They’re in It for the Long Haul

Motor racing’s traveling big top, NASCAR, is coming to Fontana this weekend and not even kidney stones shall keep these good old boys from making their appointed green flag.

That flag will drop Sunday at California Speedway, before the biggest crowd for a sporting event in the state this year, 92,000 in the bleachers and 20,000 more in the infield of the two-mile oval.

Before that, though, there is a race before the race. Getting there.

The stop before Fontana was at Talladega, Ala., last Sunday, after which the teams drove back to their bases around Charlotte, N.C., to unpack, re-pack, then head out on a 2,400-mile trek.

Many arrived here Thursday, parking their 53-foot, 40-ton transporters -- you can tell who is who by the paintings depicting driver, sponsor and race team on the side -- in the parking lot until 5:30 this morning, when they got the green light to fill their assigned spots in the track’s garage area.

“You’ve got a small city that moves from home base to the track,” said Cal Wells III, owner of the Chevrolet that Ricky Craven will drive.

The stock car teams that will compete in the Busch Series race on Saturday were allowed into the garage on Thursday. The entrance of the Nextel Cup teams -- the major leaguers of stock car racing -- this morning brought the total number of race-team transporters at the track to more than 90.

Each carries roughly the same basics: car chassis, engines, transmissions, dozens of springs, gears and shock absorbers, diagnostic equipment, and an 8,000-pound tool box -- so big that NASCAR requires it to have brakes -- for the garage.

“They just go 24/7, so the truck never turns off,” said Wells, whose crew pulled into an Orange County auto dealership Wednesday night for a noontime autograph session on Thursday with Craven. “That gets them there early so if they have a problem, they’ve got some wiggle room.”

Bad weather, flat tires, engine problems, freeway closures, accidents, roadwork -- none are adequate excuses if a race team is waiting around without a car to work on. It is especially important to be prompt when the car is expected to be out on the track for the only practice before qualifying a mere five hours after the crew and equipment are first allowed into the garage.

“You have to be there, the whole team depends on you,” said Eddie Jones, a NASCAR veteran of more than 30 years and team manager for BAM Racing’s Dodge, driven by Ken Schroeder. “You do whatever you have to do to make it happen.

“A tractor loses an engine, you back a rental unit under it and keep it going. You just leave it there.”

This week it was Wells’ team that had a minor emergency. On race day at Talladega, the transport driver was hospitalized with kidney stones. The backup driver got the hauler back to the home base by midnight Sunday and Wells worked to come up with a second driver for the cross-country trip to Fontana.

By 1 p.m. Monday, the crew was on the road in its tricked-up Volvo big-rig.

Finding another driver was a bit of a scramble, but Wells didn’t have too much trouble. There are perks -- dual walk-in sleepers, DVD player, television, satellite radio -- to the job.

Stopping in Lebanon, Tenn., Memphis, Little Rock, Ark., Oklahoma City and Santa Rosa, N.M., the hauler arrived in Ontario after a trip lasting a little more than 43 hours, in plenty of time to be cleaned up for the autograph signing.

The colorful transporters are only part of what is often compared to a traveling circus. Drivers and owners usually sleep at the venue in state-of-the-art motor coaches. And then there are the hospitality trailers and merchandising trucks stocked with jackets, 1 1/24th die-casts and enough trinkets and T-shirts to outfit a medium-sized suburb.

NASCAR, which is headquartered in Daytona Beach, Fla., doesn’t return to a hub, but travels from city to city by a convoy that stretches about 10 miles front to rear. Included are seven haulers and a gooseneck trailer for NASCAR administration, communications, conferencing, cooking and equipment for the combined Nextel Cup and Busch series.

Three auto manufacturers bring haulers as well, and Featherlite, which makes trailers, brings one of its own to provide maintenance. Goodyear brings at least a half-dozen big trucks.

Another nine haulers bring “the Glass House,” a 6,400-square-foot air-conditioned enclosure providing the NASCAR “fan-fest.” It takes a full two days to set up and has 11 plasma-screen TVs, six race simulators, a live engine change, web cameras to the garage area, a wall of champions and, outside, two Jumbo-tron towers with video screens measuring 80 feet by 80 feet that carry live track feeds and other NASCAR programming.

Another dozen haulers -- at least -- carry team tires, wheels and pit boxes. Twenty-five employees mount the 2,500 Goodyear Eagles used for a typical Nextel Cup race.

Then there’s television. On Sunday, Fox will use 23 manned cameras, 10 in-car cameras, 30 miles of cable, 60 technicians, 80 support personnel, 10 commentators and one “Boogity-Boogity-Boogity” cackled by announcer Darrell Waltrip, who will make his signature call at the start of the race.

Television accounts for seven more haulers, including the Speed Channel’s Trackside Live setup, In-Demand and HDTV. All those were broken down immediately after Sunday’s race in Alabama and headed West so they could be set up before the first Busch practice Thursday.

About 1,800 workers travel with the race teams, an indication that not all of the estimated $135.7 million this weekend’s races are expected to pump into the local economy is coming from race fans.

Television usually adds 125 to 175 workers to the race-day operation, accounting for as many hotel rooms and about 50 car rentals at most stops, according to Dan Bell, vice president of communications for Fox Sports. A catering truck and two mobile units also travel with the television party.

The Motor Racing Network also brings a hauler for its radio broadcasts, which includes the XM satellite network.

NASCAR, with its 150 administrators, officials and support staff, will book about 80 rooms and 50 car rentals, according to Gary Smith, the series director of event logistics.

Out in front of this traveling show is Tim Judge, the advance man for NASCAR’s 36 races.

Judge arrives on the Monday before a race and never sticks around for the action before leaving for the next stop.

NASCAR needs 45 phone lines, and Judge makes sure they’re in place and working. He inspects painted striping on pit road, timing lines, caution lights, catch fencing, pace cars and tents for registration and inspection areas.

He also makes sure there’s plenty of electricity available to the haulers, sufficient power cords and backup generators to ensure there’s no loss of juice in the midst of a California blackout.

“Tim Judge saves us a heck of a lot of work at the last minute,” said Smith, the logistical expert.

Everything else, though, should be under control by race time.

For its part, California Speedway uses 3,800 volunteers working as ushers, information attendants and concessionaires and will sell an estimated 60,000 bottles of Pepsi product, 100,000 bottles of water, and more than 7 1/2 miles of hot dogs -- that’s 80,000 six-inch dogs laid end to end.

And when it’s over?

Well, there will be about 200 tons of trash to collect.

A small city indeed.