News on Wiley
Several people have asked about Wiley. Many know that we received bad news right before Bristol. Wiley has a cyst growing around the remains of the tumor. This growth is causing problems. And, a lot of concern. We have several articles worth of interviews. But, Wiley has not been able to do much work on them. We will try to get these posted in the near future.
Wiley is headed back to St. Jude at the end of November for another round of test. And, hopefully, we will know the next course of action in his battle with this tumor.
If you would like to send Wiley a note here is his facebook page.
Wiley’s Facebook Page
or his fan page
Wiley’s World on 3 Wide Life
Lee Cunningham
Lee Cunningham is a great friend. I first met Lee at Memphis Motor Speedway in Victory Lane. We had both just won our first race. I have been blessed to get to spend time with him at several races over the last several years. It’s been fun to watch him move up through the Michael Waltrip Racing organization. He has moved from the #99 Nationwide team to the #56 NAPA team. When I caught up with him at the Pit Crew Challenge, he was actually working on the #00 Aarons Dream Machine.
How did he get started? Lee Said, “Around 2000 some friends gave my family some tickets to Bristol. Before that, I never really paid much attention to it. But at Bristol, I was hooked! I was hooked hard!! I started watching the races every weekend. I found the NASCAR tech school here in Mooresville. And, right next to the NASCAR school is a pit crew school. One thing just led to another for me.” Lee started out in the NASCAR school going from 6:00 ‘til noon and thought since the afternoons were free, he would go to the pit crew school.
So, Lee went through their Pit Crew training system. Many of the team’s pit coaches drop by to watch the “open” practices. It was at one of these live practices where Lee caught the eye of Greg Miller who was the pit crew coach for the Evernham organization. Lee started in their developmental program working in the Camping World Truck series. Then, he was picked up by Michael Waltrip Racing. And he’s been there ever since.
One of the most impressive things I first saw in the pits, was Lee limbering up before the race. He would sit on the ground in front of the practice hub on the pit box. He would lay back flat on the ground and do a sit-up with the gun and hit the lugs on the practice hub –zip, zip, zip, zip, zip!!! Done!! Lee says that a lot of the ability to be a tire changer is agility. Being able to quickly adapt is critical. The car never rolls in the same way twice. It’s never a “typical” pit stop. In 13 seconds, ten lug nuts are spun off and ten fresh ones are spun on – not to mention that whole “jump in front of a moving car and drop to your knees as 42 other cars go flying by” thing.
I asked him how he works on agility. “It can be simple things”, he said, “like bouncing a tennis ball on the floor. And watching where it hits the ground all the way up till it hits your hand. It seems so simple. But, it’s training your eyes and hands to work together. Then, obviously, we do live pit stop during the week. It’s all about the repetition and just doing it over and over and over. You figure we do ten practice stops a day, four days a week. And, I’ve been doing this seven years. That’s a lot of pit stops.” Each of those stops are timed and reviewed. (Imagine that happening at your job.) Every thing is scrutinized – how fast did you get to the car, how fast did you get the lug nuts off, how fast to get them on, did you miss a lug nut, and many other aspects.
Another thing that made the Pit Crew Challenge so special for me was to hear the plans the #00 team had for the money they won. All the crew guys had been to Victory Junction Camp earlier. As a team, they wanted to donate anything they won to the camp. As Lee said, “it’s not like we couldn’t use the money. We’re not rich. But, we wanted to give something back. I don’t know if we can donate enough to send a kid to camp for a week. But, we can help. And, it will make a difference some kid’s life. When you see these kids, you want to do all you can to help. It’s like the St. Jude race win. It really it home how special it was when we got to meet each other.” The hearts of these men are larger than any super-speedway.
George Larrabee
It hadn’t been long since I had talked to George Larrabee. But, when I had a chance to visit with George in person, it was an opportunity I couldn’t pass up. George is the transporter driver for the Penske #22 of Kurt Busch & rider of the HarleyBago. I love getting to hang out with these guys. They know how to have fun at work.
The #22 team was headed in the All-Star race and the Coca-Cola 600 with some high expectations. They won both races last year. But, this year they were not quite as successful. George said they have been struggling this year. But, they are up-beat about the future. The shop is working real hard to get the problems fixed. George said he’s confident they can get it figured out and running back up front real soon. Their teammate won last week. Kurt is sitting 6th in the points. Most teams would love to call that a “bad start” to the season.
I asked George about being home for a couple of weeks with the races in Charlotte. He said, “It’s deceiving. Yeh, it’s a cool deal. You do get to sleep in your own bed for a couple of weeks WHEN you get to go to bed. With the guys at the track so much, you have to commute in early to get a head of the traffic and head home late after the traffic. Your days are long and your nights are short. But, it’s great to be home. The wife enjoys having me home for a couple of weeks. And. I enjoy the home cooked meals.” Then, he started laughing and added, “Plus, I get to mow the lawn.”
