During the race, pit road can be a busy place. Under cautions, it’s not uncommon for 30 or more cars to hit pit road for service. When that happens, teams are at the mercy of those around them in regard to how they can get in and out of their pit stall. But during green flag pit stops, crew chiefs actually work together to give their drivers the best chance of getting on and off pit road quickly. By coordinating with their neighbors on when they come in for service, crew chiefs can ensure their drivers have a clean shot in and out of their pit stall.
What you often hear about, is crew chiefs coordinating with each other during superspeedway races like we just had at Talladega. In those cases, they are usually trying to work out drafting deals and figure out when they can come to pit road with their partners. But this type of collaboration isn’t just limited to Daytona and Talladega. It actually happens almost every week.
Once you are aware of what is going on, these interactions between rival crew chiefs can be interesting to witness. In the days of advanced technology with computers and digital radios, guys are usually reduced to yelling, hand signals, and sending runners from pit box to pit box.
Since the teams aren’t wired together, and with noise being an obstacle, the first challenge is getting your neighbor’s attention. From there, the goal is to figure out when the cars to your left and right are coming to pit road so you can come the lap before or after. By working together to stagger pit stops, everybody gets the best possible chance to gain or maintain track position.
It’s the little intricacies like this that make racing truly interesting. When I talk to new race fans, and those attending races for the first time, they often say that they didn’t realize how complex and involved it all was. The quote is usually something like “I just thought it was guys going in circles.” Those of us in the sport and the educated race fan know different. These interactions between rival crew chiefs are a small, but vital aspect to giving a driver the best possible chance to win.
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Pit road can be a very busy place. During a round of pit stops under caution there are crews flying around, cars fighting for position, and tires and fuel everywhere. But pit stops are hardly the busiest part of the race on pit road. There is no bigger circus at any time during a race weekend than the one you’ll find on pit road right before a race.
Combine 43 race cars, every driver, the necessary crew guys, NASCAR officials, PR people, reporters, photographers, team execs, sponsor reps, team and sponsor guests, friends and family, and every race fan that can beg, borrow, and steal their way out onto pit road and you’ve got one hell of a party.
Inside this big mass of people and race cars you’ll see that some drivers draw bigger crowds than others. And as you might guess, it’s the usual suspects. Want to get a quick picture or Dale Jr.’s autograph before your favorite race? Better take a number. You’ll be lucky to get within 50 feet of the 88. JR Nation is alive and well, and they congregate around their driver. Most of the big name drivers will be enveloped by similar mobs. Everybody is clamoring to get a chance to rub shoulders with NASCAR’s best.
Besides certain drivers, there are also certain tracks that are worse than others. And again, they are the tracks you’d expect. Races at tracks like Daytona, Charlotte, and the Brickyard always seem to draw the biggest grid crowds.
With so many people about, it can be a little difficult at times to get some of our race prep stuff done. Tasks like laying down our tape marks for pit stops have to wait until pit road is cleared and cars are rolling around during pace laps. And I bet the NASCAR and track security people pull their hair out trying to keep track of everyone’s credentials.
As big a pain as it can be at times, it can also be seriously entertaining. People watching is one of my favorite race track activities, and pre-race is one of the best times to do so. Words like “zoo” and “circus” often don’t even begin to describe it.
Wow, what a race! Drama. Damage. And a drag race!
What we saw Sunday in Montreal is why we all enjoy watching racing. There was no anointed winner, leading the most laps led to disaster, and the best funded team didn’t win. There was passion (and one middle finger), and boy was there carnage.
What really got me excited though was the large and passionate crowd. Our friends to the north love NASCAR and I’m starting to think they deserve more than just one Nationwide race a year.
NASCAR entered the Canadian market in 2004 and has since expanded with the acquisition of the former CASCAR series (now the NASCAR Canadian Tire Series), and the staging of that one yearly event at Circuit Gilles Villenueve in Montreal.
Unlike their four year foray into Mexico, NASCAR’s Canadian event has remained quite popular. And it’s no wonder given the occasionally strange, and always entertaining events Circuit Gilles Villenueve produces.
