A day on the war wagon leaves lasting impression (NASCAR.com)
March 12, 2010
I’ve had some nice seats in my life; shotgun with an Indiana state trooper, center stage at Cats in London and even on top of an elephant at the Indianapolis Zoo when I was a kid.
All of these are experiences I’ll never forget, but as you get older it seemingly takes more and more to leave an impression— a lasting one at least.
Well, I can now add ‘top of the No. 29 pit box’ to my list because that certainly takes the cake for best seat in the house—for now—and likely for a long time to come.
It was last weekend during the Kobalt Tools 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway. There was certainly a lot of drama during the race, namely the Carl Edwards-Brad Keselowski high-flying feud, but my time perched high above pit road was most memorable. Besides, cars seem to fly more in NASCAR than they do on the The Jetsons these days.
I started by climbing up a narrow ladder with barely any tilt while wearing ballet flats. Now, that’s dangerous!
Thankfully, I managed and that was the first step to my seat on the pit box, or as I call it—Gil Martin’s house. Martin is the crew chief for Kevin Harvick, driver of the No. 29 Chevrolet.
Typically the only ones fortunate enough to land this kind of seat are either drivers’ wives, engineers, team owners, sponsor executives, the occasional celebrity and sometimes, a contest winner.
Of course I fit into none of those categories. However, I was semi interested in motor oil and the fact that I agreed to learn more about the new Pennzoil Ultra formula and its super cleaning powers hoisted me right to the top of the list of lucky ones to sit on a pit box.
During the race, I must clarify, because I’m sure anyone can sit on top of a pit box prior to the green flag. I’ve seen swarms of fans get their pictures taken up there before.
So back to me walking up this tiny little ladder, once I made it up I was greeted by my pal Ford Martin, Gil and Rhonda Martin’s son and the most well-known teenager in NASCAR.
Immediately I thought, OK this is going to be fun. We’ll just hang out, talk and drink Coke together. Um, not so much. Ford busted out a tiny notebook and a pen. On the notebook: A numbered line for each lap of the race. Next, he stuck a radio in my hand and instructed me to put on a headset that very painfully smashed my cute new headband into my skin.
The national anthem was next, followed by a No. 29 team huddle. I couldn’t hear much from my seat nearly 10 feet above pit road until Martin broke the huddle and everyone yelled, “kick a**”!
“I said kick egg,” Ford informed me, which I loved.
And then the 14-year-old asked the crew what ExtenZe was and almost fell off the box laughing. The male enhancement product is a sponsor of Kevin Conway whose car was lined up near the No. 29.
I realize this has nothing to do with racing but it’s what made my experience memorable and this is my story to tell so keep reading.
Harvick’s wife, Delana, arrived and took her place next to Martin, which was nice because now the air up there smelled like clean laundry instead of burning gas and dirty tires.
The cars started their engines and Martin told Harvick to be patient. There were a lot of cars in front of us, he said. Harvick qualified 35th at AMS.
It was a brisk day, the wind was cool, but that’s not what was giving me goose bumps. I’d seen a ton of racing but from the pit box, I was nervous.
First, looking down made me dizzy and second, I was scared if Harvick wrecked everyone would get mad, start stomping around, throw clipboards and the box would shake. Then I’d fall right off this 10-foot toolbox. Crazier things have happened and no one could hear me scream, they’ve all got major ear muffs on.
Danger aside, I felt pretty darn important up there. Like I said before, people who sit on top of pit boxes typically are special.
These are the things I’m thinking about as the cars come around and complete the first lap and Ford is next to me writing stuff in his notebook. It’s pretty silent for the first 20 or so laps aside from the voice of the spotter on the radio.
Just before Harvick, the Cup Series points leader, comes in for the first pit stop, I can hear the ring of the air gun, I see tires roll around, doors on the pit box are opening and slamming shut shaking it just enough to feed my fears of falling off again.
Then something calmed my agitated state: Ford yells to his dad, “If we win we’re taking her to Victory Lane.”
Wow, I thought. I did look pretty racy in my black and white polka-dot Betsey Johnson coat. And then I realized as soon as Ford completed that sentence it would be just my luck if Harvick cut a tire and put it the wall on the next lap. Then his wife Delana would push me and my loud coat right off the back of this metal contraption.
Out of my daydream, I pay attention long enough to realize we’re in major trouble. Some how, the No. 29 missed the set up and Harvick—on the radio—said it was going to be a long day. “Let’s just hope for a top 10 or 15th place finish,” he said. “We don’t have a car to win.”
Now it was tense, no one was talking and if I had a question it likely wasn’t getting answered. Getting comfy on my black leather seat, I turned around and started people watching below. It amazes me how many girls wear high-heels to a race track and I really feel for the camera man in our pit that has to hold his heavy equipment up for 500 miles.
