Win or Lose, Crew Enjoys Life in Fast Lane

When Kristen Utts wanted to have her ears pierced in the fifth grade, she made a deal with her father, Mike, that she would rotate the tires on the family car. She got the earrings, but he didn’t check the lug nuts and her mother got stranded.

Since then Utts, 35, has moved on to bigger cars. She’s the crew chief of husband Charles Utts’ NASCAR super late-model racing team. He started the night ranked 13th out of 69 drivers at Irwindale Speedway, but he did not race Saturday night because of engine problems. At least it wasn’t the lug nuts.

Instead, Ben Walker of Santa Clarita went wire-to-wire to win the Silicon Speedway in front of 5,125 at Irwindale Speedway on Saturday night.

The race was stopped midway through when Jeffrey Wright of San Diego had to be removed from his car after a single-car crash in turn four of lap 22. He was airlifted to County USC Medical Center for observation. Wright was conscious but was complaining of neck pain.

Racing has always been an important part of the Utts’ life. They met at Ventura Raceway and their first date was at a racetrack.

Charles’ interest in racing was sparked in his youth by watching his father race, and Kristen encouraged him to pursue his dream.

She started helping in pit row 10 years ago when her husband’s crew could not read a ruler to check the circumference of a tire. Frustrated, he turned to his wife.

“She’s great,” Charles Utts said. “She makes sure my tires are running in proper form. But she’s not the grease monkey, she’s my wife; there are things I still don’t want her to do.”

But Kristen considers herself one of the guys, making sure the car is running well. She was interested in cars before she met her husband, even taking an auto mechanics class in her senior year at Buena High in Ventura.

Now, her knowledge and training is a vital part of whether her husband wins or loses. Getting the correct tire stagger makes a big difference, even if it’s off by an eight of an inch, and she doesn’t need her husband poking his nose around her side of the car, often telling him, “Get away from my tires.”

“It’s pretty unusual to have a wife as your pit-crew chief,” said Jimmy White, who has raced super late models for five years.

“And Kristen is very good, better than most of these guys. I depend on my tire guy so much, it’s so important. For a racer the incorrect stagger means a bad race. You have to make sure you put the right air pressure and know how it changes through the race.

“The change comes from the temperature, how the track wears the tire and so many other variables. She really has to know what she’s doing.”

Kristen won the gold wrench award, given to the top mechanic at the track as voted by the other drivers, at Mesa Marin in Bakersfield. She’s so respected that race teams in other divisions have asked her to help them set their tires.

But there are still some who will make sarcastic remarks about the tools she uses or her measuring techniques.

“The biggest compliment is when other drivers will come and ask me for advice,” she said. “Or the guys will tell Charlie, ‘I’m stealing your wife from you.’

“It helps our marriage. I know of a lot of people who have gotten divorced because of racing. The wives can’t understand their husband’s hobby and why they spend so much time in it.

“During the week, I’m helping him in the garage and getting underneath the car. We’ll continue to do this until we’re not having fun anymore.”

In other races Saturday, Rip Michels of Mission Hills won the Grand American Modified event, Deyon Young of Las Vegas won the American Race Truck event.