The Auto Racing Team
What is the 'crew chief' in auto racing?
The Crew Chief is the one that's responsible for making sure the cars set up right, and ready to go racing. He works very closely with all the crew members obviously, and on race day I believe that the drivers and the crew chief are the ones that really communicate. The driver lets the crew chief know how the car is handling, how it's working, if it needs any adjustments for handling aspect, how the engines running, how the tires are wearing and gives him a heads up on everything and so they can be prepared for anything ahead of time.
What is the 'engine specialist' in auto racing?
The 'engine specialist' or the 'engine tuner' is the one that builds the engines. Usually they're put on 'dynos' -- dynamometers -- and checked out and run previously to putting them in the car so that once they get in the car they're ready to go, They're broken in if they have to be. They're ready to go.
What is the 'tire specialist' in auto racing?
A lot of series run spec tires. NASCAR is what? Goodyear? Formula One is Bridgestone. So the tires are pretty much given to you and this is what you race on. Now there are different compounds of tires in some organizations where one's a softer compound, one's a harder compound. And maybe you're required to run at least one set of each of those during a race. So between the driver and the tire specialist they might decide what tire to start on and when to change it, things like that. The tire specialist is also looking at the graining or the pattern of the tire after it comes off the track, after it's been changed. To see how it's wearing and it's wearing properly. And if it's not maybe there's an alignment problem or a camber problem with the suspension that they might need to look at.