From New Glarus to NASCAR’s Biggest Stage
New Glarus native Jesse Saunders grew up chasing a NASCAR dream on Wisconsin short tracks. Today, as car chief for Kyle Larson’s No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports team, he says the work ethic and community he learned at home still travel with him.
When Jesse Saunders was growing up in New Glarus, NASCAR felt a long way from home.
Today, Saunders works near Charlotte, North Carolina, as car chief for one of the most recognizable teams in the sport, Kyle Larson’s No. 5 Chevrolet at Hendrick Motorsports. He has been part of championship teams with Jimmie Johnson and Larson and spends much of the year traveling from racetrack to racetrack at NASCAR’s highest level.
But ask Saunders where the foundation for that career was built, and he points back to New Glarus.
“I think New Glarus was a blue-collar town. And everybody worked hard,” Saunders said. “My mom and dad worked hard, but we knew everyone, our family, out friends — my dad was in the fire department. Staying busy, staying active, involved in the community and stuff like that, I think, was a huge part of it.”
Saunders, the son of Bill and Sandee Saunders, was born and raised in New Glarus and graduated from New Glarus High School in 2004. His grandparents had a farm west of New Glarus, and Saunders remembers growing up with the kind of familiarity that comes with being a member of a small community, where people often knew who you were even if you did not realize it at the time.
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