Robert Reiser is a former crew chief and a general manager for Roush Fenway Racing. Reiser is the son of Alice and John Reiser, who served as general manager for Roush Racing's Busch and Craftsman Truck series race shops.
Career
Reiser started racing on the short tracks of Wisconsin. In 1984, he began drivinglate models. He won 14 different track, area and regional championships from 1990–1992. From 1993 to 1997 his racing career culminated as a driver/owner in the NASCAR Busch Series.
Crew chief
In 1997, Reiser decided to stop his racing career in the Busch Grand National Series, he put snowmobile racer Tim Bender in his car. Bender got hurt after the eighth race, so he put his former Wisconsin competitor Matt Kenseth in the drivers seat until Bender recovered. Reiser lost the 1994 late model track championship at Madison International Speedway to Kenseth. Kenseth was quickly successful. Then Reiser and Kenseth combined for a second-place finish in 1998 and a third-place finish in 1999. In 2000, Jack Roush hired Kenseth, Reiser, and their entire Busch team to run full-time in Winston Cup. The combination was again successful. They rapidly moved up the final points each year. In 2003 Kenseth and Reiser dominated to win the final Winston Cup championship as driver/crew chief. With Reiser from 2000 to 2007, Kenseth won 16 races. In 2008, Reiser served as interim crew chief for Carl Edwards, helping Edwards win at Texas Motor Speedway.
General manager
Near the end of the 2007 season, Reiser was named the general manager for all five of Roush Fenway Racing's Nextel/Sprint Cup teams. His last race as crew chief was the Ford 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway in Florida, which became the second victory of the season for driver Matt Kenseth. Reiser was relieved of his duties as RFR GM on November 22, 2016.
Trivia
According to an interview, Reiser is a devoted fan of former Green Bay Packershead coachVince Lombardi and likes to run his race team with the same winning attitude Lombardi had with the Packers.
