organization.
In 2023, Parrott became a crew chief for ARCA teamFast Track Racing and he crew chiefed their No. 11 car driven byZachary Tinkle full-time in the East Series and part-time in the main ARCA Series. He returned to crew chief Tinkle in that car in those series in 2024.[12]
Parrott is the son of formerRichard Petty crew chiefBuddy Parrott and older brother of formerCarl Edwards Xfinity crew chief Brad Parrott, who worked forRoush,Ganassi, andRusty Wallace Racing, among other teams. Brad twice served brief stints as crew chief forDale Jarrett in the Cup Series in 2003 and 2008.[13][14]
All of Parrott's career as a crew chief has been in the NASCAR Cup Series, except for when he was also the crew chief of the Yates Racing No. 90Busch Series car in2005 for five races, four with Elliott Sadler and one with Dale Jarrett.
