Petty crewman misses football, loves new career

There usually are pros and cons to any new job.

Take Dion "Rocko" Williams. He doesn't get to hit anybody in his current job, which he considers a negative. But he doesn't get hit anymore, either, which he and the physicians who once told him he could no longer risk that in his old job definitely consider a plus.

Williams is the front-tire changer for the No. 45 Dodge driven by Kyle Petty for Petty Enterprises in the Nextel Cup Series. He also serves as a part-time pit coach for other teams, including the Circle Bar Racing team in the Craftsman Truck Series.

He basically traded one uniform in for another about three years ago, when the sixth concussion of his long football career cut short his dreams of playing in the NFL and steered him toward NASCAR. A hard-hitting linebacker in college at Wake Forest, where he played from 1999 through 2004, Williams was in camp as a free agent with the Minnesota Vikings when he suffered the decisive blow that caused an immediate and unforeseen career change.

"I had six concussions; I had five prior in college and I had my sixth one in the third preseason game with the Vikings," said Williams, an African-American. "After that, I became a liability. It was sort of suggested, 'Hey, don't put a helmet on anymore as far as full-contact sport because it could cause serious brain damage.' So I was kind of upset about that. If it wasn't for NASCAR, I think I would have had a more difficult time with it. That made the transition of leaving football a little bit easier."

It wasn't planned. Not even close.

"I lived 20 minutes from Atlanta Motor Speedway growing up and never knew it existed. I had been in football my whole life," Williams said.

Then he met a Wake Forest football fan who also happened to race in NASCAR's Modified Series at Bowman Gray Stadium in Winston-Salem, N.C. The fan/driver helped get Williams' car painted when Williams was still in college, and one day invited him to check out his racecar.

"I said, 'That's pretty cool. I've never seen a real racecar in my whole life,'" Williams said. "Next thing you know, he asked me, 'Hey, man, you want to be part of my pit crew?' I said, 'What's that?' Basically it was more like security detail, because he liked to run off at the mouth and get into fights at Bowman Gray -- and when he had me there with him, nobody really messed with him, a little short guy. (Continued)