Champion Crew Chief: Sly Szaban
Fourth Tour Title Was A Unique Experience
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Stanley “Sly” Szaban earned his fourth NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour title in 2013, but this one was a different experience for the veteran crew chief.
Szaban was the crew chief for first two, and the most recent, of Mike Stefanik’s seven tour titles. With Stefanik’s extensive résumé behind the wheel, Szaban often deferred to the driver’s experience when calling the shots. But Szaban’s fourth title came in his second season working with the now 23-year-old Ryan Preece. The difference in eras meant Szaban needed to take a different approach to reach the same goal.
“After working with Mike Stefanik – with 30 years of racing and all of the success he had – to be a part of all of that and then to take on a new and younger driver, you pretty much have to change your way of thinking and the way you do things,” said Szaban, who has now been with the No. 16 Flamingo Motorsports team for 10 years.
“I felt like it was kind of a different role [for me]. Mike had so much experience that I relied heavily on him for the things that we did. I rely on Ryan too, but not as much, because he doesn’t have 30 years of racing experience. So it was different, my mindset was different in the way that I did things just because of the two different situations.
“It was kind of neat to win with a young driver.”
Szaban, from Springfield, Mass., caught the racing bug early on. He still remembers his first ride to the race track at the age of eight when his father took him to the former Riverside Park Speedway in nearby Agawam, Mass. He was hooked from that initial experience, and remembers cheering for Bobby Stefanik – Mike’s older brother – in his younger years as he continued to go to the races with his father. He started attending races on his own at Riverside Park and Stafford and Thompson in Connecticut at age 16, and it wasn’t long before he transitioned from the grandstand to the garage.
Szaban went on to have a long association with the younger brother of his childhood hero. A track championship at Stafford in 1986 was Szaban’s first title with Mike Stefanik, then came the first two Whelen Modified Tour titles together in 1989 and 1991. The pair later reunited with Flamingo Motorsports and captured a third tour crown in 2006.
Stefanik parted ways with the No. 16 team toward the end of the 2011 season, and things immediately started to change for Szaban when Preece came aboard.
“I’m older and more conservative and Ryan is younger, more aggressive, and just goes after it,” Szaban said. “So I have to rethink how I do things because of how aggressive Ryan is. A lot of times I’m trying to slow him down and on the other side he’s trying to speed me up. The longer we work together the closer and closer it gets to reaching common ground.”
Whatever the natural differences may be, success hasn’t been hard to achieve. In 29 races the pairing has compiled six wins, seven poles, 20 top 10s and a pair of top-two championship points finishes.
Looking back on the 2013 season, Szaban points to the combination race at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway as the turning point. Although the team was penalized for a rules infraction following the event, Preece placed fourth while defending champ Doug Coby was the 15th Whelen Modified Tour finisher. It was a boost to the points as well as to the confidence of the team.
“At that point, Doug was kind of pecking away at the points,” Szaban said. “Even though we had a good day at Bristol, I had that point penalty. That was a mistake that I made as a crew chief. It wasn’t a team mistake, a driver mistake or an owner mistake, that was my mistake. So that definitely worked on me, but when we left Bristol – despite the penalty – I felt like that stopped our slide a little bit. So I said ‘Let’s put all of that behind us and look forward, and whatever happens, happens.’ For me, mentally, that was a turning point.
“Doug is such a strong competitor that I never totally felt like we had it locked up. I guess after Bristol, Doug had a bad day and we had a good day, and at that point my focus kind of changed to ‘We really do have a shot at this’.”
Among the most memorable moments of his fourth tour title, Szaban most fondly remembers the three-consecutive wins in the first half of the year at Stafford, Waterford (Conn.) Speedbowl and Riverhead (N.Y.) Raceway.
“First of all, winning three races in an entire season is huge in itself. I can’t even put into words what it meant for me and the team to win three in a row,” Szaban said. “In my wildest dreams I would never have expected to win three in a row on this tour that is so competitive.”
Szaban and the rest of the No. 16 East West Marine/Diversified Metals Ford crew will get a chance to celebrate their 2013 accomplishments on Saturday, Dec. 14 as part of the NASCAR Night of Champions Touring Awards ceremony in the Crown Ballroom of the Charlotte (N.C) Convention Center inside the NASCAR Hall of Fame.
Sources: Jason Cunningham/NASCAR WMT PR