Man at the controls

Jack Roush pilots his Beechcraft Premier 1A every week from Detroit to Charlotte.

(Bob Margolis/Yahoo! Sports)

Bob Margolis is spending the weekend shadowing Jack Roush, owner of Roush Fenway Racing. This is the first in a four-part series.

CONCORD, N.C. – It all began as a conversation with Jack Roush at Bristol Motor Speedway in August.

As the colorful NASCAR team owner and I were having a conversation outside Greg Biffle's team hauler, discussing all the latest gossip from the garage, the conversation turned to one of Roush's great passions – flying.

"Why don't you come flying with me in my fighter plane," Roush suggested.

He owns two fully restored WWII vintage fighter planes.

I immediately had visions of flying barrel rolls and double loops. While Roush was laughing away and having the time of his life, whatever I had eaten earlier that day was ending up in my lap.

"Well," I replied, "Thanks for the offer, but I'm not so sure."

"Then, why not fly with me to a race?" Roush asked.

That's how I ended up in the cockpit next to Roush, owner of NASCAR's largest Sprint Cup organization, commuting from Detroit to Charlotte – site of Saturday night's Bank of America 500.

THE WILD BLUE YONDER

The day began at 6:30 a.m., when Roush, who lives in the Detroit area, picked me up at my hotel. After a short ride in the pre-dawn darkness and with a slight rain falling, we arrived at Willow Run Airport in suburban Ypsilanti, Mich.

Willow Run is a fairly large airport used primarily by cargo carriers and private aircraft and it's where Roush has a private hangar where he stores his restored WWII aircraft – two fully restored P51 Mustang fighter planes, a T6 trainer aircraft used as a flying classroom for WWII-era pilots and Roush's Beechcraft Premier 1A.

The Beechcraft is an ultra-modern business jet made up of composite materials – not aluminum, like most aircraft – and it's designed to seat up to eight people, fly at altitudes over 40,000 feet and at speeds approaching 400 miles per hour.

If you're going to fly, this is the way to go.

I stood and watched as Roush turned into a one-man ramp agent, hooking his jet up to a small tractor, pulling it out of the hangar and then closing the small cargo compartment in preparation for take off.

As the door on the hangar closed behind us, Roush, his assistant Brenda Stricklin and I climbed aboard the jet.

"Sit up here," said Roush, motioning towards the cockpit. "We can talk during the flight."

Roush began flying in 1983 and has logged over 8,000 hours.

(Bob Margolis/Yahoo! Sports)

Roush switched on the plane and its cockpit dashboard came alive, a dazzling, colorful display that, to me, might as well belong on the space shuttle.

Going through the pre-flight checks, Roush admitted that the most difficult part of learning how to fly this particular plane is mastering its advanced avionics and controls.

Roush began flying in 1983, when he purchased a two-engine Cessna executive aircraft.

"I was road racing back then, and it became a necessity to get from place to place in an expeditious manner," he explained. "I flew along with a pilot friend of mine and he basically taught me how to fly. I didn't officially get my license until 1993 after attending flight school in Daytona Beach."

He bought his first jet, a Citation 525, in 1997. Since then, he's logged over 8,000 flying hours.

"Carl Edwards has a Citation, just like mine," said Roush.

My job as a reporter has me flying somewhere every weekend, so I'm an old pro at flying. But this was a whole different deal than sitting in a cramped seat in coach staring at the seatback in front of me.

In a word, it was incredible.

The small jet accelerated like a rocket ship and as Roush gently pulled back on the yoke after what seemed like only a few seconds, we lifted off and headed skyward.

Almost immediately began an almost continuous conversation between Roush and air traffic control.

"Since this is a single-pilot aircraft, soon after takeoff, I switch to autopilot and as air traffic control gives me altitude and directional information, I feed it into the computer," said Roush.

As we rapidly climbed into the clouds, I looked around and for a moment had to figuratively pinch myself.

Was I really flying with Jack Roush?

In between the almost nonstop chatter from air traffic control, Roush opened up about his family and our agenda for the next five days, which will conclude Sunday in his hometown of Manchester, Ohio.

"My hometown is a pretty depressed area now," he began. "I promised the people there I would help them out with a charity auction."

As we cruised at 39,000 feet, he talked about his father coming home from World War II to start a business. It failed. He tried again and eventually hit on one that worked.

Growing up watching his father struggle, Roush decided he needed more security, so he decided at an early age that he would become a scientist or engineer

Roush owns two World War II fighter planes. He also owns a T6 trainer aircraft (above) used as a flying classroom for WW II-era pilots.

