NASCAR Then and Now - Ben White [23]
Your eyes are not deceiving you. Yes, that is Richard Petty, in his driver’s suit and famous cowboy boots, beating the tar out of his Plymouth with a hammer. This happened during a pit stop at the 1968 Daytona 500; Petty was attempting an on-the-fly repair to the car’s vinyl roof, which was popping up and slowing down his car.
Today’s pit stops are perfectly choreographed down to the split second and practiced thousands of times by crew members. Only six people are allowed over the wall at any time during the race, and yet Juan Pablo Montoya’s Earnhardt Ganassi Racing team changed four tires and refueled his Chevrolet in less than 14 seconds during this stop at Dover International Speedway in May 2009. Note the two long poles appearing out of the right side of the photo: one for removing debris from the grille and another delivering liquid to Montoya.
Good thing no one was smoking during this late-1960s pit stop at North Carolina Motor Speedway. Things don’t look to be going very smoothly for this gas man; much of what he is pouring into the tank appears to be leaking out of the back of the car. Note the complete lack of any safety clothing or gear. Not only was this situation one spark away from a disaster, the high-octane fuel spilling on the crewman no doubt caused him skin irritation.
NASCAR’s safety improvements haven’t just aided drivers and spectators, they have also helped protect crewmembers, as this shot taken at Kansas Speedway in 2009 shows Scott Speed’s Red Bull Racing crew decked out in protective fire suits with helmets. The two gas men (each carrying a 10-gallon can) also wear aprons to keep the fuel from making contact with their bodies. The red box just visible in front of the man behind the car is the catch can, a container that catches any excess fuel to keep it from spilling on the car or ground.
Bringing It Home
Every driver starts a race looking to take the checkered flag. But with 42 other competitors gunning for the same goal, even the best drivers and teams have the odds stacked against them. As seven-time champion Richard Petty, the most successful driver in all of NASCAR history, has often pointed out, he started 1,184 races in his career but won only 200 of them. In those remaining 984 races, Petty battled for points, and the points gained in those non- winning races were the foundation for his seven titles. Every completed lap can count toward points—even finishing 42nd means more than finishing 43rd. This is why teams will go to incredible lengths to patch up a crippled car and throw it back out on the track, even if the chance to win the race disappeared hours earlier in a puff of smoke or a pile of mangled sheet metal. A point gained here or there may make all the difference in the final tally.
Benny Parsons’ 1973 championship season was proof that strong and consistent points finishes can pay off in the end. Parsons took the title despite winning just one race. David Pearson won 11 but ran only a limited schedule, while Richard Petty won 6 and Cale Yarborough won 4. Parsons’ 19 top-10 finishes would beat them all, but only just. After crashing early on during the last race of the season, Parsons’ crew (with help from some other teams) pieced back together his shattered Chevrolet and sent it back out on the track to record enough laps to clinch the title.
Jimmie Johnson’s quest for a historic fourth straight title took a hit during the third-to-last race of the season at Texas Motor Speedway. Johnson got caught up in a wreck that left the No. 48 Chevrolet heavily damaged. No one would have blamed the team for sitting out the rest of the race, but the crew went to work and sent the car back out