As it stands right now there are only 13 days until the Budweiser Shootout and 20 days until the Daytona 500. That’s good news for all the fans anxiously waiting for the start of the season but for those who work in the sport this time means 12 hour days and six day work weeks. Go time is quickly approaching and for some teams the work is just beginning.
From new teams, to new manufacturers, the work for some teams has been greater than others. Just the same, work has continued for those whose teams have remain unchanged.
For teams like Stewart-Haas (the newly formed ones), the off-season meant a whole lot of new guys and gals coming together to form a sparkly new organization. While there was an existing infrastructure, there was and is a lot of work to be done. New cars had to be built and testing had to be done (what little testing could be done). For some of the guys that work at SHR, they couldn’t even get started at their new team until December or January.
Likewise Earnhardt-Ganassi Racing (a merged team and a team with a new manufacturer) has been battling the clock as they prepare new cars with a new manufacturer for an unsure amount of teams. The here today gone tomorrow driver situations don’t help with productivity either. It is time consuming when you are constantly changing out driver’s seats. Mix together new motors, new people and some confusion and you get a stressful situation.
Further still are the teams who have just put deals together. Look for these at established teams in lower series but also at the organizations that are planning a go at one of the major series full time. In some cases I know of teams that still need to hire people and buy equipment. Now with two weeks to go that’s pushing it.
There is even hard work being done at existing organizations that have not seen any major changes (those are your Roush Fenways and Hendricks). They too have to build cars, put in new motors (for the Dodge teams, put on new noses) and test among other things.
Even NASCAR is throwing wrenches into the plan. The truck series teams now have to contend with the sanctioning body’s whims as they have yet to announce a firm decision on the pit stop situation. We expected news this past Thursday but VP of Competition Robin Pemberton said they are still deciding. When that decision may come is anyone’s guess. I just hope they let the teams know before they get down to Daytona.
As we have said before a job in NASCAR is not always easy or glamorous. Often it is stressful and time consuming; especially as we near the start of the season. But don’t feel too bad for these guys, it is just the price you pay when you do what you love.
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on Jan 25th, 2009 at 11:39 pm
Do people at the shops get overtime pay? Other industries that run into crunch time like this handle the situation vastly differently: some are unionized and nobody can work past the allotted ~45 hours unless overtime is specifically authorized (many VFX shops and animated movie studios), others allow/necessitate lots of extra work and don’t have overtime pay (many videogame companies). I would think NASCAR falls into the latter category: you do what you love, are expected to do what it takes without overtime pay, but are compensated accordingly in the base salary.
on Jan 26th, 2009 at 4:10 pm
SearsPointer- I know at least all of the big teams do. There was actually a lawsuit regarding this issue a couple of years ago. If I remember correctly Hendrick was either not paying or underpaying over time.
One specific example I know of is Roush. They pay over time but any over time you earn is subtracted from your “bonus.” I have heard of guys earning so much overtime that at the end of the year they actually had negative bonuses. It mostly is a penalty for the shop guys. I’m not sure if anyone else does this though.
Like you said it is definitely a situation where you are expected to do what it takes because if you don’t there are a ton of people waiting in line to take your job.
on Jan 27th, 2009 at 11:36 am
The pay situation definitely depends on what the employees are classified. Overtime is only required for employees paid by the hour. Salaried or exempt employees are not required to get extra pay. Also, if you are a contract worker, temp worker, consultant, etc. You may get paid hourly but there is no overtime requirement.
However, there are laws and regulations for companies that abuse the exempt and contract worker categories.