Other crew members start out on the car. Making sure everything is tight, every nut and bolt that holds anything on the car is safety wired to insure that nothing falls off the car on the track. Check the front end alignment again, it was OK when we left last night but we need to make sure it is perfect for race day. Check all fluid levels, make sure we have everything full and have plenty of motor and gear oil to take to pit wall. Check the compressed air bottles, make sure they are as full, and fill them if necessary. Sort out all the air lines for the tire guns, make sure all fittings are tight, all guns work properly, all sockets are in place. Set up an extra five lug nuts on a “wire sling” for each tire changer to carry on his belt during pit stops.
These become necessary if the lug nuts fall off the wheels when placing the tire on the car during the pit stop, there is not time to hunt for a fallen lug nut. Check all wheels and make sure all lug nuts are glued in place with a light duty caulking. This helps the tire changer to place the tire without having to pick up lug nuts and try to get them started on the studs. The studs on the hubs of the car are tapered therefore when the tire is placed on the car the nuts slip right over the stud end and start themselves, when the gun hits them they are ready to be tightened. Sometimes these can fall off during the placing process. That is when the changer needs to have those extra lug nuts that are on his “wire sling”.
Next, make sure all the tools and set up in their proper drawers and placed in the proper location, in a hurry we need to know right where to go to find the tool we need when we need it. There is nothing worse than having the car in the pits for repair only to find that the tool needed for the job is lost. This includes all large hammers and portable body repair equipment, in case of an accident we want to be able to pull the sheet metal away from the tire in a hurry. Always make sure there is a cooler full of something to drink for crew members, they need to be right on top of their game and sharp. Take the first batch of gas cans down to the pumps and fill them up as full as possible, need to make sure when fueling the car during a pit stop that we fill the tank, cannot have fuel cans that are not full. Locate the overflow can and make sure it is always kept with the full gas cans. This is a very important item as NASCAR didn’t like having gas overflowing in the pit area.
