Guest Writer

I MAY NEED YOU TO SPOT FOR ME TONIGHT!

By: Jim  (http://www.luvracin.com/)

With the words,” I may need you to spot for me tonight”, Travis McIntire, driver of the #2 Chevy in the Limited Late Model Division at Concord Motorsports Park, sent me searching for words.  What came out was, Where’s Chad?  “In the mountains” was the reply.  Where’s Huffy?  “He’s at Martinsville with Schrader, and I need Mike and Bob in the pits in case something happens”.

Unless Chad had some good binoculars, I was going to be the spotter for Travis McIntire, the 2004 Concord Motorsports Park Track Champion in the Limited Stock Division, NASCARâ Atlantic Division Short Track Champion, and third in that division’s national ranking. 

My ’day job’ is Sales Rep for C&C Tool and Supply Co. of Danville, VA, and my ‘moonlight’ weekend job is with LUVRACIN.COM working the pits at tracks such as Concord Motorsports Park, Tri County Motor Speedway, Hickory Motor Speedway, and the Dirt Track at Charlotte (Lowes Motor Speedway).   My day job takes me to machine shops around the North Carolina and Virginia, and includes many of the race shops around the Mooresville-Concord, NC area.

This is where and how I met Travis McIntire. He was working for Ken Schrader Racing in Concord, NC as a fabricator and machinist, and was soon a good and loyal customer of C&C Tool and Supply.  As a “pit area reporter” for LUVRACIN.COM, McIntire was interviewed, photographed and featured on the web site as thousands of other drivers have been across the country. 

And that’s the long and short of how we got to those words.  I was given a quick lesson on the use of the radio and what information the driver needs.  Let him know when the green is ready!  Is another car inside or outside, especially inside!  When is he clear!  When the caution comes out, let him know why the caution comes out and what action does he need to take!   Go to the designated area, high in the grand stands, check in with the track official and take your place, catch your breath and wait for the action to begin.  Through your headset you not only communicate with driver and crew, you also monitor the track frequency for information concerning all the action on the track.  And, as if you don’t have enough things going through your mind, you also remember that his family (his mother included), friends and maybe some fans too, are monitoring what is going on.  So you make another mental reminder to yourself, ” …  don’t say the $10,000 ‘ S ’ word”.  

Sometime during all of this, your customer and friend suddenly becomes “your driver”.  You try to concentrate and block out the shuffling that goes on to your left and right as other spotters pass messages back and forth to their driver.   And when the racin’ starts, you try to do all you’re suppose to do, and a whole bunch more that you didn’t think about, and all in a split second. 

Thirty-five laps, each in less than 18 seconds on a half-mile tri-oval, and each lap with all of those things to communicate to your driver.  You count down the laps to your driver, and then with one lap to go, another car spins, the caution flag is out, and it’s a green-white-checker finish.   This wasn’t covered in Spotter 101 Class.  But this night my driver is hooked-up!   A good restart and he was “clear all around” by turn one!  White flag and  “clear – up by two car lengths”!  Checkered flag flies and “great job driver- you the man”!!! 

As you climb down from the spotter’s area and head to victory lane, your head spins with the ‘dozens’ of things you will do better and faster next time.  Maybe because McIntire won for the eighteenth time this year, his debrief is kind and says,  “…you only scared me once”.

 So the next time you go to your favorite short track, give a little notice to the guys and gals with head sets climbing to the top of the grand stands.   They’re about to go racin’, lap after lap, in the ear of their driver.