Legacy Motor Club announced the hiring of motorsports veteran, Chad Johnston as manager of race engineering. Johnston will focus on Legacy Motor Club’s engineering fleet within the competition department led by Brian Campe and Jacob Canter.
Johnston’s role at Legacy Motor Club starts immediately. “I am excited to join LEGACY MOTOR CLUB and start a new journey in my career and am thankful to Maury (Gallagher), Jimmie (Johnson), and Cal (Wells III) for this opportunity,” said Johnston in a press release. “I look forward to the challenges ahead and hope with my experience and knowledge I can help build LEGACY M.C. into a top-tier winning organization.”
The Cayuga, Indiana native has spent more than 20 years working in motorsports with stops at Chip Ganassi Racing, Gillett Evernham Motorsports, JTG-Daugherty Racing, Michael Waltrip Racing, Morgan-Dollar Motorsports and most recently at Stewart-Haas Racing.
During his career, he has collaborated with such drivers as Martin Truex Jr., Tony Stewart, Bobby Labonte, Harrison Burton, Jeff Burton, Kyle Larson, Matt Kenseth, and Kevin Harvick. In the thirteen seasons, he worked as a crew chief, his teams have driven in more than 400 races, with seven NASCAR Cup Series race wins, one NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series win, 70 top five and 140 top 10 finishes, as well as 11 pole positions.
Johnston’s driving career started in go-karts and then to dirt tracks of Indiana in open-wheel midget racing. He attended Indiana State University, and his interest changed from racing cars to engineering. During his senior year at Indiana State University, he had the opportunity to work at Smith Aerospace as a manufacturing engineer and helped develop Lockheed Martin’s F-22 Raptor fighter jet. “Chad is a great hire for us at Legacy Motor Club,” said Technical Director, Brian Campe.
“His decades of experience and extensive knowledge will make him a huge benefit to the CLUB. We have a lot of work to do this off-season and Chad’s expertise will help us accomplish our goals.” Legacy Motor Club is a professional auto racing club owned by businessperson and entrepreneur Maurice “Maury” J. Gallagher and seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson.
It competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series with the No. 42 Toyota Camry XSE of John Hunter Nemechek, the No. 43 Toyota Camry XSE of Erik Jones and co-owner Jimmie Johnson drives a limited schedule in the No. 84. NASCAR Hall of Famer and seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Richard Petty serves as the Legacy Motor Club’s ambassador.