NHRA world championship tuner Lee Beard will be returning to the upcoming U.S. Nationals in Indianapolis Aug. 30-Sept. 3. 

However, Beard will not be the wrench boss for any driver. Instead, Beard has been hired by FOX Sports to be a Technical Analyst starting with the U.S. Nationals. 

“I’m excited about this,” Beard said. “My job will be focused on crew chiefs and their team of technicians. I will be talking about the people, the strategies, the set-ups, and the challenges that they are faced with.” 

Beard, who retired from drag racing in 2017, now lives in Silverthorne, Colo. He has experience to draw from the U.S. Nationals as he won the event three times as a crew chief – twice in Top Fuel with Ed “The Ace” McCulloch (1992) and Cory McClenethan (1996) and once in nitro Funny Car with Whit Bazemore (2001). 

Beard tuned the late Gary Ormsby to an NHRA Top Fuel title in 1989. 

In 1992, Beard won a world championship as team manager of Larry Minor Motorsports when Cruz Pedregon captured the nitro Funny Car title. He also was the team manager at Don Schumacher Racing when Tony Schumacher was the Top Fuel champ in 2009. 

During his decorated career, Beard amassed 55 NHRA national event wins with 12 different drivers in Top Fuel and Funny Car. Beard is the only crew chief in the NHRA to win national events in Top Fuel and Funny Car with 12 different drivers. Six of those were first-time winners.

The Mountain Motors are coming to NHRA U.S. Nationals #nhra https://t.co/nMobAo95Xg

— Competition Plus (@competitionplus) August 27, 2018