The Drivers Aren’t the Only Competitors

If you are a race fan, and you think the competition stops with the drivers, think again.  The drivers are the face of the sport and they get paid big bucks to do what they do.   But, the competition for crew guys is just as fierce as the on track action, and its not just competition between teams.

Competition between the teams is sort of like when you were in high school and you had friends at the other schools in your district.  You were still friends with those people, but when it came to football, or basketball, or whatever, you wanted to beat the crap out of them.  Racing is kind of the same.  I’ve got friends on alot of teams, but that doesn’t mean I don’t want to beat them off pit road every stop.  Most of us are involved in racing because we like to compete, and pit road is our arena.  We take our jobs very seriously and prepare relentlessly, just so we can get that little bit of an edge over the next crew.

The other competition goes on within organizations.  When you get the chance to step off the wall for a team, you can’t relax.  Somebody is always waiting in the wings to take your spot.  One slip up can cause you to lose your spot faster then you can say “what the…”  Crew chiefs want us to be perfect, and if they can maybe make a change and pick up a tenth or two on a pitstop, they’ll probably do it.  Most are never totally happy with their crews and are always looking to drop those times a little bit more.

So if you watch races, and you think pitstops are just to service the drivers and the racecars, look again.  Some of the best competition isn’t on the race track, but on pit road.

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