Oct 15th, 2009 by T.C.
I’m going to go on a rant here, so I apologize in advance, but this is something that has bothered me since I started as a tire changer. When young guys finally get their first opportunities to jack, carry, and change they usually end up on Truck Series and some of the smaller Nationwide Series teams. But many are over-matched and under-experienced for the situations they are put into. And often times they will make mistakes that will cost their teams positions on pit road. But instead of letting them make a mistake and learn from it, often times crew chiefs and managers are quick on the trigger and will fire a guy for one mistake. That sucks.
The biggest element to success for a young crew guy is confidence. He has to not only have the skills to do his job, but he has to KNOW he has the skills to do his job when he steps off the wall. If he is hesitant or worries about making mistakes, odds are that is exactly what will happen. Firing kids for making one mistake isn’t exactly confidence inspiring.
What I don’t think some of these crew chiefs and boss people understand, is that no pit crew guy is ever going to be perfect. No changer is going to hit exactly 20 lugs on every pit stop. No carrier is going to stud every wheel. And no jackman is going to hit every post. It’s just not possible. But what sets the really good guys apart from everyone else is the ability to not only minimize those mistakes, but also recover from them.
A tire changer who hangs a lug nut on the right side needs to realize that the mistake cost him time, but that he can’t make it back up. Finish the stop the right way, and then forget it ever happened. If the changer dwells on the mistake and beats himself up over it, he’s not going to be prepared for the next stop. When he goes to start hitting lug nuts again, he’s going to be worrying about hanging a lug. And often times, he’ll end up hanging another one, or worse.
The turnover that some of these teams experience with their pit crews is because of this exact reason. They end up going through a ton of guys over the course of the season and they can never figure out why their pit stops are slow. They are slow because your guys never work together long enough to build that chemistry that is necessary to be really good.
On top of that, I wonder how many guys have given up because of these experiences. They maybe screw up a couple of times, get fired off deals, and then decide this isn’t for them. When in reality, if somebody would have just given them a chance to get a little experience and learn how to deal with adversity, maybe they could have had a solid career.
Before I end this, keep in mind that in many cases, guys do deserve to get fired. Multiple mistakes, especially if it’s the same mistake, warrant a change. And having a crappy attitude and lame excuses won’t get guys anywhere. I just wish that in those cases where it’s not necessarily warranted, teams would give these kids a chance. You never know, they just might surprise the hell out of you.
