Race Team Jobs - So, You Want To Work On A Pit Crew?

While the glamorous world of Winston Cup may beckon, the reality is that the most many people can hope for is a job with a crew on a smaller touring series such as Hooters ProCup, ARCA, ASA, the NASCAR Busch Series, or NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series. However, the other series provide the experience you'll need to ever have a shot at Winston Cup.

Chuck Bown, a former regular driver in NASCAR, operates Crewschool.com, a school that teaches a variety of skills-including pit work-aimed at landing students a job on a race team. Bown says some Winston Cup teams still hold tryouts for openings on the pit crew, but only the exceptionally talented have any shot at making it.

"That's the unfair part of the business," Bown says. "You can have a great resume and some great experience, but these teams just get so many resumes."

You shouldn't think that a smaller touring series means that joining a pit crew will be a cakewalk. Klopp says, "People need to be ready to commit." In fact, 5 Off 5 On has a daylong "look before you leap" program that is essentially designed to weed out those who may have underestimated the work involved or don't have the dedication required.

Klopp says some of his students master pit skills to improve their resume and be considered for other full-time opportunities. For example, a fabricator may move his name closer to the top of the list of job applicants if he can also pit the car. "We don't make promises, but we say this is a good way to get your foot in the door," Klopp says.

He says the really top pit crewmembers are often offered full-time jobs, even if it's just doing minor tasks at the race shop, so the team can keep them.

The increased emphasis on pit crews and the interest in working on them has inspired the development of both 5 Off 5 On and Crewschool.com.

Students pay $1,700 for the six-week program offered by 5 Off 5 On. Once they complete the course, the school helps them find weekend work on a touring series.

At Crewschool.com, students pay $7,500 for a 10-week program that covers a variety of skills including race car building, maintenance, and pit stops. The program is full-time, Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Also, students get hands-on experience by working on a Hooters team featuring Bown as the driver. "It's intense," Bown says. "We try to cover everything bumper to bumper. They build or rebuild a car during that time."

Before a race, tryouts are held among Crewschool.com students to see who will work on the pit crew. Whoever's consistently the fastest gets the job. "We let the stopwatch determine who gets what," Bown says.

Practice is the key to the students who stand out in the field. Bown says it's amazing how much time students can shave off a pit stop with just minimal instruction. "It's pretty interesting," he says. "They'll improve immensely immediately. They can get to a respectable time really quickly. But the few seconds below that, that's the toughest."

Indeed, getting those times to continually fall takes frequent practice and conditioning. Ward, for example, works out each Monday and Thursday, and practices pit stops each Tuesday and Wednesday.

"It's a commitment. It's a lot of hard work. It's not easy," Klopp says.