George told me he had planned on riding his bike to the Pilot / Flying J Trucker Driver Challenge chicane. But, Penske needed them to deliver some equipment to the track. So, rather than the HarleyBago, he was in a flatbed truck. The rest of his commuting to the track he will be on the bike as much as possible. That’s another benefit of two weeks of racing at home.
“After this little ‘home stretch’, it’s pretty grueling. It gets ugly for a few weeks.” George said, “It’s the Midwest, west, and then up north. There are several of long hauls.” They won’t be close to Charlotte till we see them at the next chicane in Bristol this fall. But, these guys know what they are in for when they start driving a transporter in NASCAR. Every year, they’ll cover about 70,000 miles. George sees the best in this long road stretch too. He is looking forward to the run to Loudon, NH in mid-July. That’s his “Home” track. He’s going to take a couple of days off and spend time with his family and old friends. Then, he will return the favor for his co-driver at Pocono.
I said, “It’s too bad you can’t take your motorcycle.” “Funny you should say that.” he laughed. “I’m working on it. I’m trying to work out a deal with our coach driver. He says he has a spot I can fit my bike in the trailer he hauls every week. I’m on the fence on it though. It would be good to have the bike back home. The downfall is I’ll load it in the trailer. Then, he’ll take it to New Hampshire. But, he’s not coming home. He’ll keep my bike for three or four weeks till he gets back close enough or I can catch up with him to get my bike back. So, I’m on the fence about doing it. There’s going to be some nice weekends, well . . . my weekends – Mondays and Tuesdays. I’m not sure I can go without riding. Like I said, ‘I’m on the fence.’” I’ll catch back up with George after Loudon to see which side of the fence he landed on.
Dale Lackey
When we were in Charlotte for All-Star week, I got to hang out with some of the greatest guys in NASCAR. We were able to spend time together at the race shops, the track, the Pit Crew Challenge, and at the Pilot / Flying J Truck Driver Challenge chicane event. ( To be honest, it’s hard to get to spend much time with the guys at the shop and track. When they are there, the game faces are on. Everyone is focused on their job and winning. ) At the Pilot / Flying J Truck Driver Challenge chicane event, I was able to spend some time with Dale Lackey driver of the 47 transporter for JTG Daugherty Racing. I met Dale last year when he was with the 77 Penske team. But, racing is a tough business. The 77 team folded and Dale was left looking for a new ride. I was thrilled to see he landed a job with JTG Daugherty Racing and Michael Waltrip Racing. Not only does the 47 team have a new transporter driver, they have a new race car driver with Bobby Labonte.
I was curious if things were different between Penske and the new team. Dale said, “A lot of it is the same. And, there is a good bit different too. I still drive. I still have a lot of the same responsibilities at the track and at the shop.” In true Dale fashion, he added, “I had fun at Penske. I’m having fun here.” It’s always been fun getting to hang out with him.
Michael Waltrip may be the tallest racer to ever climb into a Sprint Cup car. But, Brad Daugherty, is the tallest owner of a Sprint Cup car. He said, “It’s funny when Brad walks into the hauler. He’s too tall to stand up in the isle. And he has s great since of humor about it. He’s always comical and joking about his height.” I asked Dale if he had been able to play in any pick games of basketball with the former NBA All-Star. Dale laughed and said he hadn’t yet.
Over the off season, Dale did some deer hunting. He spent three or four weekends camping and just really enjoyed some time off. As he said, “We usually get the just about the month of December off. It gives me time to do some things I don’t get to do during the racing season. I get to do a lot of hunting and camping.” I asked him what he got this year. “I did shoot anything.” He told me. “I saw some. But, nothing I really wanted to shoot at.”
In talking with Dale, he said he really liked working with the 47 team and Bobby Labonte. When talking about Labonte, he said, “Bobby is a super-good guy! It don’t matter what kind of day he’s had. What the day has been like. It could be a good race or practice or a bad one. He gets out of the car and comes around to everybody and thanks them for the hard work they doing. He tells them ‘good job’ and encourages them. Even after the race, before he leaves and heads to the plane, he comes around to see everyone and pat them on the back. Bobby is a real ‘Champion.’”
You can tell Dale loves his job. He makes my job a real treat. I always look forward to talking with him.
Skip Flores
Today, I want to introduce you to a 22 year old, motivator. He just happens to work for Stewart-Haas Racing as a fabricator and over the wall crew man. Ryan “Skip” Flores was born in New Jersey. He started racing at age 5. His dad was a plumber. His mother was a waitress. When he was 14, a family that owned a junkyard took him in. They were into racing modifieds. He lived with them through high school. That’s where started learning fabrication. He stayed there a year after graduating high school continuing to learn and practice building race cars. Then when he was 19, he packed up, left the Jersey shore and headed south.
