Todd Berrier is one of the crew chiefs who helped build the legacy of Kevin Harvick into what it is today. He helped the icon to the 2001 Busch Series Championship and multiple crown jewel victories in the Cup Series between 2003 and 2009, working for Richard Childress Racing. But Berrier did more than just show Harvick the route to racing success.
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The two long-lost friends reunited on the “Harvick Happy Hour” podcast this week. Taking a nostalgic trip to look back at their time together, Harvick remembered how the chief had been the one to introduce him to his future wife, DeLana. The two had been in search of dates to take to the Richard Childress Racing 1999 Christmas Party when Berrier set up the meet.
“We went to the Christmas party that night and that’s the first time that I met my wife. So, thank you,” Harvick said. The chief continued to reveal that his parents and DeLana’s parents were best friends and that the two had pretty much grown up together as brother and sister. He added that both their fathers were into racing and drove each other’s cars from time to time.
DeLana’s father is John Paul, a former Busch Series driver. At the time of her first meeting with Harvick, she was working as a public relations specialist for driver Randy LaJoie. She’d been in the same line of work for racing legend Jeff Gordon previously and got behind the wheel to race occasionally. The two soon became inseparable after the driver asked her out and went to the Christmas Party.
The beginning and end of Berrier’s professional relationship with Kevin Harvick
Berrier’s connection with Harvick began the day after Dale Earnhardt tragically passed away. The duo had been in Atlanta and gone about practice as usual, unsure of what they were expected to do. Recalling the sequence, he told NASCAR last year, “Honestly, I think a lot of that was because the circumstances were horrible.”
“At the same time, there was a lot put on his plate. But I think he was so busy because of that it probably helped enable us more than anything else. I mean, we didn’t have time to dwell on what we were doing right or wrong. It was just a matter of, we’ve got to really dig deep, press, and make this happen.”
Berrier and Harvick spent six seasons together at the Richard Childress Racing camp and collected 8 victories together. Atop a 79-race winless streak in 2009, team owner Childress decided to overhaul the group and broke the pair away. Gil Martin, also a previous crew chief of Harvick, took the spot that Berrier left behind.
