KANSAS CITY, Kan. -- Some drivers know the highs and lows of racing. When it comes to Kansas Speedway, Jeff Miles knows the fasts and slows.

A veteran late-model racer, Miles turns laps at 170 mph as an instructor for the Richard Petty Driving Experience. And on race weekends, he keeps things well under the speed limit as the driver of the new Elgin Crosswind Specialty Track Sweeper, cleaning up after trouble on the track.

“

When Kansas Speedway was built, I worked closely with them to design a street sweeper into a race track sweeper.

”

-- JEFF MILES

For example, when Greg Biffle spun during Saturday's Sprint Cup practice, Miles and the Crosswind were called into duty. Parked on the inside of Turn 4 near the entrance to pit road, Miles was able to quickly blow grass and debris off the track and apron, allowing NASCAR to get back to green-flag racing within minutes.

Between running a race car and the sweeper, Miles estimates he's made at least 70,000 laps around the 1.5-mile Kansas oval.

"It's basically a street sweeper on steroids," Miles said. "This is a high-investment machine in today's economy. It's hard for somebody to buy a quarter-million dollar machine like this, so Elgin stepped up to the plate and built this machine."

Miles, who turns 40 later this year, grew up in Kansas City and lives only a few blocks from the track. He manages Key Equipment & Supply Co., which happens to be a dealer for Elgin products. And it was that specific expertise that caused both Kansas Speedway and NASCAR to ask for his advice.

"We know street sweepers," Miles said. "That's my life. I do that every day. So I come in and run it during race events. And now NASCAR has looked at [our operation] and is trying to determine how to do it at other tracks.

"Most of the tracks, with their budgets, were using basically parking-lot sweepers, designed to pick up cigarette butts and paper cups. When Kansas Speedway was built, I worked closely with them to design a street sweeper into a race track sweeper."

The original Kansas sweeper was put into use when the track opened in 2001. But two years ago, Miles began to think about what he'd design into a next-generation, purpose-built sweeper. And that's how the Crosswind came into being.

"Two years ago, we were invited to the NASCAR Safety Summit as an exhibitor," Miles said. "After we did that, NASCAR asked me to make a Track Sweeping 101 booklet. Last year, we were a presenter.

"... So we put all of our heads together, had a lot of conference calls with NASCAR, the safety teams -- and they gave me a lot of suggestions. I took them to the engineers at Elgin and they adapted all their designs to build a purpose-built race sweeper." (Continued)