Pit Crew Challenge

The Sprint Pit Crew Challenge was an event held by NASCAR annually at the Time Warner Cable Arena. The event was an exhibition pit stop contest featuring the top teams from the Sprint Cup series.

The event was cancelled for 2013 due to lack of sponsorship.[1]

History

The event has its roots traced to the annual Unocal 76 World Pit Crew Competition. The competition was sponsored by Conoco Phillips, through its Union 76 gasoline brand (which at the time was the official fuel of NASCAR).

The competition was conducted during the weekend of the fall race at Rockingham, and was only open to a select few teams. The teams competed against each other for time. Each team had to complete a full pit stop (tire change, fuel), and had to complete it clean for their time to stand. Time penalties, usually five seconds, were added for any violations (i.e., loose lugnuts on wheel) found by the officials. The team with the fastest time after penalties won and was declared the world championship pit crew for the year.

The 2003 Unocal 76 World Pit Crew Competition proved to be the final held under that name and at that time of year, for two reasons. The first was that Unocal was pulling out of NASCAR, replaced by Sunoco as the sport's official fuel. The second was that thanks to schedule realignment and the Ferko lawsuit, Rockingham was to lose its fall race date. The Pit Crew Competition was renamed the Pit Crew Challenge and moved to the weekend of the Sprint All-Star Challenge at Charlotte, where it remains to this day.

Rules

7 pit crew members of each team are allowed. The top 8 seeds of the Sprint Cup point standings are allowed to have a bye into the second round of the event. The remaining eligible teams will be seeded by in order of Sprint Cup owner point standings as positions 9-24 and will compete in a head-to-head format in the opening round of the challenge.[2]

Each pit crew group (fueler and an assistant, the front tire changer and carrier as another group, the rear tire changer and carrier as another group, and the jackman) is located at separate stations in the arena. For safety reasons, the fuel cans carry nine gallons of water, about the same weight as an eleven-gallon can of racing fuel. Upon the starting signal, the jackman lifts a car on the right side, then lowers the car. The tire changers change the tires of an already-lifted simulated car on their end (front or rear). Both moves are done on the right side first, then the left. The fueler must unload the 18 gallons of water into a simulated fuel tank. When their duties are finished (a NASCAR official will approve) at their time, the six crewmen (the assistant to the fueler does not participate) run to the start of a 40-yard (36m) dash where all crewmen must push the car down the length of the arena where the nose of the car reaching the timing beam stops the clock.

Penalties are assessed for starting too early, improperly tightened lug nuts, a jack not raised high enough, spilled water in the fueling station, or excessive water left in the dump can.

Because of the 40-yard push in the competition, most Sprint Cup drivers will not participate in the competition and usually sit next to the crew chief during the event. Typically, a team engineer, a member of the public relations staff, or a driver's wife will be in the car to steer it during the 40-yard dash. This practice became widespread after the Richard Childress Racing #31 team put driver Jeff Burton's wife Kim in the car for the push, winning the 2009 challenge (the car even carried her name, not Jeff's name, on the roof). This practice is a weight advantage in the contest, as the cars are not weighed with the driver, while side windows are removed and extra grip tape is applied to the sides to give the mechanics extra grip during the push.

Past winners

Rockingham — Two-tire change

Rockingham — Four-tire change

Charlotte

Event moved indoors to Time Warner Cable Arena. Four-tire change, pushing car 40 yards
NOTE: The driver of the car does not participate in the contest.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Bruce, Kenny (2013-04-09). "Pit crew challenge not scheduled for 2013". NASCAR. Retrieved 2013-05-18.
  2. ↑ PIT CREW CHALLENGE PRESENTED BY CRAFTSMAN