Tire changer on 12 team continues to see success

Joe Piette Jr. seems to be the kind of guy, if you were ever an athlete, would've aggravated the heck out of you as you tried to chase him across a field or a court.

But growing up, Piette said his size precluded him playing a lot of contact sports on a serious level. He gravitated to fast-pitch softball and also thrives on more precise elements such as ping-pong, billiards, bowling and pitching horseshoes.

Seeing clearly

While not mandated by NASCAR or teams, most pit coaches suggest that their crewmembers were protective eyewear for several different reasons.

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"I'm 145 pounds, soaking wet," Piette said through a grin. "My sheer size didn't lend itself well to being a football player.

"Basically, I've always been a fan of the hand-eye coordination things."

So these days Piette, 40, of Salisbury, N.C., is a rear-tire changer for Penske Racing's No. 12 Dodge driven by Ryan Newman.

And time and experience has trained him to do the job well.

"It takes a lot of practice," Piette said. "What I try to tell people who are trying to learn the sport, or learn how to do this, is that if you actually have to think about what you're doing on a pit stop, it's not going to be very good.

"It's all instinctive, and I know, after some pit stops, I'll struggle to remember if I hit all the lug nuts on the right side, though I know I did.

"The more you practice, the more you just do it."

As a young man in his early 20s, Piette left a well-paying job with UPS in his native Wisconsin to relocate to North Carolina, and giving that up made him seriously determined to make it work.

"We don't really have racing in our family history, but we knew a lot of people who raced," Piette said of his background in a sport that becomes a lifestyle. "So from the time I was old enough to know where I was going, I've been going to racetracks."

An equally determined independent owner/driver, coincidentally also from Wausau, Wis., Dave Marcis gave Piette his first job changing tires back in 1989 when three air guns were used and a third crewman loosened the left-side lugs while the primary tire changers switched the right-side tires.

The dynamics of pit stops have changed, along with everything else, including equipment, attire and the elapsed time of stops.

"It's totally different than it used to be," Piette said, laughing. "I've got pictures I could show you of me changing tires in a short-sleeved shirt, blue jeans and a ball cap -- though I was wearing gloves." (Continued)