A sliver of hope for those caught in the contraction

Oh, for the sound of engines rumbling, for the sight of wheels turning, for the addictive sensory overload that goes along with race cars making that unmistakable Doppler scream around a race track. This isn't about some first-of-the-year racing jones, this isn't about being tired of too much Pinks on television, this isn't about getting all hyped up for Daytona. This is about a quest for normalcy, about wanting a small diversion from all the hurt and suffering, about feeling, at least for a little while, like everything is all right again.

David Caraviello

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Because everything isn't all right. Oh sure, tracks are selling tickets and drivers are vacationing on white sandy beaches and crew chiefs for top teams are already plotting how to win at Phoenix in April. The 2009 campaign will begin and Daytona International Speedway will be packed and before long it will be all about Jeff and Jimmie and Junior once again. But for so many of the rank and file workers that comprise NASCAR's national divisions, men and women who push crash carts and tune engines and monitor seven-post rigs, it's not just the season that has been brought to a pause.

Hundreds of careers have also come to an abrupt halt as race teams cut back and reorganize as a result of the economic recession. These aren't just numbers, but real people, husbands and wives and fathers and sons, men and women with children and houses and financial responsibilities they are suddenly struggling to meet. Some wonder where their next mortgage payment will come from. Many of them are living without health insurance. They're frightened and depressed after dedicating themselves to an industry that doesn't need them anymore, and might never need them again.

"The contraction that's happening is so deep, there's nowhere for them to go," said Don Gemmell, a former production scheduler at Dale Earnhardt Inc., and one of the approximately 120 people laid off when that organization shed two cars to merge with Chip Ganassi's team. "Before, they would just pick up their toolbox and roll it down the street and go to the next shop and somebody would hire them. Either that shop needed them, or they had a buddy down there that got them a job. Well, that's not taking place. That's not going to be an option."

Some of these displaced workers are younger, and have engineering degrees or athletic skills, and may be able to find work outside of motorsports. Others are older, people who have only known a life in racing, who are close enough to retirement to see it but can't find a bridge to get them there. There are people who moved south to chase the dream, and are moving back to Ohio or New Jersey or wherever they came from, because the dream can no longer pay the bills. And everywhere in central North Carolina, there are former race team employees with specialized skills, looking for work, and struggling to find it.

They've found a glint of hope in a Web site organized by Gemmell and designed by his neighbor, Jeff Jones. Called dontcheckup.com -- taking its name from a racing phrase that means keeping the foot down on the accelerator pedal -- the site serves as a clearinghouse for posting resumes, career assistance, continuing education, and what few jobs are available right now. Launched Dec. 1, Gemmell originally envisioned the site as a tool for helping his former employees at DEI and Earnhardt-Childress Engines find work. But the scope of the layoffs has been so broad, he opened it up to the entire industry. At last count, displaced employees from 33 race teams were represented.

A helping hand

The recent layoffs have led to Humpy Wheeler and the North Carolina Motorsports Association creating a Motorsports Employment Task Force to address the job loss issues.

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It's a sliver of optimism in an industry beset with gloom and doom. "Getting out of bed and getting up is challenge for some of them," said Gemmell, who knows firsthand the experience and the sometimes debilitating mental strain that goes along with it. "Trying to get them to do something and take some action is like herding turtles."

Through the Web site, displaced NASCAR employees can obtain the help of a professional resume developer, or the assistance of an insurance expert who specializes in layoffs and plant closings. Men and women who have welded car bodies together for years in race shops can find help in getting the certification they need to find a welding job outside of motorsports. Monday at the train station in Kannapolis, N.C., there was an event sponsored by Rowan-Cabarrus Community College featuring information about workshops and training programs, tips on obtaining continuing education funds, and people to help in applying for unemployment benefits.

The site is part of an unemployment task force, founded by former Lowe's Motor Speedway president Humpy Wheeler and the North Carolina Motorsports Association, that attempts to assist displaced workers as well as keep them in the state.

"We've actually been working with the biotech industry, which has connections to fabrication jobs. Things in the medical device industry are real similar to racing, with the precision and time constraints and all that," said Shawn Stewart, marketing and membership director of the NCMA. "We're trying to promote these workers and what kind of value they might bring to a company that's non-motorsports. Either they stay in another career path or come back to racing, but either way, if those jobs don't come back, they're still in the area and still employed."

That's the hope, at least. Soon enough the engines will be rumbling again, the cars will be back on the race track and the people fortunate enough to still have jobs in this industry will be back in the middle of the 38-week grind. Soon enough the attention will turn back to drivers and crew chiefs and races and the Chase. Meanwhile, those roughly 700 people let go after last season, people who as recently as Homestead were working in the garage like everyone else, will continue to live off their savings or live without health insurance and worry about what their future will hold.

"It's already at the crisis stage," Gemmell said. "If you were at the Kannapolis train station [Monday] with 50, 60-something guys and you looked into their faces, you would know it's beyond bordering on a crisis. It's in crisis. NASCAR is just a microcosm of the United States, and what do they say about the average worker, that he's two to three paychecks away from disaster? Well guess what, these guys have just gotten to the two to three paychecks phase, and they're facing disaster."

The opinions expressed are solely those of the writer.