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There is absolutely no doubt about how important pit stops are to a race.  Like I’ve said here before, a team can’t win the race on pit road, but they certainly can lose it.  A perfect example of this happened last weekend at Darlington.  Jeff Burton brought the field to pit road as the leader with only a few laps remaining.  His crew chief, Todd Berrier, called for the crew to bolt on two tires to keep their track position, and hopefully win the race.  A mistake during the pit stop though, and the subsequent penalty, killed any chance for a win and saw Burton finish eighth.

In case you missed what I’m talking about, watch the doomed pit stop here.  Front tire changer Dan Blizzard struggles just a touch with his on pattern (tightening the lugnuts) and the jackman drops the jack too early.  If you watch very closely, you will see that jackman Adam North is watching Blizzard like a hawk.  North is waiting for him to make his normal move showing that he’s finished with the lugnuts, which signals North to drop the jack.  During his on pattern, Blizzard’s body makes just a small shift in position and North takes that shift as the sign that his front changer is finished.  Blizzard isn’t done though and Burton, who is leaving on the drop of the jack, runs over the air hose which results in a penalty.

The normal rule they teach guys on two tire pit stops is for the jackman to drop the jack once the tire changer is at the right headlight.  That gives the changer enough time to get out of the way of the car leaving the stall.  As a crew works together and becomes more familiar with each other though, those tolerances become much smaller.

Let me show you an example of a very tight two tire stop.  This video is of Kyle Busch’s crew, posted to Twitter by JGR Coach Mike Lepp (@mlepp).  In the video you will see front changer Nick Odell hit his fifth nut, and make just a small move to leave before jackman Jeff Fender drops the jack.  Odell is well short of the right headlight.  And the result is Busch leaving the stall quickly, missing Odell by only a few inches.

As you can see from the two examples, the margin for error is very small.  A normal two tire stop, which the #31 CAT guys have executed to perfection hundreds of times before, goes awry.  Why?  The answer lies in the familiarity among the crew. 

The jackman sees his changers hit lugnuts everyday.  And the majority of the time, they are very good.  In this case, both front guys and the jackman were part of the winning crew from the 2009 Pit Crew Challenge.  We aren’t talking about amateur or inexperienced guys here.  They are among the best at what they do.  What can happen though, is the jackman (or any other crew member for that matter) can get lulled into a false sense of security.  He’s used to seeing the same thing, over and over, from his guys.  This time, a small hiccup changed the normal rhythm.  Add to that a little pressure with the race on the line, and you have a small mistake that costs a team the win.

So who’s ready to be a pit crew guy?

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If there is one thing I’ve learned about changing tires in my career, it’s that the only way to be successful is to get my head straight.  If I’m not focused when I step off the wall, I’m defeated before I’ve even started.  Hitting 20 lugnuts becomes very difficult, and mistakes are in my future.  But keeping my wits about me, remaining calm, and not letting my mind wander all lead to my success.  And while carrying tires and jacking might be the same, changing seems to me to take just a little bit more.

The actual technique and fundamentals to being a good tire changer are really very simple.  I could probably teach them to someone in just a few short sessions.  As long as you get a good set, keep your elbows up, wrists locked, square the shoulders, stay low, and hit them hard, you’ll have a good shot of doing well.  But where the trouble starts is when the mind wanders or isn’t focused.

When one pits a car during a race, there are a ton of distractions.  You are surrounded by thousands of people, both in the stands and on pit road; you’ve got a driver and crew chief yacking in your ears; and there are cars coming and going all around you on pit road.  When it’s time to go though, you’ve got to learn to block it all out and just see your own car and do your own job.

One area that was a struggle for me early on, and I would imagine is something that all changers deal with at one time or another, is confidence.  If I don’t believe I can step off the wall and hit just 20 lugnuts, no amount of luck in the world will make that happen for me.  I’ve heard it said that to be the best, you’ve got to believe you’re the best.  This certainly goes for pitting race cars too.  But there is a fine line between being confident and being cocky.  I’ve never understood those guys who think they are the baddest, yet make mistakes, and then blame others.  Confidence will get a guy a long way in his career.  Cockiness and a bad attitude will end it pretty quickly.

And to go right along with the idea of staying confident, one must be able to bounce back from mistakes and the crazy things that happen sometimes.  No crew member will ever go through their career mistake free.  Lugnuts will be dropped, jack posts will be missed, and tires won’t always be studded.  What separates the good guys from the great guys, besides consistency, is the ability to deal with the mistake, not make it worse, and then forget it ever happened.  Dwelling on a mistake and letting it affect you mentally can be extremely detrimental.

Every sport on this planet takes a combination of physical ability, hardwork, heart, and mental focus to be successful.  Pitting a race car is no different.  Crew guys must have all the tools to make it to the top and remain there.  But (and I’m going to give my profession some kudos here) where a mistake in a football game might get you benched, a mistake on pit road could get somebody hurt.  How’s that for pressure?