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Sprint Cup
ALL-STAR: Pit Crews Bring Together Elite Athletes
See the NASCAR Sprint Pit Crew Challenge May 19 at 8pm ET on SPEED...
The NASCAR Sprint Pit Crew Challenge will be broadcast May 19 at 8pm ET on SPEED. (Image: NASCAR)
Where else but on NASCAR's pit road can you find a retired pro wrestler known as the “The Minister of Pain” working alongside hockey players, former NFL starters and enough college football and baseball talent to field respectable NCAA Division I teams.
This is the new look of NASCAR’s next-generation pit crews, where fitness is first and mechanics can be taught.
NASCAR’s version of the ultimate “All-America” team will be in the spotlight with Thursday’s Sprint Pit Crew Challenge, and the sport will recognize those former football players who are pumping the jacks, ex-hockey players gunning the air wrenches and wrestlers finessing a tire change.
It’s a far cry from our father’s NASCAR, when the over-the-wall crew smoked cigarettes on pit road and repaired radiators and turned wrenches to prepare for races instead of running wind sprints and lifting weights at state-of-the-art fitness rooms built into race shops.
“What is going to produce better performance over the wall is a whole lot of athletic ability and a little mechanical ability, not the other way around,’’ said Andy Papathanassiou, who heads Hendricks Motorsports crew development department and is a trailblazer in revolutionizing the way NASCAR assembles its pit crews.
Papathanassiou, a former football player at Stanford, oversees what’s essentially a recruiting division for over-the-wall crew members. He’s hired former NFL strength-and-conditioning coaches to serve as scouts. They visit college teams seeking out athletes who may not get drafted into NFL or Major League Baseball rosters, but who can still make it in NASCAR’s big leagues.
There’s even a combine to further evaluate their potential before bringing them to Charlotte for a mini-camp and tryout at the Hendrick shop before an assignment in the “minors.”
“We’re doing things they are already comfortable with and good at,’’ Papathanassiou said. “We take that energy then start to teach them what they need to do over the wall.
“Motorsports is still dominated by a mechanical mindset in that we’ll search all over the world to find that one engine part to make the car faster. So why wouldn’t we fly to California or to a college in the Midwest to find that one kid that could end up being a star tire changer for us.’’
Veteran Mark Martin has seen a complete transformation in the thinking during his 27-year career at the Cup level. What used to be 20-second pit stops by mechanics who occasionally practiced live pit stops are now 12-second flashes of mechanical choreography performed by elite athletes.
“It is more critical than ever because the cars are closer to the same speed,’’ said Martin, who drives the No. 5 GoDaddy.com Chevy for Hendricks Motorsports. “It’s harder to pass than ever before. So the pit stops have become one of the more critical aspects of what we do.’’
Prior to the highly specialized system of recruitment and development, crew members were more likely hired because they knew a friend-of-a-friend-of-a-cousin who tinkered with hot rods and dug watching NASCAR.
This is the new look of NASCAR’s next-generation pit crews, where fitness is first and mechanics can be taught.
NASCAR’s version of the ultimate “All-America” team will be in the spotlight with Thursday’s Sprint Pit Crew Challenge, and the sport will recognize those former football players who are pumping the jacks, ex-hockey players gunning the air wrenches and wrestlers finessing a tire change.
It’s a far cry from our father’s NASCAR, when the over-the-wall crew smoked cigarettes on pit road and repaired radiators and turned wrenches to prepare for races instead of running wind sprints and lifting weights at state-of-the-art fitness rooms built into race shops.
“What is going to produce better performance over the wall is a whole lot of athletic ability and a little mechanical ability, not the other way around,’’ said Andy Papathanassiou, who heads Hendricks Motorsports crew development department and is a trailblazer in revolutionizing the way NASCAR assembles its pit crews.
Papathanassiou, a former football player at Stanford, oversees what’s essentially a recruiting division for over-the-wall crew members. He’s hired former NFL strength-and-conditioning coaches to serve as scouts. They visit college teams seeking out athletes who may not get drafted into NFL or Major League Baseball rosters, but who can still make it in NASCAR’s big leagues.
There’s even a combine to further evaluate their potential before bringing them to Charlotte for a mini-camp and tryout at the Hendrick shop before an assignment in the “minors.”
“We’re doing things they are already comfortable with and good at,’’ Papathanassiou said. “We take that energy then start to teach them what they need to do over the wall.
“Motorsports is still dominated by a mechanical mindset in that we’ll search all over the world to find that one engine part to make the car faster. So why wouldn’t we fly to California or to a college in the Midwest to find that one kid that could end up being a star tire changer for us.’’
Veteran Mark Martin has seen a complete transformation in the thinking during his 27-year career at the Cup level. What used to be 20-second pit stops by mechanics who occasionally practiced live pit stops are now 12-second flashes of mechanical choreography performed by elite athletes.
“It is more critical than ever because the cars are closer to the same speed,’’ said Martin, who drives the No. 5 GoDaddy.com Chevy for Hendricks Motorsports. “It’s harder to pass than ever before. So the pit stops have become one of the more critical aspects of what we do.’’
Prior to the highly specialized system of recruitment and development, crew members were more likely hired because they knew a friend-of-a-friend-of-a-cousin who tinkered with hot rods and dug watching NASCAR.
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