Billy Albini

SprintCarUnlimited.com continues its list of the Top 25 Crew Chiefs since 1990 with California’s Billy Albini. The No. 24 crew chief on our list played a part in Brent Kaeding becoming a National Sprint Car Hall of Fame driver and is considered to be one of the best to turn a wrench on the West Coast.

Accomplishments: Albini and Kaeding joined forces with car-owner Bob Miller in 1988 and hit their stride in a hurry. The tandem eclipsed 25 wins in 1988 and 1989 and kept the victory parade going through the 1990s and mid-2000s. With Albini in the pit area, Kaeding won three Dirt Cup titles in 1991, 1996, and 1999 and added four Trophy Cup wins in 1996, 1998, 1999, and again in 2005. One of the biggest wins in Albini’s career came when Kaeding started 13th in the Mini-Gold Cup and defeated the World of Outlaws. The Albini-Kaeding express finished with a resumé that includes over 150 wins since 1990, nine NARC King of the West Series titles, and 11 King of California crowns.

Did You Know: We could talk about the start of the 1989 season in which Albini helped Kaeding win three early World of Outlaws events — two of which came in Texas and Oklahoma — and led the point standings before heading back to California to race. Instead, the more impressive thing about Albini had nothing to do with stats. He suffered from throat cancer and spent the last 20 years of his life eating and drinking through a feeding tube. Not only did Albini, who succumbed to the disease a year ago, never miss a race, he was one of the most well respected and revered men in the pit area and continues to be a legend in California Sprint Car racing.

Why Here: If you help a driver to 150-plus wins, including multiple victories in the premier events in the region, you are pretty good. Albini helped Kaeding dominate the California Sprint Car scene for years and also beat the World of Outlaws on the road while dealing with a disease that would have put most people out of the game. That’s good enough to be among the elite crew chiefs in the sport, and he deserves a spot alongside his driver in the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame.

They said it: “He was quite the character and had a pretty sharp tongue. He was gruff at first, but once you got to know him, he was pretty soft hearted to a fault. It was pretty competitive back then, and people wanted his help. We would say, ‘Billy, what are you doing? Don’t tell them what we are doing.’ He was friendly, an open book. He spent the last 20 years not being able to drink or eat … the fact that it went that long and he was still helping, it showed you the heart that man had.” — longtime Brent Kaeding crew member and friend Billy Foland.

“We would’ve been a good team without Billy, but with Billy, we became a great team. More than anything, he had an innate ability to get so many different personalities to work together, have fun, and be successful.” — National Sprint Car Hall of Fame driver Brent Kaeding.