Pit crew member: $100,000 a year?

klemmabyna

klemmabyna

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a kid from where I grew up:

"Late last week, Bevins was officially hired on a five-year developmental contract by Hendrick Motorsports to train as a tire carrier in a pit crew."

"When his NFL aspirations were extinguished after brief mini-camp appearances for the Arizona Cardinals and Cleveland Browns, Bevins started taking an earlier conversation with a Hendrick recruiter seriously. A pit crew member for a NASCAR Cup Series race team can earn in excess of $100,000 a year, traveling the country for 32 weekends a year, which beats his alternative plan of graduate school and a small stipend as a graduate assistant football coach."

Clipped from:
http://www.crestonnews.com/2018/09/07/fit-for-the-pit/anizy9x/
 
I would suspect any guy on a top pit crew is making at least that. Look at all the training you have to do, I mean they build facilities just for training these guys. Then you add up the travel and 100k a year isn't as much as you'd think. You have to remember you need 2 things, which makes this incredibly hard. 1) you need to find someone good at what they do 2) You need to find people that are willing to travel. Those guys probably train 3 days a week? and spend idk 80 nights a year away from home?

We deal with the same thing where I work. People can't believe what we pay some of our people and what it really comes down to is that you have to pay to find good people that are willing to be on the road 150-200 days a year.
 
Johali said:
They get a lot of bonuses and all of their expenses are paid on the road.
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I understand all expenses are paid, but even with that good luck trying to find good people that if in one way or another aren't making 100k a year that are willing to travel.
 
wi_racefan said:
I understand all expenses are paid, but even with that good luck trying to find good people that if in one way or another aren't making 100k a year that are willing to travel.
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Yet they seem to find the best of the best. Well most teams do anyway.
 
Traveling for 32 weekends (and working 38) isn't particularly glamorous when most of what you're seeing is pit roads and hotel rooms. And somebody has to go along for the test sessions.
 
A fair number of those people fly in Sunday morning and fly out Sunday afternoon. With the number of guys waiting to take somebody else's job on the big teams, I'd think you could get a better deal than 100 Grand. That multi part web series that HMS did two years ago covers the pit crew recruitment and training in detail. Some of the guys they talked to were pretty resigned to the fact it was not if but when they would be replaced by somebody younger, faster, better, and maybe cheaper too.
 
I think the key phrase is "can earn in excess of", as in the potential is there. Not necessarily "The median salary of a Cup crew member is...". Sure, the top tier are making over that. $100,000 is not exactly what it used to be.
 
gnomesayin said:
I think the key phrase is "can earn in excess of", as in the potential is there. Not necessarily "The median salary of a Cup crew member is...". Sure, the top tier are making over that. $100,000 is not exactly what it used to be.
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Nope, that is far from "good money" these days, especially for the effort and training they put in.
 
Comes down to skill sets & value.

There are only ~105 guys, on top teams, in the country that are doing the job?

That’s pretty valuable IMO.
 
The lawsuit a tire changer filed against MWR for wrongful termination stated his salary was $135K... about 4 or 5 years ago. I'm dealing from memory, always risky LOL, but I'm pretty sure of that number.

We know they practice pit stops extensively, and work hard on strength and conditioning. But I've always wondered how much training and practice they get at repairing crash damage. Anyone know?
 
LewTheShoe said:
wondered how much training and practice they get at repairing crash damage. Anyone know?
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I think 3M has a class on pealing the backing off the tape and one of the drivers wives holds a class on crushing bent hoods as well as pulling out fenders. :sarcasm:
 
gnomesayin said:
I think the key phrase is "can earn in excess of", as in the potential is there. Not necessarily "The median salary of a Cup crew member is...". Sure, the top tier are making over that. $100,000 is not exactly what it used to be.
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Yep..."can " there are still some pit crew members in NASCAR that are volunteers and receive no pay.
 
If the drivers are taking haircuts in their contracts how long will it be until the other people in the shop start seeing the same thing happen?
 
I go to church with the parents of a guy that had a "side job" on a pit crew for Roush and JGR winning teams in the 90s, then for Wood Bros. In the late 90's to early 2000s he was making 6 as part of the over the wall crew. Had to practice a couple nights a week and work out with team trainer during week, flew out to track on Friday nights or Saturdays. I don't know what it's like today, though.
 
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