His goal was to work for a Cup team by the time he was 25. It didn’t take Skip six years to reach that goal. Nope, it took just 3 months for him to secure a job at Roush Fenway Racing as a fabricator. Skip said, “Once I had met my goal, I had to set another one. So, I decided I wanted to be a tire changer. There are some great schools around here where you can go and train to be a tire changer. But, that wasn’t an option for me. I was working full time. I just couldn’t go. So, I picked up a gun and started hittin’ lug nuts, and hittin’ lug nut, hittin’ them over and over. For three years, I worked on it.” After three years at Roush, he was more valuable to them as a fabricator than an over the wall guy. But, that wasn’t Skip’s goal. So, what does a guy that is as driven as Skip is? You take a chance and step out faith.
Skip left Roush and headed to Stewart-Haas for a try out. And they were glad to get him. He started there in December. The goals are working out. He is changing tires full-time in the Nationwide series and part time in the Sprint Cup. He was working over the wall for the #7 of Robby Gordon. He is a back changer for Tony Stewart’s and Ryan Newman’s cars. In the shop, he works in the aero. So, he gets to spend a good bit of time in the wind tunnel – testing and tuning. He still gets to be a fabricator too.
I asked Skip about how he got started. His answer was priceless. He said, “When I started back in New Jersey, I didn’t know much. I was just doing the little stuff. I’ll always remember it. I was really, really gun shy. I was like ‘Man, I can’t do this! I can’t do that!’ My cousin was a great fabricator. One day, he just stopped. He grabbed me and said, ‘There is nothing I can to that you can’t do! This isn’t a God given talent. It’s not like I’m better than you. If anybody else can build it, you can build it. You just have to want it bad enough to figure it out and learn to do it.’ Since the day he said that to me, I took those words seriously. I have lived by that philosophy. It’s changed my life. It turned my world upside down. When I started at Roush, all I could build was side skirts. When I left three years later, I had done everything from building windows, welding exhaust, building crush panels and all kinds of other stuff. I stayed late working, teaching myself how to do everything. I worked my way up to a special projects guy. If they needed something special, they would give to me. It was really flattering to be that age, knowing how to do all that, and be in that kind of position. I like to think is shows that hard work and perseverance pays off.”
Back in New Jersey, Skip said he didn’t hang around with the best people. Now, he is part of a group of racers that call themselves the “Field Fillers.” He is now runnin’ with guys like Brandon McReynolds, Corey Lajoie, Coleman Presley, and even Joey Lagono. He has made appoint of surrounding himself with racers. As he said, “All we do is race.” And these guys take their racing fun seriously. They even have their own track behind Lajoie’s race shop – the Field Fillers Fairgrounds. It started out as 8 carts. Now, they can have 20 to 30 carts a race and upwards of 200 spectators.
Skip wrapped it up by saying, “If you surround yourself with good people, it doesn’t matter where you came from, what your abilities are, or how much money you have. You can accomplish anything you set your mind to.”
At one point, Skip said, “Stewart-Hass is a dream-come-true job. I’m working not just for a race team but a race family. I’m getting to be a fabricator and crew guy.” Somehow, I feel Skip has bigger dreams ahead.
Jake Seminara
At the Pit Crew Challenge, I got to talk with Jake Seminara. He is the rear tire changer for the Joe Gibbs Racing #18 and a great guy to talk with. Jake won the individual title back in 2009. So, how does one of the best like Jake get started? Jake moved to North Carolina after graduating high school with the goal of being on a top pit crew. He attended the Pit Crew School in Mooresville. While he was there, he met Joel Kauffman. Joel was driving a Hooters Pro Cup car at the time. He gave Jake his start. Jake then worked his way up to the Nationwide Series, and then into Cup. He has worked with Greg Biffle, Mark Martin, and is now in his fourth year with Kyle Busch.
Jake is from Steubenville , OH. As he said, he has a “sports” back ground. His dad is a baseball official. His family enjoyed racing. But, none of them raced. His dad would take him to the races when he was younger. Jake said even back then he wanted to be on a pit crew. He said. “When I heard about the Pit Crew School in North Carolina, it all clicked for me. I knew that’s what I wanted to do. My dad wanted me to play football. But, I knew I wanted to be on a NASCAR pit crew.” For Jake, it moved pretty fast. He moved to NC in fall of ’04 and was over the wall in the spring of ’06. Today, his ’09 title proves he is one of the best crew members in the sport.
