Pit stop after pit stop – crews work like clockwork, regardless of how tired they are. [Photo by Jack Webster]
The work never ends for the crew during the race. [Photo by Jack Webster]
To the casual observer of auto racing, and even somewhat to the more experienced observer, it is the drivers of the cars that get most of the credit and all the glory for victory in this sport. It is pictures of them – on the victory podium, holding the trophy up high, spraying the champagne that we see.
But we all know better. More so than most any other sport, auto racing is a team effort, requiring great depth of support and the incredible labor and dedication of a tight knit group of people to even give the driver a chance to get onto the podium, or even to finish the race.
Think about the amount of man-hours that go into the preparation of a racecar for competition in an event like the Rolex 24 at Daytona. The crew, which knows literally every nut and bolt on the car, takes weeks or months to go over every single detail of the machine to get it ready for it’s twice around the clock endurance test. Many long nights are spent in the run up to actually getting the car to the track.
Once at the track, it seems as though the entire process begins anew, with the car constantly being assembled, disassembled, adjusted, readjusted, track tested, and modified as needed. The crew’s existence literally revolves around the car and the desire to make it the best racecar possible for the upcoming test of man and machine.
In addition to the incredibly long hours spent at the shop prior to the race, crews will spend even more hours compressed into a much more intense work schedule once they get to the track. In addition to the car prep, they also have a myriad of other tasks to perform, such as unloading the equipment from the truck, setting up the garage area, setting up the pits, getting fuel from the track gas station, shuffling wheels and tires back and forth to the tire supplier – the list goes on and on.
Dedication – even exhausted and napping,the crewman keeps the headset on.
[Photo by Jack Webster]
At the track, the old adage “work expands to meet time allotted” never rang truer. Cars are constantly tinkered with up until the very moment that the driver is strapped in, the door is closed and the car rolls onto the track.
Once the race starts, particularly an endurance contest like the Rolex 24, the work and pressure on the crew just continues to build. Pit stops must be performed like clockwork, time after time after time. Each person on the crew has a specific job to do throughout the race, and the success or failure of the entire effort can hinge on the collective effectiveness of those individuals. Crews bond like family. They are literally a “band of brothers”, who have tasted both success and failure together.
I know, as I was part of that “band of brothers” in the 1980’s working Camel GT events as a crewman. We worked together, ate together, shared the same hotels together (usually cheaper ones than the drivers enjoyed), worked countless hours together, and lived or died with the success or failure of our drivers and their cars.
I guess the closest analogy one can think of is to compare race crews to combat aircraft crews at war. Keep them going, do whatever it takes to get the job done and then nervously watch for your aircraft to return safely. Only in motor racing, you are watching the clock and hoping your car keeps coming around, lap after lap, hour after hour, right on schedule.
Take a look around the pit area during the Rolex 24. Driver’s take their turns behind the wheel and then are off to the motor home for a massage, nap or a meal. The crew stays in the pits for the entire race, grabbing a few winks of sleep when possible, a quick bite to eat and all the while are on constant alert for routine pit stops, emergency pit stops for unforeseen repairs and doing all the things necessary to keep the car, their car, on the track.
There can be only one overall winner at the Rolex 24, just as there can be only one winner in each class. But victory comes in many forms in motorsport. Just finishing the Rolex 24 against all odds is a victory for most teams. Overcoming difficulties, repairing a trashed out race car in the middle of the night and then willing the damn thing to make it to the finish is winning as well. Just ask any crewman who has worked the race.
Hats off to all of them.
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