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Who knew this is what it’s really like?
KRISTEN VALUS
Special to FOXSports.com,

AVONDALE, Ariz. - After spending two weeks in the NASCAR garage at Texas and Phoenix, I’ve learned some interesting facts and made some surprising observations.

I pride myself on being a fairly knowledgeable NASCAR fan but found myself saying “who knew?” quite often during my time in the garage. I picked up these tidbits from NASCAR officials, crew members, and anyone else who would talk with me. I hope you find something on this list that that is news to you as well!

Around the Garage

Drivers need to sign a liability waiver at the NASCAR hauler every race weekend!
Every driver has their own PR person who manages their schedule. You must go through them to schedule interviews or appearances with their driver.
NASCAR requires the Chase drivers to meet with the media at least one time before each Chase race. Most drivers chose to hold interviews outside their haulers rather than go to the media center.
The cameras for TV placed on the rear bumper of the cars cost approximately $50,000 apiece.
NASCAR hires a company to haul golf carts to every race. They have up to 700 carts for use on race weekend.
Official looking, padlocked, containers along pit road that look as if they could hold emergency medical supplies actually contain ice-cold cokes for the track employees.

During Inspection

Templates for the cars are color coded by manufacturer. Blue = Ford, Yellow = Chevy, Red = Dodge and Orange = Toyota.
NASCAR does not allow pictures of the engine and discourages pictures of the cars during inspection when the hood is open.
A NASCAR official must be present anytime crews work on the engine or the transmission.
NASCAR officials usually work the same inspection sites every weekend and also work pit road during the race.
Who said the officials are all business? One of the inspection tents in Phoenix had a disco ball hanging in the center!
NASCAR confiscates the rear shocks from teams after Happy Hour until they pass inspection on Sunday mornings.
The Hendrick Motorsports cars tend to be some of the last teams to get through inspection every week. Hmmmm...

The Cars

The back up car cannot be touched by the teams unless there is a NASCAR official present to observe. NASCAR decides if they can pull out the back up car, not the teams themselves.
Wheels are brought to the track by a separate company and Goodyear mounts the tires for the team. The Miller Lite Dodge is the only Cup car with blue wheels.
Tires weigh about 60 pounds and each one is bar coded by NASCAR so they know exactly which tires have gone to each team.
Body panels and parts (primarily the deck lid, hood, roof) sent directly from the manufacturer have to be “stamped” and that stamp has to be visible to the NASCAR officials.
About half of the cars are painted and the other half, usually special paint schemes, are “skinned.” Skins are basically giant stickers that cover the car.
The metal the car is made of is 24 thousandths of an inch thick which is approximately equivalent to 8 sheets of paper.
Fabricators can turn a flat sheet of metal into the body of a race car in about 11 days.
Each team has two haulers each, one to carry the primary and back-up cars to races and an extra one for cars going to tests during the week.
The haulers are 72 feet in length (trailer is 53 feet) and have two 150-gallon fuel tanks, one on each side. They get a horrendous 5.3 miles per gallon!

In The Pits

Crew chiefs pick the pit stalls for race day immediately after qualifying in the NASCAR haulers in the garage.
The over-the-wall guys are not necessarily the same guys who work on the car. Usually, the over-the-wall guys fly in on race-day mornings.
There are no less than 10 TV monitors on each pit box and there is usually a TV designated specifically for playing back the pit stop for the crew to review.
The war wagons have a “practice” area for the tire changers on the back.
Teams have at least ten sets of tires in their pits on race day. If the team only changes two tires, they simply do not use the other two tires.
Crews use tape to mock the race car behind the pit box so they can quickly set the corresponding tires down after the stop to analyze the tire wear.
Teams have elaborate and sometimes funny hand signals to talk to each other and the teams around them during the race. For example, Miller Lite crew chief Pat Tryson pats his butt when he wants to indicate the “rear” of the car.
The pit crews have food and drinks in coolers behind their pit boxes during the race. The preferred foods seem to be cheese whiz on crackers and chips-n-dip.

Well, did you learn anything that surprised you?

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