Chad Cypert: A Different Kind Of World Of Outlaws Rookie

Chad Cypert (Tyler Carr photo)

GRAND FORKS, N.D. – Garet Williamson isn’t the only rookie to the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series in the Fischer Motorsports organization.

For team crew chief Chad Cypert, better known in the pit area as “Chaddy,” it’s a lifelong dream realized. He put in the time and effort, worked his way up, and finally made the climb to calling the shots on a team with the Outlaws this season.

Cypert comes from California and was born into a racing family. He shares a hometown with eight-time Northern Auto Racing Club champion LeRoy Van Conett and looks at the “Dragon from Galt” as one of his heroes.

A childhood spent in sprint car racing put Cypert on his own path in the sport.

“It’s what my dad did for a living, he was a race car mechanic,” Cypert recalled. “We always had race cars at my house growing up. He won the 1990 USAC championship with Steve Butler in the Johnny Vance Aristocrat car. He was the crew chief on that. When I was a little kid in California, we had the Wright One Construction car at our house. Tim Kaeding drove it and Jonathan Allard and Roger Crockett. That stuff was always at my house for years and years.

“Me and my brother, we used to get checked out of school every Friday, semi-truck and trailer, Featherlite with the rig right in front of the school. Got to go to the “dentist” again. We used to go every week growing up. I played sports and stuff too, but (racing) was always there. It always felt like it’s what I was supposed to do.”

Cypert learned the ropes from his father before eventually branching out. His first job on his own was working on Dave and Debbie Vertullo’s No. 83V in the late 2000s on the west coast.

The driver of that car? Some teenager named Kyle Larson.

Cypert’s career expanded into roles in the Midwest throughout the 2010s, and his first stint working with Williamson came in 2020 with BPM Motorsports, a connection Williamson was eager to make.

“He was (Jonathan) Cornell’s crew chief,” Williamson said. “I remember growing up being from Missouri watching the 28 win everything, and obviously Chaddy was the crew chief for that. I wasn’t running Sprint Cars yet, and it wasn’t really a thought. Obviously, I always wanted to go race sprint cars. Then the opportunity came, and everything got serious pretty quick and I needed a crew chief.

“And I was like, ‘Man, if I could ever get Chaddy that would be pretty cool,’ and things all worked out. In 2020 we got Chaddy to go on the road with us.”

The two wound up going their separate ways, but with Williamson and the Fischer team gearing up for a World of Outlaws run in 2025 and “Chaddy” looking to do the same, the stars aligned for a reunion.

“D-M-J (Dennis Moore Jr.) was ready to come off the road, and I wanted to run the Outlaw deal, and how often do you get an Outlaw team five minutes from your house?” Cypert said. “So, I hopped on with them after I finished out my obligations that I promised the Heidbreders. We ran all the way through the Hockett, and then I went right to the 23 team and just took over that once they got done with the California swing with the Outlaws.

“I talked with Garet a lot and Dennis a lot, and we all just agreed it would be a good fit. It’s where I ended up and what we’ve got going right now.”

It's been a tricky journey at times. Cypert may have been involved in the sport for more than a decade, but he also considers himself a rookie of sorts, since it’s his first year turning the wrenches on a World of Outlaws team. He’s seeing many of the tracks on the calendar for the first time, just like Williamson.

“We’re both going into these places open minded,” Williamson said. “We have nothing to lose. We’re both going into it trying to absorb as much information we can. We’re trying to unload the best we can and go from there. With the Outlaws it’s a little bit tougher because you’ve got two laps to figure out your whole night. It’s hard to pass these guys. They’re the best in the country for a reason.

“That part is definitely tough, but I feel like we’re tackling it well together.”

Despite some challenges, it’s been a successful season for the team. Williamson recently took the top spot from Chris Windom in the chase for the Kevin Gobrecht Rookie of the Year among one of the most competitive classes ever. They followed that up with a top 10 finish in the NOS Energy Drink Knoxville Nationals presented by Casey’s in what was Williamson’s first championship feature as a driver and Cypert’s first as a crew chief.

They’ve pieced together 10 top 10 finishes in the last 16 races. The home stretch of the season is almost here, and they’re clicking at the right time.

“It’s awesome,” Cypert said of Williamson leading the rookie points. “I tried to tell the boys and car owners at the beginning of the year to not even look at points until after Knoxville. There’s no reason to stress over them every night. It’s a long year. We’re both basically rookies at the same time because I haven’t been to 50 percent of these tracks either, so it’s just trusting each other and working on our stuff.

“We both just agreed that what we want to do is obviously we want to win Rookie of the Year, but most importantly we want to work as hard as we can, make every show, and earn the respect of our peers and prove that we belong more than anything,” added Cypert. “If Rookie of the Year happens, that’s awesome. If it doesn’t, we know we gave it our all, and that’s all we can do.”

Williamson, Cypert, and the entire Fischer Motorsports crew continue the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series campaign this weekend in North Dakota at River Cities Speedway on Friday, Aug. 22 and Red River Valley Speedway on Saturday, Aug. 23.

Every lap of the World of Outlaws sprint car season is available to watch with a DIRTvision subscription.