Then I saw Lynne Allmendinger, wife of A.J. Allmendinger, on the box to my left, caught her eye and waved. I thought if I had her number we could text back and forth, the wives do that a lot to pass the time.
Pay attention, Raygan. Pay attention.
I was paying attention, just not to the race. I was enjoying the view of the entire track and everything within it, something I don’t normally see in the media center. I was noticing all the crew members running back and forth to get fuel, I was noticing other reporters walking up and down pit road looking for news and that’s when I saw Joe Menzer, my esteemed colleague.
I was dying to tell him how it was up in my seat but alas it was too loud. My only form of communication was writing notes back and forth with Ford. The kid knows more about racing than Mike Helton himself.
I mouthed a few inaudible sentences to Menzer and off he went which reminded me that I hadn’t eaten lunch. Which then made me wonder, how do people eat up here? I had never seen any delivery service on pit road and you can’t call anyone it is too loud. I could drink a Coke but I needed protein. I was too afraid to ask about lunch so I just wrote to Ford that I would be back. That would soon become a lie.
I walked gingerly down the tiny ladder, the same ladder Gil flies up and down like some kind of primate, but he’s had years of practice. This is my first day.
I slide off my headset and pull off my headband embedded behind my ears and retrieve Menzer so we can eat. The track’s concessions stand, my only option, I order a $6 cheeseburger that Menzer has to pay for because they don’t take plastic.
Inside the media center, I catch up on the happenings I’ve missed over the course of 200 laps. I had only paid attention to Harvick’s progress, and when I left, he was stuck near the middle of the field riding around with one of the Red Bull cars.
I told Menzer I would return to my perch after my cheeseburger, but the mystery meat gave me digestive issues and delayed my return. Track food, not countless hours in the sun, will be the death of me.
By the time I got squared away and my ear muffs back on, I looked at the speed chart and realized Harvick had climbed into the top 15. Menzer thought that was funny of course because obviously it was my fault the team had struggled. I was in fact the jinx and now I couldn’t go back, plus my stomach was way too volatile anyway.
I found Sam Brown of Chevy who was nice enough to return my ear muffs and radio and I joked and said “hey it must be that new Pennzoil Ultra that has Harvick now on his way to a top 10 finish.”
Actually, if you ask Danny Lawrence, engine builder and trackside manager for Earnhardt-Childress Racing Engines, it has been a factor. And herein lies my education about motor oil. Apparently grabbing the cheapest bottle off the shelf at Wal-Mart is harmful to your engine’s health, much like me and that cheeseburger.
Since Harvick’s crew began using the new Pennzoil Ultra in the engines, Lawrence said, it has made a measurable difference.
Lawrence started testing the engines with the new formula during the offseason and used it for the fist time in race conditions during the Budweiser Shootout, which Kevin won for the second year in a row.
“The engines have gained a half percent or more and we are not seeing the wear we normally do,” Lawrence said. “The engine power and torque doesn’t fall off by the end of the race because the oil is doing its job and not breaking down.”
Lawrence can’t say the new motor oil—which keeps the engine close to factory clean—is the cause for RCRs comeback this season, but in racing every advantage and detail counts.
“Even the smallest deposits can rob performance and lead to catastrophic engine failure and Pennzoil technology helps provide exactly what we need to keep our engines running clean,” he added.
And what RCR puts in Harvick’s car is the same product I can buy for my car, well pretty close, but I don’t need the exact formula because I don’t run 200 mph for 500 miles.
Now maybe next weekend Lawrence can teach me how to change my oil so I won’t have to pay the dealership unfair amounts of money every 5,000 miles.
The race is nearing its end. Edwards is getting yelled at by NASCAR and Harvick is going to finish ninth when at the start of the race he thought his car was junk.
I ran out to meet Harvick’s crew by the No. 29 hauler as they were loading up to go home.
“”If a ninth-place effort ever felt like a win, then that was it,” Harvick said. “Gil made a great call there late to not pit and take the wave around. We got a quick caution, which enabled us to get tires, and take a big swing at the chassis. I am awfully proud of everyone on this Shell-Pennzoil team.”
Happy to maintain the points lead, Martin explained what happened.
“Well we made some pretty major adjustments there at the end of the race we shouldn’t have had to do but it worked out for us. Kevin [Harvick] hung in there and we caught a couple lucky breaks. The caution came out at the right time so we didn’t go two laps down and the wave around worked out for us. Last year those are the kind of things that didn’t work for us. Today it did work so I’ll take it. Needed some luck on our side,” he said.
And what about my influence on the outcome? I told Martin after I left the performance picked up.
“Well you know I hate that because you looked good up there but if that’s the case we’re going to have to ban you.”
There you have it folks, my first and last time on a pit box.
The opinions expressed are solely those of the writer.
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