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| Born | June 11, 1967 Plymouth Township, Michigan |
| Organization | General Motors |
| Title | Director of Stock Car Racing Programs |
| Predecessor | Werner Hofman |
| Successor | TBA |
Harold Brian Vandermere (b. 11 June 1967) is an American automotive executive and former race engineer who most recently worked as Director of Stock Car Racing Programs at General Motors. He has become more widely known as the central figure in the 2019 scandal dubbed Passgate, which resulting in his firing from General Motors and his indefinite suspension from motorsports.
Career[edit | edit source]
Vandermere studied mechanical engineering at Michigan State University, graduating with a Bachelor's Degree in 1989.
Early Career[edit | edit source]
Vandermere began as a designer for Team CJR in Champ Car, where he designed chassis and suspension components until he joined the Stafford Race Engineering WSCC team as a junior strategist in 1994. After three years as junior strategist, he moved to Henderson Engineering as a technical advisor. He switched teams multiple times during the late 1990's and early 2000's, spending time with Genesis Racing, Hansen Motorsports, and TMO Racing; at TMO he was promoted to Technical Director in 2010, a role he held for two years before moving to General Motors.
General Motors Career[edit | edit source]
In 2012, Vandermere was hired by Werner Hofman to manage technical development on the next generation of General Motors stock cars. In this role, Vandermere oversaw the development of the World Stock Car Championship, World Stock Car Lites, and North American Stock Car Tour vehicles directly; he also indirectly oversaw the development of the Eurocup and Pacific Championship cars, which were designed at GM's Australia Design Center.
Hofman retired from General Motors after the 2017 racing season; General Motors announced that Vandermere would replace him in the role.
Team Orders Controversy[edit | edit source]
Main article: Passgate
On 2 October 2019, Vandermere (along with Martin Vogel and Paul Gibson) was charged by World Stock Car Association officials with conspiring to manipulate race and championship results; these charges stemmed from the end of the 2019 race at Darlington Raceway where Vandermere allegedly ordered driver Jay Orlov to move aside and allow two Caddilac cars to pass.
Vandermere, in a heated press release, denied the accusations against him; in the same press release, he announced an internal GM investigation into Jay Orlov and Claire Gardner. When email conversations were leaked detailing his involvement in the scheme, Vandermere sent a second press release threatening legal action against the employees who leaked the emails.
Vandermere refused to attend any WSCA hearings on the scandal, calling the investigation a sham and slamming the WSCA, Jay Orlov, and GM employees Gabrielle Castillo and Marc Colby.
General Motors announced on 15 October that Vandermere had been fired; the Detroit Free Press later detailed that Vandermere was fired on the 14th after Jay Orlov informed the automaker that he would be severing his relationship with them following the conclusion of the 2019 season.
Vandermere was later indefinitely banned from all WSCA events and was banned from working with WSCA teams or drivers; any driver found to be associating with Vandermere in a professional manner would be subject to losing their Super License, effectively ending Vandermere's career in motorsports. While Vandermere has hinted that he intends to sue, legal experts believe the evidence against him makes the likelihood of a successful lawsuit near-impossible.