The Fun of Being a Crew Chief

"mikecyc72usa" (mikecyc72usa) 10/15/2014 at 22:27 • Filed to: Vintage Racing, COTA, SVRA, Trans Am, Historic, Triumph, BMW, Porsche

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It's another race season over. Almost. The SVRA held their championships at COTA, here in Austin, TX.

That's the Sportscar Vintage Racing Association, a vintage sanctioning body. There are still local vintage races here in TX, because our version of cold is maybe dipping down to 60 degrees this time of year. But like any race weekend, it starts early in the week for the crews. Which means much waiting in line to load in. Some arrive a day or two ahead of time, and it's fun to see them getting together with friends to have some tailgating fun next to their rigs.

Hellooooo, COTA!

However, I was fortunate in that my teams were able to get in early. Loading in at the first possible moment has many advantages. You miss the rugby scrum of traffic, you have more time to set up, and you get settled in easier. Best of all, you can get through tech as soon as it opens up. That right there is worth an early morning wake up and waiting on line, as early in for tech is a huge timesaver. Sometimes an hour or more.

Note the distinct lack of crowding at tech. I had rolled over at 10:30 am to find out when they'd be open. As a crew chief, asking nicely, always saying thank you, and just being not pushy helps. Lots. Plus, the officials then learn who you are. Case in point:

"Come back at noon. Actually, come by a bit before since you asked nicely."

So we did. That white Spitfire is one of my cars, the 921st Triumph Spitfire made. We spent more time talking to the tech folks than actually getting teched. It was great, and they remembered me a few days later. More on that soon. Back to the garage and it was time to get established in the garage. We were in garage 30, which was nice as that way at night you just lower the doors and go home. No cleanup each day.

This is just the beginning of the week. We had about 13 cars, crews, and gear in these three bays/garages. Somehow, there was order and no flaring tempers throughout a very long week. All race weeks start of well enough, and after preliminary checks the cars go out for test and tunes. This is when I, as a crew chief, begin to get nervous. Will the car have an unforeseen issue? Is it terminal or able to be fixed if there is a problem? Does the driver like how I set the car up? Will he agree with/trust my judgement?

Though it looks great, and cool, this is a nerve wracking time. Turn around and there are more cars you'll be worrying about soon enough in the garage. Turn back around and there are cars on the track to worry about. You quickly take note of what cars are in front of and after your cars, and hopefully, they come around each lap. Of course, that isn't the case.

Say what you want about British vs German reliability, but I've never had a British car lose a valve cover. You read that correctly. Valve cover. Not valve cover gasket. More peculiar is that it was never found. Remember how I made friends with the tech people? Well, for the rest of the event, they would let me know what had been brought to them from off the track. It never was the valve cover. It was well and truly gone, as evidence by this pic I took. So that German car was done for the week after only a few sessions. Even after we replaced the cover and refilled it with oil.

However, the fun and games were just beginning. The other cars were running perfectly, and maybe, just maybe, I'd have an "easy" week of it. That was not to be. We got the Spitfire ready the next day for a session, and everything seemed great. The car ran great and Robert was happy with setup. Everything was going according to what semblance of a plan we had.

The next day was different. The starter was dead. So, of course, push starting it was the order of the day. That got us to grid, then I noticed the main power light was dim. I suspected a flat battery and charging system that wasn't. Robert was push started again, and he had to head straight to the garage. After testing, we found the alternator was bad. Fine, that is and easy fix. We replaced the alternator, and thought the problem was solved. Well, not at all.

Guess what? The new alternator was bad, so now it was a scramble to find a replacement. An advantage of being at your "home" track is that home is usually somewhat close. Robert drove the 40 minutes home while I recharged the battery and pulled the second alternator. He returned with an alternator off his street Spitfire, and a multitude of belts. Something should work, right?

It did, and other than the fuel pump beginning to overheat at the end of his qualifying race we had no worries. I went to work with a temporary solution in mind for that problem, but the weather put those concerns down. A cold front came through overnight, and the last thing we had to worry about was the fuel pump overheating.

After that it was just normal things: ignition coil on a Midget, oil cooler splitting on a BMW 2002 on the last lap of the enduro. As for the enduro, well, that was epic. Four cars, four crews, four pit boxes. A mandatory 5 minute pit stop for each car. Each car had a person assigned for timing them while in the pits, as well as others depending on what each car needed.

Somehow, it all worked. Flawlessly. I wish I had pictures, but I was in charge of about 14-17 people including drivers, as well as being the fire bottle holder during refueling for each car. It was the highlight of the weekend for me. By the latter half of Sunday, I was wiped out. As proof of that we have this picture snapped by Bettina Foreman.

Yes, that is me, sleeping on a scooter while the final race is run less than 200 feet away.

thebigbossyboss > mikecyc72usa 10/15/2014 at 22:31

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I haven't seen you on Oppo before. But this sounds awesome. A whole week of racing?? Amazing. How did you get your start??

norskracer98-ExploringTheOutback > mikecyc72usa 10/15/2014 at 22:36

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Were you at the Glen for the SVRA event about a month and a half ago? It's a great event. Very nice cars and some great racing.

Trans Am Jag from the Glen Vintage Cup.

mikecyc72usa > thebigbossyboss 10/15/2014 at 22:49

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I've been on Oppo for a bit, but write only a few times a month on average. Check my other posts, you'll like them I think. I got my start in a very circuitous way. I've been working on older Euro cars for most of my life. I raced in the 90's when I was in my 20's and earned seats by wrenching.

Fast forward to now, and about 11 months ago I got laid off from an IT job, and decided to go into race prep and restoring cars, mostly Triumphs. A local shop here in Austin ended up being incompetent, and I just started picking up business that way. I also network at the races. It's still tough but I love it. I may return to driving, as I was decent when I did it regularly. Now I just autocross, and do a few low key races here and there.

mikecyc72usa > norskracer98-ExploringTheOutback 10/15/2014 at 22:55

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I saw one of those Jags at Indy. Gentilozi car? Visited his shop in Hyde PArk a few times when I still lived in the Hudson Valley. I wasn't at Watkins but I grew up gong there as I'm from 4 hours away. My dad took me as a preschooler to F1 and got into the paddock/pits before the race from his contacts when he raced in the 50s and 60s.

I'll likely be at almost every SVRA race this coming season from what I can see.

thebigbossyboss > mikecyc72usa 10/16/2014 at 00:02

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Living the dream man. Awesome.

RallyWrench > mikecyc72usa 10/16/2014 at 00:08

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Thanks for sharing, great post. I crew more modern stuff, but have a definite love for vintage racing.

norskracer98-ExploringTheOutback > mikecyc72usa 10/16/2014 at 15:25

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I think so. I've gone to the Glen almost every year of my life. Its such a nice place and track.