Some last week were calling for NASCAR to bring a Cup Series event to the track. And I say why not? Given the Nationwide races we’ve seen at the track I’d love to see what kind of hijinks the Cup cars could get into on the 2.71 mile road course. But honestly I’d be fine with a Cup race anywhere in the country. I thinks the fans have earned it – I think they deserve it.
Have you heard about the proposed Canadian Motor Speedway in Fort Erie, Ontario (near Buffalo, N.Y.)? It’s nothing more than an idea right now, but the developers are working with Jeff Gordon and they’re in talks with racetrack architect Paxton Waters to build the one mile tri-oval. They’re still a ways from anything being built, but the potential is interesting.
In the meantime we have a perfectly good (or as I should say, exceptional) facility with a group of people who can’t get enough stock car racing. I’m always an advocate for bringing the sport to people who want to see it, so why isn’t NASCAR doing more?
As we just wrapped up the scheduling for 2011 and saw what could have been pretty big changes turn into some cosmetic moves, we got a front row view of the politics involved.
NASCAR is privately owned by the France family. The France family is the majority shareholder (with 70% of the voting stock) in the publicly traded International Speedway Corporation. And then we have Bruton Smith and his publicly traded Speedway Motorsports Inc. Those two control all but three of the tracks that have NASCAR Cup Series dates and neither is giving up one of their very valuable dates anytime soon. Ask Jerry Carroll how hard it is to get a Cup date.
Still, Canada is a market NASCAR should be more involved in. We’ll see in the future if NASCAR thinks so. I just hope Canadian NASCAR fans get the respect they deserve.
It’s official… NASCAR has released the schedules for the 2011 season, and seasons of speculation are finally over – both Kentucky and Kansas got their long-anticipated Cup dates.
I’ve never been the biggest advocated for giving Kentucky a Cup date and Kansas a second Cup date. They’re really just more of the same. That said, I’m glad NASCAR, ISC and SMI are bringing racing to fans who appreciate it.
Though I haven’t been the biggest proponent of adding dates to those two tracks, I (and TC) have been a proponent of taking a date away from California. The racing is never very good and for whatever reason the crowds just couldn’t be maintained. Some markets just cant support two dates.
I believe that’s the story in Atlanta. Though I like the track and the racing it produces, it too was having issues with attendance. From a business prospective it made more sense giving its second date to Kentucky – a place I think will be able to support the event.
Other welcome news was that SMI didn’t pull a date from New Hampshire – I thought for sure Bruton would use the police issue in Loudon to give Las Vegas a second date. The man in the gawdy sunglasses surprises.
Overall, while the 2011 schedule does bring us changes, there aren’t really a ton of surprises. As always, the internal politics of NASCAR, ISC and SMI keep the possibility of changes to a minimum. I’d certainly like to see a Chase that was more representative of the whole schedule, but I’m good with what is hopefully just the beginning of a truly improved schedule in NASCAR.
Some Thoughts on the Truck Series Schedule
With 24 scheduled events for the 2011 season, and another one TBA, the Truck Series schedule is much improved over this year’s. Gone is the three week break between Daytona and Atlanta, and the two week break between Atlanta and Martinsville. Those successive breaks were a little excessive – not to mention they killed the momentum of the season.
There are a couple of two week breaks early on in 2011, and a month long break in the middle of the summer, but all in all they’ve done a much better job keeping the series flowing.
As far as filling that TBA date, why not have a triple-header at Richmond in September? There might be some logistical issues with the haulers, but who wouldn’t love to see the trucks make their RIR return?
I’m not sure what NASCAR is working on for that date, but my plea is that they keep them at a short track.
And finally a couple of disappointing spots. Pocono is back on the schedule. I think we all know my thoughts on that. And I don’t really understand the reasoning for moving the Phoenix date. It’s going to be weird for them to have an off-weekend before the season-finale at Homestead – and we’ve had such great end of season showdowns there.
What are your thoughts on Kentucky and Kansas and all three schedules for the 2011 season?
To use the words of the late David Poole, Dale Earnhardt saved Elliott Sadler’s life on Sunday.
