What lies within: for a closer look at the inner workings of a racing team, start at its headquarters: a body shop, engineering research center and funhouse—all on 18 wheels

Sporting News, The, July 15, 2002 by Matt Crossman

11:30 a.m. Verbal abuse

As Compton drives in Happy Hour, Hillman watches from atop the hauler, smoking a cigarette and checking times on a computer. In the garage, Kendrach takes notes about the engine. DePouli takes notes about times. Junior, Irvan and Carter are in the pit area, waiting to push Compton back to the garage.

Jennings is vacuuming the hauler, and he's glad nobody is there to see it. They'd--where's your apron?--tear him to shreds. (Then again, maybe not. He also cooks.)

"Leave your feelings at home," Junior and Gonzalez say independently, and it's not a suggestion but a command. The slightest shortcoming--real, perceived or totally made up--is exploited. God help you if you stutter or have a limp.

During the race, Shim Stack's teammates tape a tag to his bade "Likes Boys." Makes sense, considering, as Irvan earlier pointed out, "he's afraid of girls."

Compton says the give-and-take helps the team because crew members must be able to get over the inevitable squabbles. It helps to know you can bite a guy's head off, he can bite yours off, and at the end of the day you can blaspheme his mother over a beer.

"There's some pretty uptight people out here. We're not like that," Compton says, and he shoves Irvan, for no reason, except maybe that Irvan wears an earring and has blond highlights.

2 p.m. Race preparations

Happy Hour ends, and Compton is off to run the Busch race in Kentucky. He comes out of the hauler munching on Pringles, a banana in one hand and a Gatorade in the other.

The end of Happy Hour marks the beginning of the third phase or race weekend for NASCAR teams. The first is getting the car ready for qualifying. The second changes the car from a qualifier to a racer in advance of Happy Hour. Now, the crew corrects the problems found during Happy Hour and runs through a comprehensive check list that is broken down into eight categories: engine, drive line, front suspension, rear suspension, four corners, interior, trunk and general.

"We'll take out all the shocks, all the springs," Irvan says. "We'll go through and nut and bolt the car, make sure nothing's lose, nothing's falling off."

Going through the checklist solves a mystery that has plagued the car since it first was tested weeks ago. "Still got that vibration when you put on the brakes," Compton says during Happy Hour. "I don't know what it is."

When the vibration is missing during the race on Sunday, the team deduces a broken rear caliper bracket replaced Saturday must have been the cause.

7 a.m. Sunday. Getting race ready

Gonzalez uses a pink marker to draw lines on the right front axle cap. Each cap will have five such lines, corresponding to the studs, that help tire changers during pit stops. As Gonzalez colors, Kendrach looks for cracks in spark plugs using a spark-plug light that is similar to the tool an opthalmologist uses to examine eyes.

There isn't much optimism this morning. Neither qualifying nor practice was good, and so many changes have been made that it's unclear how the car will handle. For the weekend, the entire set of shocks is changed three times, just the rears twice and just the left front twice.