How to become a NASCAR Pit Crew member? All you need to know

Drivers in any form of racing, be it NASCAR or IndyCar of F1, take the cake when it comes to popularity, but motorsports is never a one-man show. Drivers can only perform their respective jobs when the team surrounding them does theirs. Team personnel like the pit crew and crew chiefs are instrumental in winning a race, and a championship.

One of the most physically demanding as well as mentally taxing roles in racing is performed by the pit crew. Made up of a team of athletes ready to drop down on their knees at a moment's notice, pit crews are often overlooked in the world of motorsports. However, that does not make the path to becoming a NASCAR pit crew any easier.

Adam Merrell, the director of motorsports at the Performance Instruction & Training school, elaborated on how NASCAR Cup Series teams expect their pit crew candidates to be conditioned. He elaborated on how a person from a school or college sports background is preferred over someone else, and told usanetwork.com:

“One of the biggest things we ask them is, are they coachable? Sometimes people take that as ‘Did they play sports?’ and if they did, that helps, but are they coachable at a job they have? Do they take constructive criticism? That’s probably one of the biggest things we see that helps or hinders the progression.”

High school and college athletic programs are hubs for NASCAR teams to find potential talent for their pit crews. Unlike regular sporting activities, a pit crew's job involves repetition of the same movement, leading to problems with motivation amongst members.

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Word of mouth is key in the world of NASCAR Pit crew recruitment

Over 70% of the top-level NASCAR Cup Series pit crews come through from an athletic background through recommendations and networking from their existing peers in the system. Breaking the ice is a key skill required by the potential candidate to get himself noticed in the world of pit crew recruitment.

Adam Merrell elaborated on the same to usanetwork.com and said:

“About 70 percent of those pit crew on Sunday did come through here first and then they moved onto those Cup teams, some with an athletic background, some without. We have a really good network with those cup teams. We’ve been doing this since 2000 so they’ll reach out to us."

All in all, a stock car racing pit crew might not be the center of attraction at a Cup Series event, but by no means is it a simple task to master.