Honoring the true 'road warriors'

One of the saddest aspects of big-time auto racing is how, too often, the most integral pieces get swept aside by the wave of hype and adulation surrounding the wheelmen.

Make no mistake -- if your race team doesn't have a first-rate driver, you aren't going anywhere. But do they have to get all the attention?

Like father, like son: Red Bull crew men Pete, left, and Adam Wright.

Because you gotta know that without the Ron Malecs and Pete Wrights and Jason Burdetts and Steve Channings and Benjy Grubbs of the racing world -- in multiples -- getting to Victory Lane and contending for championships isn't gonna happen.

So that makes the preamble to this Sunday's Tums Fast Relief 500 at Martinsville Speedway a little more special.

Tums has named all crew members as the grand marshal for the sixth race in the Chase, to highlight the contribution of all crewmen -- including those who really labor in obscurity at the teams' shops, to the race-day-only pit-crew members to the weekend-long mechanics and over-the-wall servicemen.

And since getting that many people equipped with mics for the command to start engines would be a supreme electronic challenge, 43 crewmen are the designated honorees and will give the command that'll turn 'em loose.

It's about time.

Sure, there are events that highlight certain aspects of these teams, like the annual Sprint Pit Crew Challenge that's held in conjunction with the Sprint All-Star Race in Charlotte, and the actual All-Star driver introductions themselves -- but they only include the over-the-wall members.

So even though you won't be able to see 'em all or hear 'em all, be aware those voices you'll hear on Sunday afternoon giving the command will represent hundreds of their cohorts making big sacrifices of time and family life to help the sport that a certain number of millions enjoy every week.

So let 'em represent -- although who knows exactly what they're going to say or how they're gonna deliver it?

That doesn't matter. There have been many variations on the grand marshal theme through the years -- usually selected by the race sponsor or the host race track. This race doesn't break that mode -- but all the same, for race fans it should be as special as it is historic.

How else would you know that Thomasville, N.C., father-and-son Pete and Adam Wright of the Red Bull Racing Team is the only such pair in the group -- though certainly not the only one in racing? The elder Wright, a utility man on Scott Speed's No. 82 Toyota, has been a fixture in the Cup Series garage for five decades, on several championship teams, and his son, who holds the same role on the No. 83 Toyota, looks well set to follow in his footsteps.

How would you know that Ryan McCray, a fabricator and tire carrier for David Ragan's No. 6 Ford, was the son of former Winston West champion Rick McCray; or that Scott Brewer, mechanic for Clint Bowyer's No. 33 Chevrolet, was the son of former champion crew chief and TV personality Tim Brewer?

How would you know that Malec, car chief on four-time and defending Cup champion Jimmie Johnson's No. 48 Chevrolet, started racing karts at age 8 and aspired to continue until the money ran out; he hooked up with Johnson while the latter raced off-road trucks and they've been together ever since.

Allegedly, the crew members who were selected "embody the spirit" of their respective teams. That very well could be, but what they really represent is the nationwide -- and even worldwide -- variety present in the NASCAR garage.

How else would you know that Kevin Duncan, tire carrier for Aric Almirola's No. 9 Ford, was from New Zealand; or that Ramon Zambrano, shock specialist for Elliott Sadler's No. 19 Ford, was from El Salvador? (Continued)