On the weekends, he is over-the-wall as the rear-tire changer. During the week, he works on the #18’s front suspension and the plumbing from the firewall forward. He also works on the interior. He takes care of things like driver comfort, mirrors, roll bar padding, cool air systems, making sure all the wires are routed & strapped neatly, and anything else Kyle wants inside the car. When you add on the pit practices three or four days a week, he kind of has two full time jobs.
At the track, Jake has several hours from when the garage opens till the race starts. In that time, he helps with final car and pit stall prep. He helps check all the nuts and bolts. The team all work together to make sure everything on the car is secured and ready for green flag. Then, Jake goes to work on getting the tires ready and the lug nuts glued up for the pit stops about 3 hours prior to the race. In that last three hours, there is a lot of running around doing the final prep. And hopefully, he’ll be able to run by the transporter and grab some food.
When you are in the pits, you see the tire changers really taking care of their equipment. These are not your run of the mill air tools. Their tools are as “high performance” as the cars. They take great care in laying out the air hose to make sure they can get around the cars without get hung up. Jake makes sure the gun is oiled, all the glue is cleared from the socket, and every little thing is checked. With only 13 seconds to work, there is no margin for error. There is no detail too small to be ignored.
At the end of the race, they pack everything back up and help get it all back into the hauler. Now, I have to admit, WE had to give Jake a hard time. I was interviewing Jake with Bob Hannigan, the transport driver, standing there with us. So, I had to ask about that “tough” plane ride home. Jake laughed as he said, “Yep, I’m probably back home and in bed before Bob even gets out the track.” He did admit that on one trip to Vegas the pit crew had to spend the night there because there was snow back in North Carolina.
Next time you are watching Kyle on a pit stop, keep your eye on that rear tire changer. You will see NASCAR as a team sport.
Wiley and David Reutimann’s First Nationwide Victory
Here is the video that got Wiley’s World rolling. Thanks to all my friends at 3 Wide Life for putting together the St. Jude opportunity. Thank you for asking me to write a BLOG about the folks i have been able to meet.
By the way, Jackie Decker & Kevin Mooney and the folks at ESPN were nominated for an Emmy for this piece. They did an awesome job on it.
Day 5 – All-Star Practice
Today was All-Star Practice. I got to spend a lot of time in the pits with my friends. It was a fun to watch them get the cars ready for the race. The heat had arrived. What started out as a damp morning turned into a hot day. But, there was a nice breeze.
Day 4 – Pit Crew Challenge
Late Night – Early Morning
I’ll write up the night later this evening.
Great night!!! Everyone should come see these guys compete!!!
Day 3 – Pilot / Flying J Truck Driver Challenge
We have a winner for the second chicane of the season. Eric Burgoyne, driver for Champion Tire & Wheel, drove away with the $1,000 first prize more than a minute ahead of second place. I will have a full interview with Eric real soon.
It was a great day at the chicane event. A lot of the drivers were there. Many of them are old friends. I was able to sit down with Dale Lackey. Dale was working for the Penske #77 last year. But, with the loss of sponsorship, Dale found himself “searching for a ride” so to speak. Dale found that ride at Michael Waltrip Racing and JTG Daugherty Racing driving the #47 Transporter. It’s a small fraternity of drivers. If you are a team owner, you don’t simply trust millions of dollars in “rolling stock” to just anyone. You want the best. So, when MWR & JTG Daugherty Racing went looking for a new driver, they started looking for guys with NASCAR experience. They found Dale.
George Larrabee was there competing too. It hasn’t been that long since I talked to him. But, it’s always great to be able to talk to the guys in person. George wasn’t driving his big rig. And, he wasn’t on the HarleyBago today. Today, he was driving a rollback, flatbed. They were having to drop off the crash cart and pit box at the track. They had Champion drop the boxes off at their shop for routine maintenance. Now, they had to get them to the track. These boxes are normally carried from track to track by Champion. And sometimes, it may be months before the carts return to the shops. But, when they do, it throws all the routines off.
This competition means something to these guys. There is a $1,000 prize to win the days event. And, $50,000 to with the years series. But, these guys love to have their families get to see them compete too. Frankie Richardson brought his daughter, Chasie, to watch him.
Tomorrow . . . Pit Crew Challenge!!!
Friday . . . At the track for Cup Practice!!!
Saturday . . . All-Star Race!!!!
I am Wiley King - Christian, Race Fan, Winning Race Car Paint Scheme Designer, Brain Tumor Survivor, St. Jude Children’s Hospital Patient, Batson Children\'s Hospital Patient, Make-a-Wish kid, and Blogger for 3 Wide Life. I am interviewing the NASCAR transporter drivers that are participating in the Pilot/Flying J Truck Driver Challenge. Follow me each week as I introduce you to the guys that drive the long miles to bring you the races each week.
