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| How can I get a job with NASCAR? and "How can I become a NASCAR official?" are very popular and you would think, simple questions. However, that's not necessarily the case. |
How do they get there?The road to becoming a NASCAR NEXTEL Cup official can begin in many different ways. It often begins the same way it does for many drivers, in another NASCAR series or racing circuits. Getting involved in racing at the grassroots level is one of the best ways to learn many aspects of the sport, from competition to inspection to flagging races to even running the public address system. This provides invaluable experience that, hopefully, could take you up the ranks to NASCAR's premier level of racing. Other NASCAR officials have gained experience through their mechanical backgrounds. It would be impossible to list all the ares from which every NASCAR NEXTEL Cup official comes, but the first requirement NASCAR looks for, no matter what your background may be, is the willingness to work hard. |
When do they work?Some NASCAR officials are full time and work in the NASCAR offices during the week as well as attending every NASCAR NEXTEL Cup event on the weekends. Others are part time, working other jobs during the week and traveling to the events on the weekend. Each official, full or part-time, travels to each NASCRA NEXTEL Cup event. On the race weekends they are usually at the race track for at least four days per week sometimes more, depending on the event. They're on the same yearlong schedule as the competitors. |
Running a raceAt each NASCAR NEXTEL Cup event, there are at least forty NASCAR officials. You can usually spot them by the red-and-white uniforms/shirts they wear at the race track. Most have a radio and earpiece that connect them all to one central source as well as to each other for immediate communication purposes. Following are the main locations where you would normally find NASCAR NEXTEL Cup officials and some of the duties they perform in these areas: INSPECTION This is one of the most vital jobs performed by a NASCAR NEXTEL Cup official. This is the area in the garage where the weekend starts (all cars are inspected before they are released to practice) and ends (a minimum of three cars are "torn down" after a race). I will go into more detail about inspections in a later segment. 
PIT ROADOnce the weekend culminates with the running of the race, most everything that has taken place in the garage area for the previous two or three days is moved to the pit road. Teams move equipment and NASCAR moves its officials to the area where service will be done on each machine during the race. There normally is one NASCAR NEXTEL Cup official for every two pits on pit road, monitoring pit stops and enforcing the many rules that govern proper procedure in performing those pit stops. Like referees in football and basketball or the umpires in baseball, these officials know what to look for and where to look during a pit stop. These officials don't just wait for the pit stops to occur, however. They also relay pertinent information from the control tower to the crew chiefs regarding the cars for which they are responsible. The control tower watches for problems such as a car smoking, going slower than the minimum required speed, lining up on the restarts, etc. Pit road officials then communicate these issues to the respective crew chiefs. RACE CONTROL This is the nerve center. If all other areas of NASCAR's domain on race weekends are the body, then the race control, usually located in a tower high above the start/finish line, is the brain. This is where decisions are made regarding the on-track aspects of the race: When to throw a caution, when to dispatch utility trucks, when to start the race. Practically every decision regarding the race is made from race control. But, as with nearly everything else at NASCAR, one person is not responsible for making the final decisions. It takes a team of several people to make important decisions in a matter of seconds. 
FLAG STANDThere are two, that's right two, starters in the flag stand at each race. Ironically, the "official starter" seldom starts the race. That privilege usually goes to an "honorary starter" named by each NASCAR NEXTEL Cup race track. From there, by messages relayed by two-way radio, the two starters in the flag stand communicate with drivers with eight flags that each have a different meaning. You can find out detailed information on all of NASCAR'S flags here. The starters are also in radio contact with and receive instructions from race control. SCORING Once the race finally begins, how do officials know where each car is running? The answer is through NASCAR Timing and Scoring, presented by MCI. NASCAR uses four methods of scoring: transponders, electronic button, manual scoring and scoring tape. Transponders are small boxes, smaller than the size of a deck of cards, located under the car near the rear bumper that transmit a signal to the scoring stand every time the car crosses a strategically placed line embedded in the race track. The second method is an electronic "button" system, activated by a scorer provided by each team every time their car crosses the scoring line. Yep, the scorer pushes a button every single time their car crosses the scoring line. The third way is a manual process where scorers tally each lap by each car by hand. A fourth method, if necessary, is to review aa scoring tape that records all information inputted and that runs from the green flag until every car takes the checkered flag. |
NASCAR RegistrationSitting in the grandstands during the race and looking down into the garage and onto pit road, fans see hundreds of people: crew members, family and others. Who keeps track of all those folks? NASCAR registration. Every individual who works for a team in any capacity is a NASCAR member and must have a license. They sign in each week at the NASCAR registration trailer, where a group of officials issue credentials for people to access the restricted area. The job is so large and significant that NASCAR registration relies on a converted eighteen-wheel Featherlite trailer with six computer stations to register the guests and competitors. All others - sponsor guests, media, - sign in through the race track for each event. |
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Who oversees all of this? The NASCAR vice president of competition and the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup director oversee the running of a NASCAR NEXTEL Cup race weekend from start to finish. Their operation includes a mobile office base in an eighteen-wheel trailer that not only provides an office fully equipped with computers, fax and copy machines, and a weather station but also room to store all the equipment used for inspection and scoring. |
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