What happened to Elliott Sadler on the backstretch (between turns one and two) late in the race at Pocono isn’t exactly clear to those of us who didn’t happen to be in a car and on the backstretch at the time (thanks Kurt Busch and ESPN). What we do know though is Pocono needs to make safety upgrades, like yesterday, and the COT and HANS Device saved Elliott Sadler from serious injury or death.
From what I saw of that wreck, it was one of the worst in recent memory. After hitting the inside Armco barrier, Sadler was propelled back out onto the track – a distance that’s probably a good 50 feet. In the slow motion replay on ESPN, Sadler’s whole body can be seen lurching forward. That tremendous amount of force ripped the car apart. See the engine being towed back to the garage. Sadler was luckily able to walk away with nothing but the wind knocked out of him.
For all of the criticism its gotten and complaining that’s been done about it, the COT has been a wonderful safety innovation. It has no doubt saved lives. Ask Micheal McDowell. Now ask Elliott Sadler.
Add to that the proliferation of the HANS Device and the SAFER barriers and NASCAR has become a much safer place to compete.
In the days leading up to the race, Pocono President Brandon Igdalsky, grandson of the Drs. Mattioli, addressed plans for some much needed safety features, including SAFER barriers between turns 1 and 2, and 2 and 3, and a much needed catch fence. It’s about time.
Looking around on the net Sunday night some were suggesting Pocono shouldn’t be on the schedule. I couldn’t disagree more. It’s a unique facility with great fans (though two races seven weeks apart is ridiculous). I do think though the track needed to have made these upgrades before other things were done – say for instance a $16 million solar farm.
It’s certainly easy to play Monday morning quarterback on this – but I think anyone who has ever seen the facility can see there are a lot of upgrades that need be done. As usual I digress.
Who knows what would have happened to Sadler had he not had the benefit of the current safety features. I shutter to think. Through all the complaining about ESPN missing the moment (big deal), the biggest story here is what didn’t happen and what we fortunately didn’t see.
What NASCAR has done since February 2001 truly has made the sport safer. There have been no serious injuries and no deaths. And thankfully on Sunday we were able to keep that record intact.
When you watch a race on TV, or see one in person, certain people get the spotlight. The drivers of course, are at the top of this list. Everyone knows them. Team personnel are next, with crew chiefs and a few select crew members getting most of the notoriety. You will also probably notice the presence of the NASCAR officials, whether you know their names or not. There are a few groups however, that get little if any air time, and frankly, go on busting their butts anyway.
In order to have a race that goes longer then about 75 miles, two important supplies are necessary: fuel and tires.
At every race, Goodyear Racing brings an army of guys who’s sole job is to do nothing but handle every race tire used. Truck loads of tires are brought in, along with the teams’ wheels, and these guys work their tails off all weekend mounting and dismounting tires. Each tire must be unloaded, scanned into their system, paired with a wheel, mounted, balanced, and organized. Once it has served it’s purpose, a tire must be rescanned, drilled (to avoid any future use), dismounted, and loaded back up to be recycled.
Goodyear does all this through their small network of regional tire distributors and the aid of Champion Tire and Wheel. Champion’s trucks haul all of the used tires, plus they handle all of the teams’ wheels (with their own small army).
During the race weekend, while workers are handling all the tires, Goodyear also has a team of engineers that work very closely with the teams to ensure proper usage and to monitor any problems.
Besides tires, no race would get very far without race fuel. Sunoco, being the official fuel of NASCAR, is tasked with providing the teams with enough race gas to practice, qualify, and race. While their team of people is much smaller than that of Goodyear, their function is no less important. On the busiest of weekends, enough fuel must be brought in to supply upwards of 150 race teams.
Besides being on hand to fill up the tanks during practice sessions and qualifying, Sunoco has a team of guys that fill every gas can during the race. Once a pit stop ends, fuel runners for each team will take any emptied cans by cart to the Sunoco pumps. There, Sunoco’s guys refill the cans so they can be used during the next stop. Once the race is over, teams then must return any unneeded fuel to Sunoco to be reclaimed.
There are two other groups that I also wanted to point out that serve very important functions.
