NASCAR WCUP: Crewmembers Discuss How Their Jobs Change For Bristol
24 August 1999
Bristol Changes Crewmembers' Jobs DEI Team Discuss Why Saturday Night's Race is Unique Lead Body Fabricator Damon Detmer "Bristol is not a fabricator's friend. When Bristol comes up on the schedule you automatically know that you are going to build an extra hood, nose and tail just to fix the car when it comes back from that place. And that's if you have a good finish in the race. I have seen cars that finished well in the race and still had to have a whole new body put on when it returned to the shop. On our Pennzoil cars, we make the wheel openings as big as possible and put extra front bumper braces on. The most important thing about building a Bristol car is to make sure when someone runs into us, the sheet metal on our car won't push in and cut a tire. Tire Specialist Robby Fuller "Bristol is the only short track where we will have an inner-liner inside the tires. Normally we just have inner-liners on the big tracks. But, we are going so fast at Bristol that I think the inner-liner would help if Steve were to cut down a tire. We just have the inner-liners on the right-side tires since the right sides are the most dangerous if something happened while he's on the track. We are going to use about 15 sets of Goodyear tires this weekend. About nine of those will be used in the 500-lap race. Each set costs about $1,500. Bristol is tough on tires." Crew Chief Paul Andrews "Qualifying is almost the toughest part about Bristol because that sets the tone for the whole weekend. It's more important here than on the road courses of Watkins Glen and Sonoma. If you qualify bad at Bristol you start at the back, but you also have to pit on the backstretch which is a huge disadvantage. We start the race doubled up on the track, but if there is an early caution then the restart is single file and you are wrapped all the way around the track. The leaders can almost see the tail end of the field. By the same token if you start at the front then you are probably going to stay at the front all night. Race strategy gets tricky there also. Remember if you pit at Bristol you are going to automatically drop down two laps. If the caution flag comes out right after you are pit, then are you down those laps and its awfully tough to make them up. Deciding when to pit gives all the crew chiefs nightmares. If you pit too early you could lose laps, if you pit too late the cars with the newer tires are going to gain ground on you." Car Chief Kevin Manion "On a half-mile track with the stands so close and so tall and the motors so loud, the sound just reverberates in there so it makes it very tough to hear each other talking. We basically have to do all of our talking over the radio even when Steve is out of the car. It's nothing major but it's like talking to your friends during a Metallica concert. You use a lot of hand signals. If you want to talk normally you almost have to go to transporter and shut the doors." Spotter Ty Norris "Bristol is absolutely the hardest place to spot, bar none," said spotter Ty Norris. "I mainly do two things. I watch our Pennzoil car as well as try to watch ahead to warn Steve (Park) in case of trouble. The problem at Bristol is both of those things are usually happening at the same time. At Bristol, you almost have to have one eye looking in one direction and one eye looking in the other direction. At Bristol you can't use more than one spotter. Things happen way too fast there and the spotters would be talking over each other. Bristol is the most nerve-wracking place. When I spot there I sometimes feel like I'm doing the radio broadcast. All I do is talk, talk, and talk. I'm sure it bothers the driver but you have no choice. When I climb up in the stands before the race I always take two or three extra batteries. That is how much spotters talk there." Engine Builder Richie Gilmore "The trickiest thing about Bristol is building a valve train for the engine that can handle the RPMs. We turn a lot of RPMs there, about 9200 compared to a place like Michigan which is probably about 8800 tops. When Steve is off the gas the RPMs drop down to about 8400 which creates a lot of heat in the valve springs and the top of the pistons. That is tough on the engine but what helps us that it is a shorter race. We go 250 miles but if we had to go 500 miles then we wouldn't have a lot of engines making it, let alone drivers. We put more Pennzoil to the valve springs and cams to make sure the engine lives. Truck Driver Troy Cole "We drive up to Bristol Thursday afternoon. Bristol is the only track where we have a transporter parade from the Interstate right into the track. It's kind of cool to watch all the fans who line the streets. They really like their racing up there. Bristol is also about the toughest place to park the transporters. Remember you have to get about 50 Winston Cup cars and about 60 some Busch trucks parked inside. It's pretty cramped living, and you have to be good at moving your truck in the tight spaces. But it's a change of pace. Plus we have to drive the transporter back to Charlotte after the race so it's a very late night for all of us. All the truck drivers earn their money this weekend." Rear Tire Changer Bobby Burrell "During a pit stop you are so busy concentrating on changing the tire that you kind of tune out everything around you. But it is awfully tight on the pits with cars missing you by sometimes only one or two feet. I guess if you think about it, it is kind of scary but those drivers are professional and know what they are doing. On a track where you can make a lap in less than 18 seconds you can sure gain a lot or lose a lot of positions in the pits. Things happen very quickly there and you always have to be ready for the unexpected." Driver Steve Park "You will hear people say that racing at Bristol is like flying a jet fighter in a gymnasium and I guess that is true. But I always tell people it's more like flying a jet fighter in a gymnasium with Earnhardt and Gordon right on your tail trying to nudge you out of the way. At Bristol you have to have one eye looking forward to see who you are going to bump and one eye looking backward to see who is bumping you. That's kind of hard to do. Bristol almost makes you dizzy." Race Information: Saturday, August 28, 1999 in Bristol, TN TV: ESPN 7:30pm/et 1998 Race Winner: Mark Martin Track/Race Length: 0.533 mile oval, 500 laps, 266.5 miles Practice: Friday, Aug 27th, 12:00noon - ~2:00pm/et and 3:00-~4:00pm/et: Saturday, Aug 28th, 11:30am -1:009m/et Happy Hour Practice: Saturday, Aug 28th, 2:15 - 3:15pm/et, TV-? Qualifying Draw: Friday, Aug 27th at 10:30am First Round Qualifying: 2 laps for positions 1-25, Friday, Aug 27th at 5:00pm/et, TV-ESPN2 and live via PRN radio/internet Second-Round Qualifying: Saturday, Aug 28th at 1:45pm/et for 2 laps, positions 26-36 Event Qualifying Record: Mark Martin, August 1995, 125.093 mph Track Qualifying Record: Rusty Wallace, April 1999, 125.142 mph Last Year's Pole Sitter: Rusty Wallace Pit Road Speed: 35mph