#TBT: 7 things I learned about being a pro race car driver | Articles

Looking forward to the full article.

Having worked both SCCA, Nasa, and Pro events, That part about it being a show is so true.

The details of the show are down to the minute and everyone has a place. It’s an incredible amount of details are put into every step. Nascar is a pro at this. It’s very interesting to watch the motions that are put in place to pull it all off.

For this one you’ll want a subscription and a time machine

I’ve crewed in IMSA, SCCA and NASCAR, and I will second everything you said. The amount of preparation before hand, and then the work load at the track (especially NASCAR) is something that most people cannot imagine. You have to have amazing attention to detail and be very organized. Not only does everyone need to know their tasks, but they have to work well together and not be in each other’s way. We had lists for everything, and they were taped to the car, tool boxes, you name it. One small missed detail could be the difference between winning or simply finishing the race. You’d be shocked at how easy it is to miss even large items like changing the gear ratios or rebuilding the shocks between sessions.

And then there is the cleaning. We cleaned the car top to bottom, inside and out, between every session. No exception. It’s shocking how dirty they can get and when you have sponsors, they expect it. And in our case, when it was Toyota, they have very high expectations. We coordinated crew attire before every event, and had uniforms for the track. But even afterwards at the hotel, we always had proper attire. A certain conduct was also expected.