GM Racing - Dayne Pierantoni Profile

Dayne Pierantoni
GM Racing Program Manager for the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series

Mooresville, NC - November 1, 2005 - Since 1999, Dayne Pierantoni has served as the GM Racing Program Manager for the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series (NCTS). Under his guidance, Chevrolet Silverado teams have won 55 of a possible 166 races to date, two NCTS manufacturers' championships and four driver championships.

As a youth, growing up in Ephrata PA, Pierantoni developed an interest in racing.

"I have been interested in racing ever since I was a kid," said Pierantoni. "I can remember listening to the Indy 500 on AM radio when I was about 8-9 years old. My parents weren't ever into racing it's just something that has always intrigued me. I became friends with a guy in high school who was racing motorcycles. He invited me to go with him to the races one weekend and I have been racing ever since."

That trip to the race track started Pierantoni down the path of a career in racing. He began racing motorcycles and for 10 years he divided his time between racing virtually every thing on two wheels and continuing his education.

"I raced motorcycles for about 10 years or so," Pierantoni explained. "I primarily raced flat track but also some enduros, hare scrambles, drag racing and about anything that we could race when we weren't flat tracking. That was really my passion. I didn't really know anyone racing on 4 wheels, all of my friends raced motorcycles so I never really had an opportunity to try karts or cars."

Although he had been bitten by the racing bug and spent as much time as possible on the seat of his motorcycle, Pierantoni was also applying himself to getting an education. After graduating from DeVry Institute of Technology with a degree in electrical engineering, he moved to Texas to complete his MBA at Texas A & M University. Shortly after that, his interest switched from two wheels to four wheels.

"In 1993 I met Nick Ollila who was and engineer at Penske Racing," Pierantoni continued. "At that time he was one of the few engineers in NASCAR racing. He took the time to show me some of the things that he was working on, in particular their new data acquisition system. That was all that it took. I decided right then that I would find a way to adapt my engineering and racing background to NASCAR racing."

Bahari Racing tapped Pierantoni in 1994 as an engineer and team manager.

"Bahari was a tremendous opportunity for me to expand my experience," Pierantoni explained. "I worked on a number of different things. On the technical side - anywhere from data acquisition to working with chassis simulation tools - to aero development. I was responsible for developing and taking the car through NASCAR's approval process. I was a spotter and I worked with sponsors and helped to put together a multi-million dollar sponsorship which combined the marketing programs of several companies."

GM Racing recognized the talent and leadership capabilities of Pierantoni as the 1999 racing season was winding down.

"I went to GM Racing in the fall of 1999 as the program manager for the Chevy truck program which I have been doing ever since," Pierantoni continued. "What I really enjoy is being able to work on pretty much any aspect of our program or with my race teams and have a good understanding of what is going on. Having been on the team side I can work with the engineers, the crew chief or team owner and can relate to their situation. I really like the business side of racing but I also enjoy keeping up with what is going technically because at the end of the day what happens at the race track is all that really counts.

"In 2003 we had really wound down our support for the truck series. So 2004 was exciting from the standpoint of basically starting our truck program nearly from scratch. We began our Key Partner program for the truck series where we began a common aero development program, a shock program and shared setups between our partners. I believe that this gave us a good foundation for 2005.

"The 2005 season has been a lot of fun. We really came out strong leading a lot of laps and contending for wins every week. Then we won the third race and six of the next eight races including five wins in a row. We also had Dennis Setzer on a hot streak winning four out of seven races. Overall, we have had ten wins with five different trucks, which I think says a lot for the strength of our program." Looking ahead, Pierantoni believes the best is yet to come for Chevrolet Team Silverado in the NCTS.

"We are working on our 2006 and beyond program right now," Pierantoni concluded. "Once again I would like to have a core of four solid teams and drivers and possibly a couple of driver development teams which could help to fill the pipeline for some of our NEXTEL Cup teams down the road. There will be some changes in our lineup, which is a typical part of this business. Jack Sprague has moved on to another team leaving a hole to fill. Our Goodwrench sponsorship is also up at the end of this season so we have a few opportunities which are being addressed. We have put together a solid plan and are expecting to work out the details within a few weeks."

Pierantoni, his wife Susan and their children Brooke and Blake live in Mooresville, North Carolina. His hobbies include riding dirt bikes with his son, sailing, water skiing, shooting sporting clays, and camping with the entire family.

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