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In a building filled with banners, trophies and famed race cars, five newcomers entered Hendrick Motorsports‘ Nos. 48 and 88 shop as part of their induction to the decorated four-car organization, carving out their own slice of history.
These five young men, coming from various backgrounds, stood together — a united group — as part of the Hendrick’s 2017 pit crew class for its second annual signing day.
Completing the class are: TJ Semke, Mason Harris, Austin Holland, Timmy Hall and Dylan Intemann.
The quintet were joined by Andy Papathanassiou, Director of Human Performance, and Keith Flynn, Developmental Pit Crew Director.
“To me the reason why we decided on a formal presentation of our pit crew recruits is because this really is, in my explanation, the completion of a dream, Papathanassiou said Thursday, looking at the 2017 class. “And to have something like NASCAR come in … and say, ‘Hey, you can fufill your dream of being a professional athlete.’ “
The goal of this program is to have the recruits work their way up to eventually lining up behind the wall for one of Hendrick’s Sprint Cup teams.
“Over 100 guys came through and (only) five guys made it,” Flynn revealed, highlighting the difficulties of the rigorous program that he manages.
One of the inductees, Hall, says his four-year professional hockey career — Hendrick’s first hockey player recruit — helped him prepare for not only the program, but also the NASCAR industry as a whole.
“I think a ton of stuff translated over,” the tire carrier hopeful revealed. “Obviously, just the practice and preparation that you are used to with hockey … there’s a lot of hand-eye coordination and hand skills involved. I think that really translates with tire changing, especially.”
All five Hendrick Motorsports recruits have extensive athletic backgrounds: Semke played football for three years at the University of Kansas; Harris was a four-year football player for the University of South Carolina; Holland briefly provided behind-the-wall support at Roush Fenway Racing; and Intemann was an offensive lineman at Wake Forest University.
Papathanassiou — and the entire HMS organization — are confident in this group, envisioning a promising future for the five in their motorsports careers.
“They found us as much as we found them. And you’re seeing the fruits of the labor of our constant year-after-year recruiting process.”