John Fernandez Biography
John Fernandez
CGRFS Managing Director
Personal Statistics
Birth Date: December 12, 1948
Birthplace: Gloversville, N.Y.
Residence: Mooresville, N.C.
Marital Status: Married to Donna
Children: Jessica and Jonathan |
John Fernandez had impressive employment credentials in the mechanical and racing industries before coming to Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates (CGRFS) in 2006. Always interested in the two professions, Fernandez was employed by Chrysler right out of college in 1972. After taking a short break from the racing scene, he joined Carroll Shelby to convert Dodge technology into high-performance products. Shelby Automobiles Inc. started a race team to promote a new product, placing Fernandez behind the wheel. At first, he was not only the second driver, but the chief mechanic, the crew chief, the shock specialist, tire changer and gas man.
Fernandez and the Shelby team won a few championships in the Sports Car Club of America’s (SCCA) Showroom Stock Division A. Then, around 1990, Chrysler called Fernandez and asked him to return to help them on another new project, a small concept car known today as the Neon. He developed, raced in, and won in the Neon ACR (American Club Racer), also creating his own team which won several championships in the Neon ACR. Around that same time, Fernandez was assigned to develop the second-generation Viper, and he created the Performance Vehicle Operations (PVO) Group. Today, the group is better known as SRT (Street and Racing Technology), which designs and develops Dodge’s high-performance street vehicles.
In 2002, Fernandez began heading up Dodge Motorsports and all its racing entities. For the first time in a long time, Fernandez had to put his team in park, as he now had multiple teams to oversee and manage. Those teams included the Dodge Intrepid in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series and the Dodge Viper in the European FIA GT2 Championship, which claimed three world titles under his watch.
After serving 35 years at Chrysler and a successful run with its motorsports program, Fernandez had done everything he could ever want or hope to do for the organization and was looking for a change. That’s when CGRFS came into the picture. The team announced in August 2006 that he was joining the organization to serve as the Managing Director of its Concord, N.C., racing operation. He is now responsible for supervising all aspects of team operations in Concord and plans to make all the employees at CGRFS the driving force behind upholding the team’s mission statement of being the most admired team in motorsports who consistently wins races and competes for championships. |
