Long gone are the days when the driver lived and died at the decisions made by the crew chief. Today’s crew chief is responsible for handling many things that couldn’t have been imagined even a decade ago. The crew chief and his team are beholden to multimillion-dollar sponsors and an in-hock owner who needs performance, performance, performance. That means on each and every lap, let alone each and every race, to keep investors off the owner’s back and the wolves from his door.
But there’s much more to it than that.
First and foremost, the crew chief must be a gearhead of the highest magnitude, mastering the myriad parts and adjustments that go into making a Nextel Cup car run fast.
He must know how everything works, how to adjust everything to make it work better and how to fix it if it doesn’t work at all. He must to be able to speak in tongues, so he can communicate effectively with the egghead engineers, the engine guys and in reality the whole race shop, all on different levels.
He also must be the father figure, psychologist, butt-kicker and feelings-soother for an entire race team, ranging from the tire carriers to the catch-can man, the chassis geeks, the tire pressure gurus and a multitude of others.
It’s enough to make a sane man see double.
Oh, and to think we haven’t yet gotten to race day. There’s pit strategy and talking the driver down from frenzied highs, and up from depressing lows. There’s also keeping the pit crew on an even keel through frenetic 13-second pit stops, loose lugnuts, wayward tires and everything else that can ruin a race. And all of this happens in front of thousands and thousands of live fans and millions watching on TV.
Combine all the ingredients — and the inherent second-guessing that emanates from the suites to the cheap seats — and you get a grinding pressure that wears on a crew chief with the subtlety of a steamroller.
In attempts to alleviate the pressure of getting ahead of the game, crew chiefs are notorious for dancing in the gray area of the NASCAR rulebook. And that’s where, more often than not, they are busted, fined and suspended, seeing their reputation sullied like that of a criminal.
A crew chief no longer holds the powers and duties he once had as most decisions are made by the engineer long before they even get to the track, including the setup to be used for any given race or condition. While a crew chief may have the final say, he is only as good as the information he’s given from both the driver and those team members who are responsible for gathering the information necessary to make informed decisions.
A crew chief is not unlike a head coach in professional football. Yes the final call comes from the crew chief, but before it even gets to that point, there are people that scout the opposing teams. It is his responsibility to know what each and every team is going to be doing come race day. He is required to be knowledgeable on their setup, their strategy, their goals, and their weaknesses. He has to know what drivers pass on the inside, what drivers pass on the outside, which drivers prefer to run at the front, which drivers prefer to hang in the draft, and which drivers are most likely to bump, spin, and bang their way to the finish as well as how each driver handles a given situation. This information is then given to the crew chief for him to look over and study.
You then have those whose job it is to know how every single change in conditions from the sun to the weather to the time of day will affect a car and how that car will change. They have to know how that car will run in the sun versus the shade, and how they run on scuffs versus stickers in a given situation. They are required to know more about that car than they know about their own families. They have to study ever setup that they’ve ever run in the past, they have to study ever track they’ve ever run at, they have to study every change that has ever been made on that car, and then they have to compile that data into a usable form that can be interpreted by the engineer prior to the next race.
The engineer is then responsible for taking that data, crunching the numbers, and putting them into action. He has to know exactly what setup is going to be run for practice, qualifying, and racing. He has to know ahead of time what the weather is going to be like down to the exact degree and think ahead to how that will change the setup for that car. He has to have that car ready to go from the front bumper to the rear spoiler and everything in between. The engineer also must take all the data that he has been given and has to compile it based on the outlook and forecast for the next race and put into planning exact detailed changes and at what point a change would need to be made as well as what those changes will do to a car. That information is then given to the crew chief prior to arriving at the track so that he has it as his disposal in case something should arise.
From there you have the mechanics who are responsible for every bolt, nut, washer, hose, and clamp that is put on or taken off of that car. Everything must be exact, precise, and perfect, with absolutely no room for errors, mistakes, or guesses. Everything must be calculated down to 1/1000th of an inch, 1/1000th of a pound, and 1/1000th of a degree. The slightest change, error, or mistake can result in anything from the car not handling as it should, to the engine not making it through the race, to the car just simply breaking down and not running. They are required to be on the spot each and every day, and simply having a bad day is completely out of the question, as one bad choice can spell disaster and even death.
Now assuming that everyone up to this point has done their job to perfection, have thought of every possibility, contemplated every possible scenario, and have planned for every possible change, it then starts to become the responsibility of the crew chief. Prior to even worrying about the car or the setup, he must first deal with the ego of the driver who is the public face of the team, the superstar, the rock star, the millionaire, the sun around which all planets orbit and the darling of mammas, papas and marketers from sea to shining sea.
So next time your driver isn’t doing so hot and isn’t performing the way you think he should, before you start to blame the crew chief, stop and ask yourself if it’s really the fault of the crew chief that things aren’t going as one would like. There is a long line of people who share in getting the car to victory lane, but only one that takes the blame when it doesn’t quite make it there. The only thing a crew chief can do at the end of the week is ask himself if he honestly feels he’s done everything he could and done it to the best of his ability. If the answer to that is an honest yes, then he crew chief has done all he can do, and the eyes need to start looking elsewhere.
No comments:
Post a Comment