What you may not know about Matt Puccia

You may know Matt Puccia as the crew chief of the No. 16 3M team at Roush Fenway Racing.  You may even have heard driver Greg Biffle credit him with the team’s success so far this season.  But did you know his favorite food is manicotti, he played golf in high school and he may have saved Carl Edwards’ life?

According to Puccia, the story about him saving Edwards’ life goes like this…

Puccia and Edwards worked together at Ken Schrader’s race shop in the mid-90’s as mechanics and general help to the team.  One day the two of them were working on putting a rear-end cooler in a truck which was suspended on the team’s new car hoist just high enough for Edwards to work under it.  As Puccia put his weight on the top of the truck to help with the project from above, the hoist began to lower and crushed Edwards under the truck.  Puccia immediately ran to the control and raised the hoist to lift the truck.  He rushed Edwards to the hospital where it was determined that Edwards would live.

“Carl’s version of the story is a little different,” says Puccia.  “He tells people I intentionally lowered the truck on him to try to kill him but that obviously isn’t what happened.  I told him he was being a baby about it and I actually saved his life by raising the hoist and getting him to the hospital.”

Edwards obviously doesn’t hold a grudge over the incident as the two have remained friends over the years and continue to argue over whose version of the story is correct.

“I just keep my distance in the shop!” said Edwards.

Other interesting facts about Puccia:

First job:  Mechanic at a Harley Davidson Dealership

In his free time (which is not much):  He has two classic cars that he works on in his garage at home

Dream vacation destination:  Hawaii

What he drives:  Ford F-150

What @mpuccia16 likes about Twitter: The interaction with the fans and hearing their perspective on what happened in a race.

RFR