Full Throttle

It happens almost weekly at every level of NASCAR racing. Someone, and invaribly someone in the top ten, has trouble during a pitstop with one [avatar:http://cranialcavity.net/files/hex-nut.jpg]of these[/avatar]. It never fails, when on pitroad ya gotta watch yer [lug]nuts!

Earlier this year a loose lugnut found its way into the front brake rotor of Matt Kenseth’s #17 Ford in the first Chase for the Championship race, but his crew got him back on the track after a quick pit stop en route to a fifth-place finish. That incident is particularly memorable because Kenseth left the pits with the right front wheel locked up and had to make the 1 1/2 mile lap back to the pits for repairs. The list of teams having similar problems is endless.

Have you ever thought about that lowly nut? Such a small piece that costs you a buck or two - and considering NASCAR-nomics probably 10 to a race team - can cause so much pain and anguish to a 20 million dollar operation.

Chris Anderson has. When not acting as Jimmie Johnson’s jackman on race days he is the assistant parts manager at the Hendrick Motorsports shop during the week. He thinks about them a lot, in fact prior to the season the Hendrick inventory of lugnuts numbers 10,000! That’s a lot of thinking, a lot of nuts and a whole lot of work just to count them. But Anderson does more than the arithmetic, he treats them with loving care.

“We take a lug nut and we basically tap it, clean it and then check it, just this one lug nut,” he said. “I actually spend time on each lug nut, five minutes just to tap it again and clean it. Then you’re going to hand spin it to make sure it doesn’t cross thread.

“You check each nut three times before they get on the car.”

Hendrick’s central warehouse contained more than 10,000 lug nuts in February before the season, Anderson said, and virtually every one has crossed his palm.

There are some bad seeds in there, and Anderson knows he has to find them.

“Most likely it’ll get caught,” he said. “But the chance is there that part can go through the whole system and end up ruining a race.”

And how much does Anderson get paid? I have no idea but whatever it is he’s worth much more. If he gets through his NASCAR career without a case of “lugnut derangment syndrome” he’s a better man than I.

NASCAR, Auto Racing, Sports