(Bob Margolis/Yahoo! Sports)

In the late 1960s, Roush took a position as an engineer at Ford Motor Company. The rest, as they say, is history.

MEETINGS OF THE MINDS

Every Tuesday, Roush flies from Detroit to his race team headquarters in Concord, N.C., for weekly meetings, but since the race this weekend is at Lowe's Motor Speedway, his schedule was altered and he flew in on Wednesday.

As we made our final approach, Roush called out for his final landing instructions to the control tower.

"You're a day late, but I'll still let you land," a voice joked over the radio.

It was quite obvious this was a regular commute for Roush.

"My usual routine is to fly here on a Tuesday," Roush explained as we climbed form the plane. "Then I leave for wherever we're racing either late Thursday if it's a West Coast race or Friday morning everywhere else."

Does Roush ever fly commercial?

"In 2004, we flew to Baghdad," Roush said. "We flew commercial to Qatar and then by military aircraft into Iraq. Also, this past New Year's Eve, I flew to Europe.

"But domestically, I can't remember the last time I flew commercial."

The day was jam-packed with scheduled meetings.

First up was the weekly meeting between the crew chiefs and team leaders of all five of Roush Fenway's Sprint Cup teams.

The meeting is a debriefing of the previous weekend's race. In it, team members address any and all issues – good or bad – and work on ways to get them resolved before moving on to the next race.

This week's meeting was essentially an hour-long post mortem on the weekend at Talladega, which, according to Roush, was the worst weekend for Roush Racing in 23 years.

Even though Roush has never been great at Talladega, Sunday's race was going well until Carl Edwards bumped teammate Greg Biffle on Lap 174 of Sunday's AMP Energy 500. That sparked a massive wreck that took out Edwards, Biffle and another teammate, Matt Kenseth.

"After Dover," – when Biffle, Kenseth and Edwards finished 1-2-3 – "I knew the day would come when we'd run into each other," said Roush.

Later in the afternoon, Roush had a private, one-on-one meeting with Edwards. I was not invited.

HOPSCOTCH ACROSS CHARLOTTE

Another meeting followed, this one with Brad Francis, who spearheads special projects for RFR. The two discussed Roush Fenway's road racing program.

Lunch followed.

Roush and I were joined by Geoff Smith, RFR president, and Max Jones, the new co-owner and general manager of Roush Fenway Racing's satellite team Yates Racing.

Over plates of pasta at the Olive Garden, we struck up a lively conversation that centered around the effect the current economic crisis is having on NASCAR.

Smith acknowledged that the economic slowdown has had a serious impact on the sport and he predicted that by season's end there would be, in his words, "a contraction" of teams. He declined to be more specific.

As Smith spoke, Roush listened quietly. There's an inherent trust and respect there. There has to be, because it's Smith who Roush entrusts to run the business side of RFR.

"He was a lawyer from Detroit when I found him and brought him into this world," said Roush, who went on to explain how he had first met Smith some 20 years ago. "He has me to thank for all this!"

The day continued with a hopscotch across the greater Charlotte area.

Next up was a 30-minute drive to Mooresville, where Roush's Nationwide and Craftsman Truck teams are located. During a similar team meeting, Roush expressed his displeasure with driver Erik Darnell for drafting with Kyle Busch for several laps during the truck race.

"I know you don't like him Jack," said Darnell, who acted as if he had been scolded by a parent.

From there it was a quick tour of the nearby Roush Yates engine facility and a sneak peek at the next generation Ford Cup engine.

"You're the first to see it," said Roush, who, like a proud father, is pleased with its progress so far. "About 95 percent of its development was done here, with some help from Ford engineers, and we also worked with a subsidiary of Ferrari."

Ferrari?

"There are a few things we learned from them that have been beneficial in this engine," explained Roush.

Next year, Roush will essentially throw away nearly $7 million in engine inventory.

"This is what we have to do to keep up with everyone else," he explained.

The engine shop is a remarkable facility. It is the birthplace for every Ford engine in all three of NASCAR's premier racing series.

Roush is still an engineer at heart and any discussion involving anything mechanical unveils an animated side of him that few get to see.

After a ride back to the Cup shop in Concord, it was time to say goodbye for the day. I was exhausted trying to keep up with the 66-year-old Roush.

Was this typical for a day in Concord?

"No," he replied. "It's usually much busier than this. Wait until tomorrow."

Thursday: Fan Appreciation Day at the Roush Fenway Racing facilities