CONCORD—It takes power and finesse to make a NASCAR pit crew team.

Thirteen college athletes from eight schools competed in the third annual NASCAR Drive for Diversity National Pit Crew Combine at the NASCAR Research and Development Center on May 25. Participants came from North Carolina A&T, Alcorn State, Winston-Salem State, and Bethune-Cookman universities as well as Morehouse College, Kentucky Christian and Virginia University of Lynchburg, who participated in tryouts earlier in the spring. Success in the combine results in an invitation for further training throughout 2018.

“One of the biggest things to bringing an athlete into NASCAR is, because they know how to perform when a car comes down in first place, they can go out in first place,” said Drive for Diversity Crew Development Program coach Phil Horton, who is also director of athletic performance at Rev Racing. “Not only from the athletic standpoint—the bigger, stronger, faster athlete—but the mindset to be able to perform under pressure, and make sure that their car and their team is successful at winning.”

Templates for college athletes who would likely perform well as a pit crew member primarily center on football players for men, and softball and basketball players for women. Nine of the combine’s 13 participants played football.

“Basketball players tend to be a little bit too tall, unless they are a point guard, and they’re probably out of the equation,” Horton said. “It just depends on how well they fit in that template of what we’re trying to do, which includes finesse for the changers, power positions for the carriers and finesse and power for the jackmen. There’s a lot that goes into that, and especially trying to find that type of individual who can make that happen.”

Said A&T’s Joshua Patrick, a linebacker who earned a pair of HBCU national championships with the Aggies: “It’s definitely comparable to the technique of the sport. It’s definitely a technique that you have to master.”

Patrick’s former teammate Courtney Edmonds, a wide receiver, invited him to a pit crew practice, where Patrick met coach Horton, who is also an A&T alumnus.

“Just like any other sport, you’ve got to get those practice reps in,” Patrick said of the similarities between football and pit crew training. “Just consistently trying to master a skill, period.”
Horton led a series of drills throughout the four-hour combine, which tested agility, strength, speed and the ability to produce in a competitive environment. Fellow Aggie Keiston France, a tennis player, also participated in the combine. Tennis players are not known for their strength, but their agility and focus, which France attributed to his performance during the combine.

“Tennis, we don’t have a lot of fans, but when it came to that moment in time, we had to produce,” he said. “Being well-balanced is something I learned playing tennis. It all translated to working in the pit crew. Having endurance, because in pit crew, you have to wear a hot fire suit for two-three hours in the middle of the summer, or even in the winter.”

Said Horton:  “[France] is a little undersized for the type of athlete that we have a template for. Jackmen, we use offensive and defensive linemen. Carriers, we use linebackers. Changers, we use safeties and wide receivers. Keiston is a tennis player. One of the advantages that he does have is excellent hand-eye coordination, and he showed that. You could clearly see that. He surprised us.”

France, a Mint Hill resident, is training to become a tire changer, something he saw in middle school, and saw himself doing down the road.

“You’re taking a small air gun and hitting these little yellow lug nuts,” France said. “For tennis, small tennis racket and you have to hit a small yellow tennis ball that was coming at you …from a serve standpoint. It all works hand-in-hand.”

France worked as a tire changer in training with Obaika Racing, where he also handled public relations, putting his mass communications degree from A&T to work.

“They gave me my first shot to do PR and media work, but as well as work in the pit as support,” he said. “Then [NASCAR driver and team owner] Jennifer Jo Cobb recently has given me a shot to work with her as well, and eventually go over the wall as a changer when I get my license, and to do PR and media every now and then, but they really need someone in the crew, so that works out perfectly.”  

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