Jeff Campbell came from a racing family, as his dad and brothers were part of the Colorado Auto Racing Club for more than 20 years. The master welding skills he acquired at a young age were applied when he helped design and build a Pro Truck for Frank Denning to compete at Colorado National Speedway. He then began working with Muir Motorsports in 1996, where quickly assumed the role of crew chief.
Jeff led the Muir team to a remarkable run of on-track success from 1996 to 2007, while also assuming crew chief duties for the Super Late Models driven by Mike Bonicelli and Rick Carelli for four of those seasons. Jeff and his crew built a new Pro Truck from the ground up in 1997, and it was successful right off the trailer, competing for the division championship at CNS in each of the next three seasons. The team built its first Super Late Model for the 2000 season, and Jeff earned the first of five NASCAR Mechanic of the year awards at CNS. In 2004, Jeff won the prestigious award for the Midwest region and was runner-up for the National NASCAR short-track Mechanic of the Year.
Jeff’s finest year as a crew chief was in 2006, as the Muir Motorsports team won 7 of 18 main events at CNS on the way to the 2006 Super Late Model championship. Through Jeff’s hard work, the car never finished worse than fourth that season and won all 4 Pepsi Challenge 100-lap races, including the distinguished season-ending Challenge Cup. The team also competed in the NASCAR Midwest traveling series, finishing fourth in points and earning an invitation to the Toyota Shootout national event in Irwindale, California to finish the season.
The next step in Jeff’s career came in 2008, when he became Race Director at Colorado National Speedway. In the role that is so essential for the success of any racing facility, Jeff oversaw technical inspections and was responsible for overseeing race protocol for all competitive events on the track. In an ambitious step, he also helped rewrite the entire CNS rule book for the 2009 season. He held the CNS Race Director title until 2011, when he stepped away from full-time racing to build hot rods and motorcycles.
Sadly, Jeff died unexpectedly in 2017 at the young age of 51. Those that meant the most to Jeff in his racing career include his wife and team owner, Shannon Muir, his drivers Scott Backman & Rick Carelli, his brothers Kirk & Matt Campbell and his biggest fan, daughter Samantha. Jeff was a master welder, fabricator, and innovator who never turned down a request for help from anyone. Jeff Campbell was inducted into the Colorado Motorsports Hall of Fame in 2024.
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