The week after a race is a time to come home, reset and refire for the next weekend. It is also a time to evaluate weekend results and performance from the weeks past. The weekly, sometimes monthly ritual of team meetings take place in the break room and on the shop floors of every NASCAR team. Often times though the meetings serve a dual purpose in putting down rumors, and amping up team good will. They serve as the time when management can spin stories to their advantage and encourage employees to spread the good news.

As TC wrote in an earlier post Jayski’s got nothing on the Race Shops; rumors spread like wildfire on the shop floor and often when they are started they are hard to contain. I have even heard stories of sponsors backing off deals because of the concern that the stories they hear might be true. Whether true or not and despite intense denials to the media the damage may already have been done.

Performance evaluation is one of the most important things for the management of a team. They must know what they are doing wrong, and how to fix it in order to overcome the challenges. And if those challenges can not be overcome they often times will get an earful from their team owner or from management.

So here is where the team meetings come in. They allow management a forum for congratulating and/or scolding the team. In addition it provides an opportunity for them to squash rumors and make claims about the strength of the organization, and the wonderful outlook on the horizon. While there is generally a forum for employee discussion, more often then not, less than hard hitting questions are being asked and when one is asked, management dances around the subject. 

Any bad news or scolding they do have will usually be reserved for a smaller setting, but if the team is performing bad enough and the higher ups are mad enough they will be aired to the larger group. As a general rule though if management can avoid confrontation with a large crowd, they will.

These 30 minute spin sessions make the front office happy, but often times just raise more questions in the minds of the guys who work hard to get the cars ready for the weekend. No one expects to go into these meetings and get any new news or information. Any potential bad news will always be made to look good and team performance will always be painted in a positive light.

While the team meetings may not be the best use of a half hour, they are necessary to show there is still a connect between the front office and the shop. And in the meantime if they can nip things in the bud, the meeting will have served their purpose.

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