German New Chief Technical Officer At MWR

Michael Waltrip Racing announced today it has hired Tom German as Chief Technical Officer for the NASCAR Sprint Cup organization.

German has spent nearly 15 years with Penske Racing most recently serving as technical director for Penske’s NASCAR teams. German will begin his duties after the Feb. 24 Daytona 500.

The highest-ranking technical position at MWR became available when long-time MWR Technical Director Nick Hughes informed MWR he would return to his native Australia some time in 2013. Hughes joined MWR in 2008 creating and managing one of the best engineering staffs in NASCAR.

“This is such a bitter-sweet announcement for MWR,” said MWR founder and co-owner Michael Waltrip. “It is so rare that a person of Tom German’s experience and education comes along, period. It is even more remarkable that he became available at the perfect time.

“Nick has done such an amazing job and has become one of the most respected behind-the-scenes guys in NASCAR. The depth in our engineering department, the leadership that (Executive Vice President of Competition) Scott Miller has brought to us and now the addition of Tom German gives me so much confidence in the technical future of MWR. Every day is a new challenge and I am so proud of the team we have assembled to make those challenges opportunities.”

German received his Master’s degree in business administration from the MIT Sloan School of Management and his Bachelor of Science in mechanical engineering from the University of Akron.

“The first thing that attracted me to MWR was the culture of its employees. It is truly striking at first,” said German. “After the first conversation it was obvious the ownership has committed to engineering excellence and that was the deciding factor. I can’t wait to contribute to MWR’s pursuit of a NASCAR Sprint Cup championship.”

Hughes will remain in the United States through this summer and will maintain a close relationship with MWR as a consultant over the medium term.