What Have You Done For Me Lately?

NASCAR is a performance based business.  I think (and hope) that this is a reality that everyone in the sport and around the sport should know and understand very well.  All we have as employees in the sport is our performance, and in most cases our most recent performance, to go on.  Let me explain what I mean.

I’ll start you out with an analogy to illustrate the importance of performance.  It was just recently announced that after 17 years at the University of Tennessee, head football coach Philip Fulmer would not return to the school after the 2008 season.  This is a coach with tenure at a school, a National Championship ring, and two conference titles.  After appearing in the SEC title game last season, UT is 3-6 this season and Fulmer is out.  NASCAR is no different.

It doesn’t matter whether somebody is a driver, spotter, jackman, body hanger, or sponsorship seller.  In order to get into this business and stay in this business, one has to continue to perform at a high level week after week, and year after year.  Just having a history of good performance isn’t enough.  You have to continue proving yourself every weekend.

Let me give you another example.  If I show up to try out for an open tire changer position, I could hand the crew chief and pit crew coach a resume saying I’ve got experience with team XYZ in Series A and Series B.  I might tell them I’ve been a tire changer for X number of years and have done X number of races.  They would say, “wow, impressive, now show us what you’ve got.”  If I then follow that up with a bad tryout, start hanging lugnuts, falling down, etc. I won’t get hired.  Why?  Because performance is all that matters.

In many cases, drivers and crew members might only get a few races to prove themselves.  If after those couple of weeks they’ve been given, they aren’t performing, they will get the ax.  Sometimes all it takes is one or two key mistakes to get fired.

Right in line with the importance of sustained performance, is the idea that somebody is always waiting in the wings to take your spot.  One little slip up could be all somebody needs to step in front of you and take your job.  For every guy in the sport, there is a line a mile long of people who would kill to be in his shoes.  And many will kill to get there.

With the amount of money it costs to sponsor one of these teams, companies expect to win.  You don’t want your sponsor calling you on Monday wondering why you finished poorly again.  Team owners and managers will do what they feel is necessary to ensure their team is in the best possible position to win.  And sometimes that means getting a new driver, crew chief, engineer, etc. 

In racing, we all live and die by our performance.  And that is what makes the sport so tough, and yet so great.  “If it was easy, everyone would do it.”

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