"Jeff may try working on wedge one week, and that helps him, or he may change the roll center on his car, and we'll take that information and use it when we go testing with the Winston Cup car," Knaus says. "Jeff being able to take what he learns on his Late Model car and applying it to our Winston Cup program doesn't surprise me in the least because that's the kind of racing almost everybody on this team started in. I still apply a lot of things I learned in Late Model racing 13 years ago to our Winston Cup car."
Drawing The LineThough they have the chance to ask for advice, Mathis says there is a fine line he must walk in order to keep his racing separate and not abuse his position.
"I can't put my racing ahead of the job I get paid to do, because that's how I make my living and support my family," Mathis says. "I will come up with a couple of specific questions to ask at an appropriate time. I come up with a couple things to kind of quiz them on and ask them when they're not busy. I really try not to abuse the fact that I work on a Winston Cup team and race on the weekends. I know there are several teams that won't even employ you if you race on the weekends. I consider being able to race a bonus."
Indeed, some Winston Cup team owners don't allow their employees to race as a hobby. Their reasoning ranges from fear of injury, to putting their racing ahead of the job they're paid to do, to potentially stealing parts and pieces from their shops.
"I like for my guys to come race primarily with me," says Winston Cup team owner Jack Roush. "That's my first concern.There have been instances where some of my folks have run little race programs for themselves on Friday and Saturday nights that has worked OK. But for the most part, it's my hope that I can find folks who put heart and energy and get enough satisfaction out of the competitive efforts of our race program to be satisfied. Otherwise, there will come a time when they need to stay late to work on a team car and they need to go home and work on their own car. There are always those conflicts to deal with.
"If it's a really competitive program where somebody is racing for a championship at a local track, I don't think that's compatible with working on a NASCAR team."
Richard Childress, a team owner in Winston Cup, takes a different approach to his employees racing as a hobby.
"It really doesn't bother me, because you can't take people away from what they like to do in their spare time," Childress says. "It's really no different than me wanting to go hunting or whatever I love to do. If racing is what my guys want to do on the weekends, I don't have a problem with it. I feel like all my guys are committed to Richard Childress Racing. If I see that they aren't, I stop and have a talk with them."