Recently, I had the chance to talk “mechanics” with Charlie Langenstein, mechanical director and shop foreman for StarCom racing. He told me stories from his Hendrick Motorsports and IndyCar days and gave details on what it’s like being a mechanic. We even had the chance to discuss how a small team like his is preparing for the next-gen Cup Series car set to debut in 2022.
As with any job, you have to start somewhere. Charlie’s start came when he was young and his father raced. “I grew up around race cars, my dad had race cars and when my dad retired from racing, we used to help a couple guys,” he told me. “I was still in high school, even before high school, I used to work on racing teams and a lot of times I moved away during the summer. I moved to New Jersey and worked on a race team and when school started up, I moved back. I’ve always been involved with racing all my life…”
So how did he end up as a mechanic in NASCAR? “I had a really successful career in dirt modifieds and sprint cars and just about all the types of racing in the northeast…actually in a couple hall of fames, but I had a real successful career as a crew chief up there.” But there was yet another path to take before arriving in the NASCAR realm. “I actually started working on IndyCars for a couple years. During high school I took the whole month of May off my senior year and went to Indianapolis and worked on an IndyCar team… driver’s name was Larry “Boom Boom” Cannon. 1980 Indy 500.” Don’t worry, Charlie got his diploma.
Fresh out of high school, Langenstein wanted to continue to pursue a career in IndyCar. However, there were some issues out of his control. “At the time, I was probably going to head that direction, but there was a bunch of teams that were going out of business and the market got flooded with people… a lot of guys were engineers. I was fresh out of high school, I didn’t have an engineering degree, so I just decided at that point to look at moving south and doing NASCAR.”
Charlie went to BH Racing in the Busch Series after that and then moved to Hendrick in the 2000 season. “I was actually the mechanical director at Hendrick on Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson’s cars and won five championships in a row with Jimmie Johnson and I got hurt on the job and they basically retired me. There’s no hard feelings, my son still works there.”
So how does Hendrick compare to StarCom? [about being a mid-pack driver] “I kind of embrace it. I like what we’re trying to do here. We’re trying to build a program and we’re trying to build it to be a big program… I like the challenge of taking this little team and working with these guys… and working hard with Derricke [Cope]… to build this organization into a big player someday.” [Hendrick] “When you have 500 people, everybody’s a specialist. You have your guys that build the bodies, you have the guys that build the chassis…at StarCom, we gotta do all of it. Everything you do, you gotta be very versatile.”
When discussing StarCom, Charlie said: “I’ve been here almost since the beginning…there’s one or two guys who have been here longer than I have.” He explained what it’s like being a member of a small team. “The biggest difference is the amount of people… I just love working here; Derricke and wife Elyshia, they provide us with a great shop and great working conditions…”
We even talked about the next-gen car for a bit. I asked Charlie how they were going to split time between the current car and the new one. “We’re still talking about how we’re going to approach that. Me, personally, I’ll probably have my hand in both,” he said. “We’re looking to take delivery of our first [next gen] car in May or June…we’ll have some testing in October and November…come mid-season we’ll have to branch a guy or two off and start focusing on the next gen car.”
Check out the podcast here and follow Charlie and StarCom racing on twitter, and while you’re at it, follow me as well!
Motor Max 