Former Husker FB Stoddard Now on NASCAR Pit Crew

Mavric

Mavric

Yoda
Staff member
There is a part of working on a NASCAR pit crew that is not so different from when Graham Stoddard used to cover kicks for the Nebraska football team, understand.


"You've got jitters, and there's all the danger that can happen or whatever, but as soon as you jump over that wall, it's just, like, clear," Stoddard said. "You don't really hear much. You just react to the stop. And before you know it, it's over. You're really not really quite sure what happened. You just know you did a good stop."

He grew up in Charlotte, North Carolina, in the heart of NASCAR country, moved in eighth grade, attended Lincoln Southwest, excelled at football, never really worked on cars or anything, then went to college and picked up a degree in finance while being a Husker fullback and special-teamer.

After finishing his football career in 2012, he took a job in financing. Wore a tie. He wanted something ... different.

Former Husker football strength coach James Dobson had mentioned before that Stoddard might just fit as part of a NASCAR pit crew. Now that's different.
Click to expand...
LJS

 
Last edited by a moderator:
I'm a little old to be on a NASCAR pit crew, but there was a time...oh wait...I was always to small to be jumping over walls while carrying jacks, tires or 24 gallons of fuel.

I think it's awesome Stoddard is doing this. Those pit crews are athletes in their own right. How long does it take them to fill 'er up and swap all 4 tires these days?

Drivers come to pit road for a variety of reasons, but a full-blown pit stop consists of the following -- changing four tires, adding a full tank of Sunoco racing fuel, wiping the grille clean and making minor adjustments to the car.Oh, and the really good team can accomplish all of that in 12 seconds with the allotted six crew members.
Click to expand...
Twelve seconds for a good team, that's a new set of Goodyears, a full tank of go-juice, a clean windshield/grill and maybe even a suspension adjustment or three.

 
I would have to imagine the game day excitement is about the same. I have wondered how people ended up these teams. I lived in Sumter, South Carolina, attended NASCAR races when they were not quite as popular all over the country, more just deep south it seemed. New a guy that worked as a crew member for Petty. He was a quite an athlete. It will be fun now to try and pick them out of the bee hive that is a pit stop.

 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top