Chais Eliason

Pike Lake, Minn. — Chais Eliason was among the throng of fans pressing up against the glass that separated them from the Hendrick Motorsports team during Speedweeks at Daytona International Speedway in January 2011.

He peered into the garage area and took photos of NASCAR drivers Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon.

"I was thinking, 'How cool would this be?' " said Eliason, who lives just outside of Duluth, Minn., in Pike Lake. "All I had was glass between me and what I really wanted to do."

Little did Eliason know that just 18 months later he would be working on the other side of that glass as an intern for Hendrick Motorsports, and on Thursday -- Christmas Day -- he was to drive to Charlotte, N.C., to begin working full time for the most successful team in NASCAR.

"I still can't believe it, either," he said. "It's crazy to me. Even when I interned out there -- being in victory lane, being part of champagne celebrations, getting those victory rings -- it just seems so surreal to me."

Eliason, 24, graduated Saturday with a mechanical engineering degree from Michigan Tech. He starts work with Hendrick Motorsports on Jan. 5. He will be the third engineer on Johnson's team, working as a "right-hand man" to renowned crew chief Chad Knaus.

On race day, Eliason will keep track of a racing database. If Knaus makes a change on the car during a pit stop, Eliason will input the information into a computer.

The engineers keep track of adjustments and communicate directly via radio with Knaus, who communicates with Johnson and the rest of the pit crew.

"The engineers are constantly going back and forth with Chad, and then he tells the mechanics and the crew what he wants to do," Eliason said. "Sometimes it is seconds before the car comes in. It'll be 'four tires, four tires,' and then the car will come in, 'No, two, two, two! Go, go, go!' He'll call an audible based on what everybody else is taking because you want to get out first. It's high tension. There are a million things going on, but I love it. I'm so excited to get back there."

A Head Start

From about the time he could lug a lug nut, Eliason was spending time at the family business, Lakehead Clutch and Brake in Duluth's Lincoln Park neighborhood.

Eliason would clean and sweep. Years later, he was rebuilding clutches and taking apart brake shoes.

Grandfather Harry Eliason, who turned 74 on Tuesday, is retired but still visits the shop.

"I got to watch my grandpa, and that has inspired me more than anything else," Eliason said. "He is the hardest worker in the world -- and has the kindest heart. He is very strong in his faith."

A Racing Family

Harry Eliason and his brother John used to build engines for their brothers Jim and Gordy to race on the local dirt-track scene in the 1950s and 1960s. Chais Eliason's uncles, Troy Eliason and the late Todd Eliason, raced in the 1980s and early 1990s. Chais' father, Tim Eliason, served as a crew chief.

Chais Eliason grew up going to the races and loved NASCAR, with his room adorned in Gordon's signature No. 24. Eliason began pitting for local stalwart Darrell Nelson in 2002, when he was just 12.

Eliason mostly cleaned the race cars, scraping mud off after races, but he wanted to do more.

Nelson recalled a big fight he had with Eliason at Chippewa Falls, Wis., when Eliason wanted to grind the race tires but Nelson wouldn't let him.

"He was too little; he was tiny," Nelson said. "He had little bird arms back then, and that could have ripped his arms off. I didn't want him to get hurt. But when someone has his heart and mind set on it, you weren't going to change it."

Another time, Eliason was camping in Hinckley, Minn., with his parents but wanted to go racing. Tim and Ann Eliason finally relented, and Nelson picked him up, letting him sit on the console of his Chevy half-ton truck en route to the next race. Nelson could tell Eliason had had a bad day. Chais' face was pink and puffy.

"You could tell that he had been crying for hours because he wanted to go racing," Nelson said. "He finally got what he wanted. I'll never forget it."

Driving On

Eliason wound up pitting for Nelson for nearly 10 years. He later raced a Midwest Modified for two years but knew his future wasn't behind the wheel.

"It is hard to make a living as a driver," Eliason said. "You see some racers, their house is in foreclosure, they're going bankrupt, but they've got a new race car every year. You think, 'Man, those people are crazy,' but I probably did some of the same things, spending money going to the pits every single night, whether I had it or not, but (driving's) not what I want."

Eliason already got the sense that if he wanted to pursue NASCAR, he'd have to bolster his resume.

"I couldn't be an average Joe," he said.

Eliason's first taste of professional racing came as a senior at Proctor High School when he worked for Archer Racing Accessories in Duluth, traveling across the U.S. with the Dodge Viper race team. He later worked for Solon Springs, Wis., driver Brady Smith on the World of Outlaws Late Model Series.

Tim Eliason recalled a Proctor Journal article where Chais was "senior of the week" and that "he wanted to work in NASCAR."

"Yeah you, and everybody else," Tim Eliason said. "People at school probably gave him raspberries about that, but guess what? He is."

Chais Eliason graduated with honors from Proctor in 2009 before attending Michigan Tech. It was a rude awakening. Eliason went from a 3.9 grade-point average to a 2.5 his first semester at Tech. For the first time he started second-guessing himself, wondering if he should move back home and questioning if engineering was the right career path.

"In high school I never had to study, and most of my homework was done in class," he said. "I got to college thinking I could do the same thing. That was a wakeup call. At the end of the day, that was the best thing that ever happened to me, because if you can persevere, you can push forward."

Eliason didn't earn anything less than a B again and had a 4.0 his final semester. In the meantime, he landed internships with General Motors and Toyota, setting him up for a dream 15-month internship with Hendrick Motorsports that started in May 2012. He is the first Tech student to intern at Hendrick, with NASCAR usually relying on students from schools such as Virginia Tech and North Carolina-Charlotte.

"I was finally living my dream," Eliason said. "I often had to pinch myself walking into the entrance at Hendrick Motorsports."

Eliason received rings as Johnson won the Daytona 500 and Brickyard 400, as well as one for Hendrick Motorsports' 200th Sprint Cup win. Johnson won the 2013 championship, and Hendrick flew Eliason to Las Vegas to celebrate with the team.

"I don't know if Chais realizes just how big this is," Nelson said. "It's crazy. That is a lifetime dream for a lot of people."

The Eliasons purchased a motor home so they can travel to as many NASCAR races as possible.

Tim Eliason remembers a conversation with his wife many years ago, when Chais' NASCAR dream was taking hold. They didn't want him to be heartbroken. Chais never heard it, or if he had, he wasn't listening.

"Chais always had that goal in front of him, so this doesn't surprise me," Tim Eliason said. "He always reached for the stars. Now he is being rewarded for it. I love my job, I like what I do, but how many people can say they're living their passion? I'd never discourage his pursuit of that."

Eliason would not say what he is making now, only that it is a good living. He could make more money with other teams, but Hendrick was his first love. He hopes his story of perseverance and determination, of dreaming big and following through with it, serves as an inspiration to others.

"You can't put a price tag on this," Eliason said. "At the end of the day, that's not really what my dream was about."

This profile was originally published in the article Minnesota man lands job with Hendrick Motorsports by Jon Noawcki of Forum News Service in the TwinCities.com Pioneer Press on December 25, 2014.