First, two companies handle the majority of at track radio communications for NASCAR and the teams. Racing Radios and Racing Electronics have people on hand at every race to help support the teams. Their teams can supply and repair any of the radios or components needed by race teams so they can be in constant communication during the practices and the race. While the races are going on, both companies have techs that do nothing but wander up and down pit road, ready to fix any problems.
The last group I wanted to recognize are the TV production folks. In order for NASCAR to appear on FOX, ESPN, TNT, and SPEED, a large corps of producers, audio techs, camera people, production assistants, editors, and more must be at every race. Besides the networks themselves, companies like Game Creek Video, NEP Broadcasting, Broadcast Sports, and others have people and equipment that aid in bringing racing into your home. During the races, we are shoulder to shoulder with camera people, the assistants, and the pit road reporters who bring you all the latest information.
The next time you get to attend a race in person, on any level, be sure to take a moment to look around. There are more then just race teams at work bringing you the show.
If you got to watch the races on Monday from Texas you may have heard the TV guys talking about the drivers who had to do double duty. Guys like Kyle Busch, Kevin Harvick, Joey Logano, Greg Biffle, and others got out of their Cup rides and had to immediately jump into their Nationwide cars for another 300 miles. It can be a tough thing to do as it requires the drivers be in top shape, and have the ability to re-focus their minds after 500 grueling miles. But what the TV folks probably didn’t talk about a lot, was all the crew guys who did the same exact thing.
Just like there are drivers who run in multiple series, there are also quite a few crew members who work in multiple series. Usually it’s not a problem to do, because the races aren’t on the same day, but Monday was different.
Following the Cup race at Texas, crew guys had to pack up their pit box and then run to their Cup haulers to strip off their firesuits. They then had to head over to their NNS haulers to put firesuits back on and proceed back to pit road to set up their NNS pit box. Teams had about an hour to work with following the first race to get changed and set up their pit stalls for the nightcap.
One example of what I’m talking about is the Furniture Row pit crew. Those five guys pit Regan Smith’s car on Sunday, but on Saturday they work for KHI and service Kevin Harvick’s Nationwide car. Some more examples include three of the five guys that work on Kyle Busch’s Cup car. Both front guys and the rear changer also work on Kyle’s pit crew on Saturdays. And there are certainly others.
What this really means for these crew guys is being 100% focused. It means doing 10 pit stops during the Cup race, then getting a quick break, followed by four more pit stops in the Nationwide race. Oh yeah, and don’t screw it up.
Another group that did double duty on Monday that I wanted to point out was the spotters. The double header for the Cup guys running in the Nationwide race also meant twice the work for their spotters. They had to work for 500 miles, take a quick break, then get ready to work 300 more.
What really sucks about double duty though, is having to do it again a week later. With the way the forecast is shaping up for Talladega, it may be deja vu all over again.
Two incidents, two very similar stories. Two drivers enter a turn, two wide. The one on the bottom slips up and wrecks the one on top. The one who was wrecked has his car repaired and returns to track. He goes out and wrecks the one who wrecked him. One incident ends with a car on its top, the other ends with a car in flames.
Less than two months into the season and driver payback is quickly becoming the story of the year. This weekend at Nashville, we got our second taste of on-track payback in an incident between Jason Leffler and James Buescher.
These incidents have got you guys talking. Following the race a reader sent us a question. He asked:
“Do you think the time will come when some of the drivers get the message that “It was just a racing incident” won’t work and if you get loose it is your fault?”
Is that a message that needs to be sent?
The fact is the impetus for the payback on both occasions occurred because of accidental contact. No one means for these things to happen, and more often than not drivers are more than willing to take responsibility. Unfortunately we seem to be coming to a point where this type of incident is grounds for payback.
In the case of Carl Edwards I’ll give him a bit more credit because of the history between he and Brad K. That said, the contact in that case and the most recent one is not excusable.
I don’t think payback is deserved or OK when the contact occurs accidentally (I think it should be used sparingly in any case). These things happen during the course of a race; there are 43 cars moving at high speeds on a tightly packed racetrack. It happens. Jason Leffler’s and Carl Edwards’ careers are not free of contact that was unintended. I can’t recall their cars being destroyed by an angry competitor though.
