Crewman never gets tired of life in the pits

FONTANA, Calif. -- Veteran tire changer Dennis Terry loves the look on his co-worker's faces when he is in the office at 7 a.m. ET on the Monday morning after a West Coast race.

"When they see me sitting there on Monday mornings, they go, did you not race this weekend?" Terry said.

Race-day flights typically costs teams $1,000 per man, but Terry says teams willingly pay.

"The teams don't mind paying it because if they can get their guys home Sunday night instead of Monday afternoons," Terry said, "their guys will be a little more productive."

Midnight flights. Wake-up calls at 4 a.m. Drivers trying to clip you on pit road to slow your stop.

Welcome to the glamorous -- and dangerous -- life of a tire changer.

Like many over-the-wall crewmen, Terry works a regular job during the week -- he is a licensed landscape architect -- and he flies to the race to work every Sunday.

Terry is a native of the tiny western North Carolina town of Mooresboro, and his dry wit is a fixture on pit road. Because of the draining and stressful schedule, Terry says that a sense of humor is a necessity, not an addition.

Terry readily admits that rival drivers will get too close to him on pit road in order to throw off his rhythm. It is part of the sport.

Sure, it makes him mad. But he also said the tactic can be counterproductive -- if a driver clips him and doesn't affect the stop, it sends a rush of adrenaline through his body.

"It is part of the job," Terry said. "You know a driver is driving through your box to throw your timing off, it bothers you; but when he drives through your pit and you're still able to beat him off of pit road, that is the competition we are all in it for.

"I am more worried about inexperienced drivers. I am more worried about them because they are not as conscious of what is going on."

Terry, 35, has been going over the wall for various teams for 10 years. Teams are reluctant to hire tire changers with no experience, so a tire changer with Terry's experience is worth their weight in gold. It is part of the reason Terry moved to Joe Gibbs Racing's No. 11 Chevrolet from DEI. (Continued)