This is the second post in the series Pit Road Explained.  The series breaks down all that is pit road.  Have a suggestion or question?  Email me!

A major part of the evolution of the pit stop over the years have been the innovations made in the tools we use.  Things have come a long way since the days of the famous Wood Brothers’ crews of the 1970’s.  In order to get the service complete on a car during a stop, we use a variety of very specialized tools.

I’ll start first with the tire changers.  We use an air tool called an impact to take the lugnuts off and put them back on again.  They weigh about 8lbs and are built by Hurd Pit Tools and Brunnhoelzl Racing.  Our air tools are a little different from the ones used by mechanics in auto shops though.  Some have parts made of carbon fiber, and they are specifically designed for pit stops.  They also cost a lot more then regular tools.  New impacts built for racing can cost $1,000 or more.  In order to power the impact, we run compressed nitrogen through them; I run the air pressure for my impact at about 105PSI.  An impact in the hands of a good changer can remove five lugnuts in about one second. 

The jacks used by today’s jackmen have also become very specialized.  They are built by MPD Racing (Pit Boss) and Brunnhoelzl Racing, made of machined aluminum, and weigh about 30 or 35 lbs.  These jacks are also a lot different then those found in most garages.  They can get a racecar off the ground in one pump of the handle with the proper technique.

When it comes to fixing damage, we use a variety of tools and most can be found at your local hardware store.  Hammers, reciprocating saws, baseball bats, and duct tape are the tools of choice.  We also have what we call “piano bars” which we use to get a car off the ground when tires are flat and we can’t get our jacks under them.  It’s basically a big bar we can shove under the frame that will give us leverage to get the car up.  Another item you will hear a lot about is called BearBond.  BearBond is basically a really sticky tape we use to patch bodywork back together that comes in big sheets.  And when I say really sticky, I mean really sticky.  Once its stuck to something, it isn’t coming off without a fight.

So now you know a little about the tools we use to get our drivers off pit road quickly.  Without them, we couldn’t do what we do.  Tomorrow’s topic: Pit Road Rules.

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