Not too many race fans worry about how a race car makes it to the track; we just want to see the cars line up and go at it. However, so much is involved in getting a car ready to rumble that it boggles the mind.
Take, for instance, tires. We know they are designed to make a car stick to the track, but for the most part, it just seems that they are bolted on and away they go. Well, it's not quite that simple. There are procedures designed to keep each team's wheels and tires organized.
To see what is involved in making tires available to teams in a NASCAR event, we looked at the tire preparation procedure at the Craftsman Truck season finale at California Speedway in Fontana, California.
The first step is to match the wheels to the tire sets. As the wheels are brought in, they are paired with tires and marked with the car number, so a team's wheels are never lost in the shuffle. At this race, the task of keeping the wheels and tires straight fell to Randy Near.
Next, the wheels and tires are taken to an area for mounting. At the California race, that duty was done by Jaime Barrios. When this step is completed, the tire and wheel sets move on to the balancing phase.
Just like a street car, tires are mounted on a computerized balance machine. Louis Dalles is performing this critical step in tire prep.
Finally, the balanced tire and wheel sets are transported to a holding area and await the final step, conducted by NASCAR officials. This step involves the recording of tire-set numbers in the event that inquiries are made. This final step also ensures each team has received the appropriate number of tire sets. At this race, Richard Dempsey performed the NASCAR duties.
Once all the prep is done, the tires are ready for each team to bolt on and head for the rumble.