Welding creates bonds

Team Penske worker honed his craft with father

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Racing, more than most other sports, is in the blood. It starts with the fathers, is passed along to sons and daughters and then becomes a way of life. Most kids growing up want to be drivers, just like baseball families breed pitchers or catchers or shortstops.

Brian Yerger is one such son from one such racing family, out of Pottstown, Pennsylvania.

“My family has been drag racing since the 1960s,” Yerger said. “My grandfather started racing in the 1940s, and he’s 86 years old today. A lot of my mechanical ability has come from helping my father and grandfather in his garage since I was a little boy.”

Yerger is a fabrication foreman for Team Penske — the same team that has both Joey Logano and Brad Keselowski in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup. He learned his craft early and well.

Much of that craft centers on welding, which he’s been doing since he was 14.

“My father was the first person to teach me how to do some welding,” Yerger recalled. “He bought a little MIG welder which I still have and we would weld race car parts up in my grandfather’s garage.”

Parts he welded went onto the family’s drag racing car, a 1965 Comet Cyclone, which he still races.

That was the start for Yerger. At St. Pius X Catholic High School, he was first in his Vo-Tech class for machine shop, and the next stop was a local chassis shop that built drag-racing cars. He wasn’t a welder there; he was in shipping and receiving.

That didn’t last long.

“I would practice welding and fabricating at lunch time and after work,” he said. “I would ask some old-timers that were doing it for 30 years how to do different things. Eventually, I got good enough that the owner allowed me to make race car components that we sold. I would also help build the race cars.”

Roger Penske, another native Pennsylvanian, had his racing compound in Reading, Pennsylvania. Penske always had the best stuff, and working there was a dream shared by many in Yerger’s position. His dream came true.

A fabrication spot opened at Team Penske in Reading, and Yerger learned of it. He was offered the job, and it was a heady time for the 21-year-old.

“I remember being very nervous and almost not accepting the job because I didn’t think I was qualified enough to work for a company like that. Thankfully, my family gave me the courage to accept the position and 17 years later, I still love it as much as the day I started. I moved down to the Penske Racing Mooresville (North Carolina) location in 2006. Today, we have roughly 60 people working in the Chassis, Finish Fab and Body-Hanging areas at Penske.”

As a fabrication foreman for one of the most exacting team bosses in any form of motorsports, Yerger gets to use the top-of-the-line equipment every day.

“We use a variety of TIG welders, MIG welders and a plasma cutter, all from Lincoln Electric,” Yerger said. “Quality welding equipment is essential in building a perfect race car. Lincoln Electric is always working very hard to stay ahead of their competition and we think they have an outstanding product. I think the performance of the machines keeps getting better year after year. We are always trying different machines from Lincoln so they can get our feedback for their customers.”

Being in his position, Yerger has the opportunity to work with Lincoln Electric to make the ultimate welder for chassis work.

“Right now we are working with them on their new TIG welder which is called the Aspect 375,” he said. “We have been welding with it for about three months now and we have seen a lot of differences of performance from other machines which are all positive. Another thing we have noticed is the start-up arc on AC (power) is excellent. It is very stable and doesn’t move around a lot. On DC, the machine welds like a dream. The arc current throughout your weld is so steady. The machine also has so many adjustments so that all welders can make it like they want it. The Aspect 375 is a fantastic machine and a great addition to any fabrication shop.”

Not everyone can do what Yerger has done, but if someone wants to try, he has some advice.

“I would say if you want to learn the art of welding, go to school such as Lincoln Electric’s,” he said. “If that is not a possibility, then try to start at a small fabrication shop to gain the experience. It will take a lot of practice like anything to weld at a high level, but over time you will see yourself getting better and better. Try to soak up as much information from welders that have been doing it for a long time; they have the most experience.”

Yerger cautions, however, that it’s not going to be a job where you do your welding and go home; there’s a commitment involved.

“I think to choose a career in motorsports, you have to really have a passion for the sport,” he said. “You have to give 100 percent every day and never stop thinking about what else you can do to help the team out. For me it is very satisfying to help build a race car and then see it win on race day and hopefully at the end of the season with the championship.”

With two cars in the Chase, that can certainly happen this year. If it does, Yerger will have his own legacy to pass along to his sons and daughters.

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