Finding Comfort in Chaos

Like most Americans, Austin Dickey is unable to go to work during the on-going COVID-19 pandemic. So, he’s staying busy spending time with wife and two children, and taking care of his 25 acre property. This is a big change for Austin, who normally would be traveling almost every week for his high stress job.

Austin Dickey is a NASCAR Front Tire Changer on the Hendrick #24 Cup car, driven by William Byron.

I spoke with Austin last week and asked him how he ended up on a NASCAR pit crew. Turns out it was at a time when NASCAR teams were concentrating on finding good athletes to handle the pit stops.

“I’ve been with Hendricks since 2009, so 11 years. I was 17 when I first started at Hendricks. It’s definitely been a journey, and I’ve seen some changes in NASCAR. That’s pretty much where I grew up, was in NASCAR”.

“Chad Knaus and Andy Papathanassiou, (who used to be a jackman on the crew), these guys were part of the original Rainbow Warriors and were athletes. They developed this program at Hendrick Motorsports, of taking that concept (of hiring athletes). You take these athletes, you develop them, they have the athletic ability, they have the mindset of wanting to be the best. We take these guys from college and we just put a gun and a jack in their hands, and we teach them how to do that. We can’t teach them to want to be the best. So that’s why they took athletes out and tried to place them in Hendricks Motorsports. They say you have the “want”, the “drive” and the “athleticism”, so we’re going to tell you where to direct it.”

In other words, make sure your crewman has that same natural competitive drive to win as the top drivers do. Obviously, the Hendrick people saw that in Austin when they picked him to train while still in High School.

“At the time, (2009), I was coming out of high school. I was a senior in high school and lucky enough they wanted to try a really young guy at 17. Everybody else was 23-24, and professional athletes."

Austin explained that the teams thinking behind going with such a young candidate was: “He’s young but by the time he’s 25 we can have him developed and still use 20 years out of him.” I was a High School wrestler, pole vault, and football. I tried to do everything.”

I asked Austin about the timing of going over the wall.

“We actually use the back line of the pit boxes two boxes away as the signal. So everyone is watching that line for when the nose of the car crosses that line. If he goes over the mark, you don’t touch the car because it’s a penalty.

When I asked Austin how his job varies from track to track, he said the size of the pit boxes have a large effect.

“California is very difficult. If you go to Martinsville, or Richmond, where there are smaller boxes (pit boxes), our timing is different. But with the bigger boxes, we can jump a little sooner and get out in front of the car. But then we are sitting out there, kind of like a duck in plain sight, so your almost like a target. You have so much time of being out there, you get thrown out of rhythm. A Pit crew is more like a rhythm type thing. You find a groove, and constantly try to stay in that groove, no matter what situation you’re in. it’s comfortability. You try to stay as comfortable as you can. When you get out of your comfort zone, you start to go sporadic, your body wants to get back into that comfort zone, which helps you know where you’re at.”

Professional pit crews are managed the same as any professional team. Individual stats are kept on each team member, measuring their performance. For tire changers, the speed at which lugs are taken off and tightened up is timed. Overhead cameras capture the details of every stop. Another metric that is used to grade performance of tire changers is how many times they miss a lug, and have to hit a lug again. Austin explained the different techniques about hitting the lugs.

“Your stats are basically based on accuracy. You’ll see guys go super-fast and hit six or 7, but then you have guys who hit 5 who have slower hand speed, (they) are more accurate. So, a person like me, I’m more accurate, but there are times I’ll be accurate, but also not the fastest or slowest guy. I’m like the middle guy who doesn’t sacrifice accuracy, but I don’t give up full speed either. I’ll miss a few here or there, but I’ll have a consistent speed.”

“It’s not how fast you can (change a tire) everyone wants a fast stop. It’s the ability to keep it calm and smooth. The saying in NASCAR is smooth is fast. It looks like the goal is to do everything as fast as you can, but if you can hit 5, then run around the car and hit 5, that going to be a smooth stop, and fast stop”

“To take all 5 lugs off when the car stops is about .8 or .9 seconds. With a 5 man pitcrew, the jackman will index the left front tire, and the tire carrier will index the right front tire”

“It takes about 1.1 seconds to zip the logs on to make sure there all tight. If luge are loose, the driver will feel the vibration, he will feel the wheel shake when he gets into the corner. A full pit stop of 4 tires, full of fuel, you’ll get a 12.5 or 12.6 seconds. That’s a really good pit stop.”

“If someone hears a pitstop is 12.9 seconds they think that’s pretty fast. But to me it means I need to get faster. It’s the severity of that .3 second “

I asked Austin what happens if you go over the wall too soon.

“You will get a lap penalty, or the driver will have to come down pit road. Everything works off sensors up and down pit road, so that if your foot hits the road,(too soon), it triggers something with NASCAR, and they zoom in on that pit crew to see if a foot touched the ground before a car crosses the line, that’s a penalty.” Austin laughed “NASCAR won’t tell us how it works, (these pit road sensors), but if they did, I’m sure someone would figure out how to cheat it.”

Austin discussed how the crew members decompress between stop.

“After a stop, everyone has their own routine. Some guys will go and pick the glue out of the tires, they like to lube them up, and keep their focus on that. Some watch the video (of the stop), they’ll calm down.”

“I don’t like to watch the video, unless there was a problem that happened that I might have to explain. Like Chad (Knaus) might ask “What happened with that?”. I have to look if the tire flopped, If I didn’t set the tire right, so it wasn’t ready to roll. If it’s lying flat, it takes longer to pick up, and take it to the wall. He might ask “Hey what happened with that tire” I have to see, was it the hose that knocked it down, did I just not set it right. These little questions that could alter the process of the stop.”

“If you tell him “It’s my fault, I didn’t set it right, he’ll be like, “Ok, take your time and set it right, because that just cost us two spots on pit road”.

Austin, who is a devout Christian, explained to me how he prefers to find peace during the high-stress chaos of a race. For this, finds a quiet spot behind the pit stall, and pulls out his Bible.

“It refers me back to my mindset of comfort, and it’s where I find my peace. So no matter what that chaos is, I try to let the situation over the wall happen, but my comfort is not during the stops, my comfort is after the stops. I can leave from my Bible, and have that comfort and that Truth in me, and constantly repeat the versus in my head, or rely on (a prayer) “Lord you have me, you have my hands, you have me in this job, and there is a bigger purpose for you having me in this job than just doing a pitstop. Lord, carry my hands, carry my mind, carry my heart through this pitstop, and bring me back over the wall, and send me back to read (Your Word). I say the prayer just before I go over the wall. Every time it kind of changes (the prayer), depending on what I’ve read, (in my Bible). “

Austin will mark his Bible from studies he takes part during the week.

“I have little pieces of paper I keep in my Bible. I’ll have what I was studying during the week. I’ll look at what I was reading, then I’ll go there in the scripture versus, and right them down on a pad and paper.”

Austin is facing a lot of the same uncertainty as a lot of Americans. Many of the smaller race teams have had to furlough team members without any money coming in. So far Austin’s job is still secure, but the uncertainty of how long this quarantine will last has everyone anxious.

Jesus instructed His followers to look to Him to weather the storms in life.

“ Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.” John 14:27

Note that Jesus is not promising what the world thinks is “peace”, that there won’t be any strife, or war, or trouble. No, Jesus gives us the peace of mind that He will see us through all the storms. He has even conquered our worst fear, death. We are just to have faith, and trust in Him.

And putting their trust in God to get through the present storm is exactly what the Dickey family has been doing. Austin reads his Bible daily and seeks God’s peace for his family. Because that’s where Austin finds his comfort.