Guest Column By Cathy Elliott

Last year, the top story that came out of the NASCAR Sprint Pit Crew Challenge presented by Craftsman, one of the most popular events leading up to the annual Sprint All Star Race, was written by Marty Smith of ESPN.

Smith’s account of Jack Kerr, who won $10,000 in the individual jack man category of competition, then donated his winnings to the family of a critically injured 4-year-old boy, reignited the spirit of selflessness and compassion in its readers, inspiring similar acts of generosity from many of them.

By comparison, this year’s most visible story seems to be the fact that Denny Hamlin’s girlfriend piloted his No. 11 Toyota to the Pit Crew Challenge in his stead, wearing a T-shirt emblazoned with the slogan, “All We Do Is Win.”

Not quite as heart-warming, perhaps, but that’s OK. It was inspirational enough for the crew, and ultimately proved prophetic, as well, as the No. 11 team earned the victory and the $70,000 cash prize that comes with it.

The Pit Crew Challenge is a fun event, and an important one, serving as a great way to drive home a point we sometimes seem to forget, no matter how many races we watch – truly, NASCAR is a team sport. Every team member has a specific task to perform, and they all work together to create a community that is functional, efficient and, ideally, very fast-moving.

I had a great time serving as one of the guest speakers for Career Day at a local elementary school last week.

The gist of the event was this: business people from the community went to the school and talked about their jobs to seven fourth-grade classes, then answered questions from the kids.

The assortment of jobs represented was pretty diverse, ranging from cosmetology to fire-fighting, although those two really might not be all that different, when you think about it. In the event of a perm gone bad, for example, a certain level of fire-fighting expertise could come in handy.

There were also policemen and bankers, and then there was me. Nobody, and I include myself in that group, is quite sure how to define my job, but I gave it a valiant effort, complete with various NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver stand-ups and a chunk of original Darlington Raceway asphalt, squirreled away from the repaving project a few years back.

The day went surprisingly well. NASCAR was still top-of-mind in town, as the race weekend was only a couple of weeks in the rear view mirror, and the props really helped. Remember this the next time you’re invited to do some public speaking — bring along a few cardboard representations of superstar athletes and a big chunk of old rock, and hide behind all of them as much as you can. You’ll be golden.

The most surreal moment of the day came when I opened it up for questions by asking the kids if anyone had discovered a potential career that day. Great news for the town – there is plenty of police protection and lots of great hair days in its future.

Then, one young man in the back of the room raised his hand and said, “I want to be one of those guys who change the tires on Jeff Gordon’s car.” Jeff, I was pleasantly surprised to learn, is still the driver of choice among the younger crowd.

When I asked the young man how in the world he had settled on that job, he said, “It’s like, you know, totally cool. And you only have to work a few seconds at a time.”

Wow. We are so accustomed to watching those guys hop over the wall, gas up a stock car, slap four tires on it and send it on its way that we have almost become desensitized to how impressive that actually is.

Think about it this way. If you were to take a nice bite of your burger just as that car was pulling into its pit stall, and if you were to chew it 20 times like you’re supposed to, the car would be long gone before you even swallowed that first bite. That’s how fast they are.

That’s also how well-conditioned they are. Those spectacular 13 seconds are the result of many hours of grueling physical training and absolute dedication to being the best. A pit crew becomes a winner in exactly the same way a musician gets to Carnegie Hall. Practice, practice, practice.

It’s great to see these hard-working team members get the recognition – and for some, the nice financial bonus – they so richly deserve. Your favorite driver, whoever he may be, wouldn’t be so visible or successful, and probably wouldn’t have sold you all those hats and T-shirts bearing his car number and his likeness, without a solid pit crew protecting his back.

It is important to note that these fourth-graders recognized Jimmie Johnson and Joey Logano from various commercials and things on TV, but they’ve also been watching the races, and they’ve been noticing the guys who are not behind the wheel, but behind the wall.

When you’re so good at your job that you make it look easy, you also make it look fun. Kids admire you, and want to emulate you. So that aspiring rear tire changer was right about one thing. To serve as a positive role model is like, you know, totally cool.

The opinions expressed in this articles are solely those of the author and not this website.