At the end of the day all of these guys are adults and they need to start acting like it. It sucks to get wrecked. It sucks when you’re the victim of an inexperienced or over-eager fellow competitor’s mistake. But as I’ve already said, this is racing, it happens. The sooner these guys grow-up the safer everyone will be.
What a race we had today! It had everything you could possibly want. There was beating and banging, flared tempers, dramatic events, wild strategy, three wide racing (at Martinsville!), no wing, double file restarts, a race that didn’t end under caution and Jimmie Johnson wasn’t in victory lane (though this was a negative for some of you). Unfortunately, not many people saw it.
It really is a shame rain forced this race on to TV mid-day Monday. This though is often a symptom of racing at Martinsville this time of year. I can hardly think of a time, either Spring or Fall, that I have been to Martinsville and not had to worry about weather. I always make sure I’ve got my umbrella and raincoat ready to go at a moments notice.
This weekend, and every other wet weekend spent at Martinsville makes me wonder why NASCAR doesn’t consider moving at least one of the dates. It’s apparently something track president Clay Campbell is wondering too. He told The Virginian Pilot’s Dustin Long that he is asking if there is something that can be done about the Spring date. With the impeding inclusion of another Kansas date, the economic toll on the track from things like this has got to be making Campbell nervous.
On top of the cost it brings to Martinsville, it’s unfortunate fans are having to bear some of the financial burden of the rain delay. I know I’m preaching to the choir here, but the fans are the reason we do this and their hard earned money is the reason we can continue to do this. As TC pointed out yesterday, for the fans it’s one more day of lodging and food and likely missed work.
I think Martinsville is a great race track, certainly one of my favorites, and the racing it produces is consistently some of the best we see. It’s races like the one we had today that the sport needs more of. We can’t continue to do this every year though. It’s bad for the fans, the track and the sport.
So I implore NASCAR, please consider Clay Campbell’s request and keep in mind all the people who wanted to be at the race today, or wanted to watch the race today and couldn’t. Give Martinsville a better date.
In order to be successful on race day, crew members must all be on the same page. Knowing what to expect for the upcoming 500 miles (or laps… or kilometers) can mean the difference between winning or finishing second. Teams have gotten so big now, and have so many moving parts, that it’s vital for everyone to be as prepared as possible. And the last chance to get everyone together before the race starts, is the closed-to-the-public pre-race meeting.
It happens every weekend. About an hour before the green flag drops, crew members will disappear into team haulers for this all important meeting. In it, crew chiefs will go over a variety of important information for the day, and many will give pep talks.
The information shared during these meetings often includes things like when the first pit stop will be and how far the car can go on gas, what adjustments the pit crew can maybe expect to make during the race, an update of the weekend’s happenings and how the car is running, a minute-by-minute schedule of pre-race activities (generators pushed off pit road, National Anthem, start your engines, etc), any post race tasks that need to be completed, and a variety of other topics.
Just like every good leader (especially in sports) many crew chiefs will also take this time to pump their guys up for the day’s activities. Pit crews will be reminded to be smooth and accurate, and watch each other’s backs. If they were good the week before, the boss will tell you to keep it up. If you weren’t so good the week before, he’ll encourage you to stick to your fundamentals. And behind-the-wall guys will be reminded to be prepared at all times for any situation.
Once the information has been relayed, and nobody has any questions, the team will break and crew members will go about getting changed into firesuits and completing any remaining pre-race jobs. Then, it’s go time.
Farewell Suitcase Jake We were all saddened today to hear that the sport had lost one of it’s legends. “Suitcase” Jake Elder, who led some of the best drivers in NASCAR’s history, died at the age of 73. He had been in declining health ever since suffering a stroke a few years ago. During his long career, Elder sat atop the pit box for legends like David Pearson, Darrell Waltrip, Benny Parsons, and Fred Lorenzen. He also helped Dale Earnhardt win the 1979 Rookie of the Year. For more on Elder, check out this piece by SPEEDTV.com’s Mike Hembree.