Early lessons learned with Toyota propel Cole Pearn to championship

The 35-year-old Strathroy-Caradoc native started racing at 6. He competed in CASCAR for two full seasons, but traded his helmet to concentrate on the engineering side of the sport. After graduation from the University of Waterloo, Pearn left a steady job with Toyota in Canada to move south and pursue his racing dreams.

But Pearn would have to move west to Denver — twice — to find NASCAR's most coveted prize. And with Martin Truex Jr. behind the wheel, he was finally able to take the No. 78 Furniture Row Racing team to the pinnacle of the sport. 

“I don’t understand how this is even possible right now,” Pearn said on Sunday night, after celebrating victory in the Ford Eco-Boost 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway. “My dad sent me a message the other day about my old go-kart days where we had to go into the final race to win the championship. To think about those days and then to be here today is just unbelievable.”

Pearn’s first NASCAR job was as an engineer with Kevin Harvick’s team at Richard Childress Racing. He first moved to FRR in 2010, left in 2011 but returned the following year because he missed the quality of life in Denver. He has helped build the team ever since.

“Honestly, there’s just a lot of love on our team,” Pearn said. “We all believe in each other. We’re big believers that if we live our lives right, and we do things the right way, then good things will come to us.

“Man, I love my team. I wouldn’t want to work any place else. I can’t believe how fortunate we are to have the group that we are. We’ve been together a long time and we battle like brothers. We all are each others biggest critics. We rip on each other. And to have everything happen that we’ve had happen this year. All I thought about in those last few laps was my friend Jake. I though about his family and I knew he was watching today.” 

Pearn lost his best friend Jacob Damen to a bacterial infection on August 3. Damen was 35 and left behind a wife and two young sons. During the season, the team faced more tragedy. On October 22, Furniture Row lost fabricator Jim Watson, who passed away during Kansas weekend. 

And when the team was racing at Texas Motor Speedway three weeks later, Furniture Row Racing owner Barney Visser suffered a heart attack. After open-heart surgery on November 6, Visser has been recuperating in Denver ever since.

Visser turned a former mattress factory into race shop to house his hobby 13 years ago. Over the last decade, he made upgrades to the staff and behind the wheel. Regan Smith delivered the team’s first win in 2011. Kurt Busch took the No. 78 team to the Playoffs in 2013. And though Truex got off to a slow start in 2014, the struggles only made the organization stronger. 

When Pearn was promoted from lead engineer to crew chief in 2015, the team grew exponentially. 

“That first year together was tough,” Truex said of his initial year with the organization. “We struggled together. We couldn’t find anything and they were coming off of their best season ever. All they changed was the driver—until we found out that they changed the chassis. We thought 'This isn’t right.' We changed this, we changed that. We just couldn’t find it. It was like shooting at a target that was moving all over the place. We had no consistency, we had nothing.

“I think the turning point for our team, honestly, was when we figured out at the end of 2014, we built another car like the other guys were doing at the time. We came to Kansas, started running good and stuff just started making sense. And I remember Cole looking at me, specifically, like, ‘Damn, I think this guy actually knows what he’s talking about.’ That was it right there. That was like the switch that flipped, and me and him could see eye to eye, and he bought into what I was saying, I bought into what he was saying. 

“And when they made him the crew chief in 2015, he went from being this guy behind the scenes that was really quiet to this is my team, I'm going to run it the way I think I need to, and the rest is history.” 

Truex won one race in 2015, but the consistency was there. Midway through the season, the team was courted by Toyota. Although Visser had been with Chevrolet since opening his doors in 2005, Toyota offered factory support and an alliance with Joe Gibbs Racing that could take the team from Denver to the top of the sport. 

Truex finished a career-high fourth in the 2015 standings. The next season won four races in a Camry, but an engine failure at Talladega ended his playoffs before the Round of 8. In 2017, the No. 78 crew was nearly untouchable, topping the Cup tour with eight wins, 19 top fives, 26 top 10s and 2,253 laps led. Truex’s average finish of 4.3 in the final 10 races was the best ever since NASCAR introduced the Playoff system in 2004.

“It’s all about taking ownership,” Pearn said. “You have to take ownership in your life, do what you need to do to get there. It all started in 2015. We’ve come together as a group. And to be partnered with Toyota and JGR, and everything they do for us, is unbelievable.

For Pearn, everything has come full circle. After earning his engineering degree, he was immersed in the Toyota culture. Between interviews, Pearn stopped Bob Carter, Executive Vice President – Sales, Toyota Motor North America. He explained that his training included six weeks in Toyota City in Japan. 

“The life lessons I’ve learned through Toyota, I apply to our race team every day,” Pearn told Carter. 

Since transitioning from Chevrolet to Toyota in the last two seasons, the Pearn-led team has won more races than any other team in a Camry.

“I never would have thought when we started at Furniture Row, we’d be a Toyota factory team and be partnered with JGR,” Pearn said. “I never would have dreamt that. I came out for the skiing. At the end of the day, it’s unbelievable that we’ve been able to do this.”

Certainly, Pearn’s zen-style has paid off this season. The crew chief once known for only his black t-shirts and jeans will now be identified as a Cup champion. 

When asked about what he might wear to the awards banquet, Pearn replied, “I think tuxedo with a tee shirt would be appropriate. I don't ever plan on catching on fire, so I don't get why those guys wear fire suits. I just want to look cool, I guess.”