by Jeff Hammond

Comment

As everybody knows by now, the economy is making things very difficult for everybody. Because of that, several teams have announced that they are laying people off at the end of this weekend. It's unfortunate that teams are having to readjust because of economic factors, but understandable. However, it's aggravating when I hear things that have happened here in Homestead, Fla., like dismissing crew members in the back of a transporter before the final weekend of the season.

I just don't understand the reason why things have turned so ugly.

It just seems so classless that people have to do things like that. Teams want their employees to be the best of the best, yet they do something like that. Now all of a sudden, moves like this jeopardize that entire team and their driver because some of those guys losing their jobs might not be as focused as they need to be.

A lot of people underestimate that this is a dangerous sport, and a mistake like leaving a lug nut loose on a pit stop could have disastrous effects on a lot of competitors. This weekend's season finale was all about deciding this year's Sprint Cup Series champion between Jimmie Johnson and Carl Edwards. Now just imagine what would have happened if one of these guys that was dismissed from a team made a mistake because he wasn't focused on his job and his mistake led to a driver knocking out one of the title contenders — altering the championship forever.

I don't get it. A lot of these guys who learned they are without jobs after this weekend may not have been 100 percent focused on this race — and understandably so as they have to figure out what's next for them. People in power show irresponsibility and disrespect to the individuals that they gave the news to as well as showing disrespect to the sport and the people that compete in it.

This really upsets me, folks. Everybody works too hard trying to do things right to have somebody make a decision that could have a profound impact on the racetrack.

In case you haven't read some of the news, I'm thinking we are going to be looking at 750-1,000 team members and other personnel without jobs in the sport of NASCAR. This is going to be a tragic week when it comes to the adjustments that are about to take place in our sport.

Anybody who's ever lost a job — it's a sickness that you get in the pit of your stomach. And what a bad time to lose a job. You've got Thanksgiving coming up, end of the year, Christmas — and there's no safety net. Before, if your team was going down, there was another team coming up. But every organization at the three big levels in this sport — Sprint Cup, Nationwide and Craftsman Trucks — are making adjustments these days.

It's a matter of survival, and it's going to be tough, it really is. I don't think our sport has ever witnessed what we're going to be witnessing over the next week.

Survival of the fittest

Even though we're losing people and we're having to readjust, it may not be a bad thing for the teams.

Speed Mail Jeff Hammond
SpeedMail Subject: Comment/Question: Name:  Email:  Hometown:

A lot of crew positions have become so specialized. It used to be that guys coming up through the ranks could do every job on the race car. There's a lot of guys who can't do that now.

Maybe it's time to get back to that.

It would make better crew members and they could do a better job because they'd understand what it's like not only to pack wheel bearings, but to work in the engine room or work in the body shop. They could be more versatile.

We're back to survival of the fittest and also to what some of these smaller teams are doing already.

Change in plans

This is a big-picture adjustment as far as what NASCAR has gone to with the testing policy. When they dropped the checkered flag here at Homestead, most organizations do not have another sponsorship check coming in until the first of the year or until we get to Daytona in February. Putting a ban on testing is going to help them survive. They're not going to have to go off and spend their money. They don't have to burn that up. It'll help them get to Daytona.

That's the big picture. It's not to save the Roush Fenways or Richard Childresses of the world, it's to help the guys that are one-car operations that are struggling. These are the guys that are going to get the big benefit. And by the way, we've never done this before, so how do you know it won't work? Give it a try. It's like going from changing engines every time you go on the racetrack down to one engine a weekend. We survived.

Our sport is a little bit like the Marines. We adapt, we improvise, we overcome, and that's what we'll do here. It will work out if you'll just give it a chance. Never say never.

That's what makes a Jimmie Johnson, a Chad Knaus, a Hendrick Motorsports so successful — when they throw them a curve, they figure out how to hit it out of the park. That's what all these good teams are going to continue to do. So I don't think it's going to affect our racing. It will keep some teams in racing that would probably have to fold up camp if we did not make that adjustment.

And NASCAR could turn around and say well, it's not working the way we want it to, let's go back to the way it was. We tried it. So you've got to give them credit for stepping up to the plate and being willing to do it.

---

FOX race analyst Jeff Hammond led Darrell Waltrip to two of DW's three Winston Cup championships as his crew chief. They also teamed to win the 1989 Daytona 500.

For autographed copies of Jeff Hammond's book "Real Men Work in the Pits" plus magnets, hats and more, check out www.dwstore.com.

For photos and appearances, visit Jeff's web site www.jeffhammond.com.