PIT

Pit Instruction & Training (PIT) in the News:

The Gatorade Duel Race Party

We will be hosting a Gatorade Duel Party on Thursday, 02/17/11 at 2pm. Join us in our state-of-the-art movie theater to watch the Gatorade Duel at the famous Daytona International Speedway. Hot Dogs, Soda, Water and Chips will be served. Come and join us for good racing, food and games. Everyone is invited!!

“It’s Not Racin’…It’s Performance.  What companies can learn from NASCAR”

Click above to read the article published in the Greater Charlotte Biz Magazine.

United Airlines Employees Go to School for Pit Crews To Boost Teamwork, Speed

By Susan Carey
The Wall Street Journal
March 24, 2006; Page B1

MOORESVILLE, N.C. — Denise Rivera spends her workdays waving in jets, unloading baggage and pushing planes around with a tractor. But on this day, the lead ramp servicewoman for United Airlines at Miami International Airport was struggling to remove five lug nuts from a Chevrolet Monte Carlo stock car.

“It needed lubrication or something,” she said later. “I kept winging it and finally got it down.”  Ms. Rivera was one of 33 United ramp workers who donned coveralls, knee pads, ear plugs and safety goggles at Pit Instruction & Training LLC one recent afternoon to learn how to handle a jack, change 65-pound tires and fill fuel tanks on race cars. - Click here to continue reading article…

Pit Crew Training Facility Receives National Recognition for Learning and Team Building Program Helping Organizations Achieve Operational Success

PIT Instruction & Training, LLC has received the Learning Innovation Award from Learning 2006 and The MASIE Center’s Learning CONSORTIUM for an experiential learning program relating success in high-level motor sports to successful performance in businesses and industries.

“Developing leadership and team work is a critical factor in the success of America’s largest corporations. Giving corporate leaders an opportunity to have the reality experience of working on a motor sports pit crew with the essentials of speed, communication, skill and collaboration is a breakthrough approach. PIT Instruction & Training, LLC are on the cutting edge of skill development in this changing world,” said Elliott Masie, chair of the Learning CONSORTIUM.

The program, ‘Think Inside the Box’, combines a custom didactic presentation with a high energy hands-on pit crew team building experience. The presentation and activity based experience correlate similarities in high level performance of modern over-the-wall pit crews and how businesses may recognize greater success by modeling organizational processes utilizing similar concepts.

The phrase “inside the box” refers to the pit box area in which motor sports pit crews change tires and fuel the race car in under 13 seconds. The program also refers to “inside the box” as the call for businesses and organization to creatively refocus and control normal operational factors that influence business goal outcomes rather than more nebulous “outside the box” thinking aptly applied to strategic planning.  Click here to continue reading article…

Teachers Experience Team Work on a Pit Crew

By Megan Sprague
Lake Norman Navigator

Teachers from all over North Carolina got revved up for learning about NASCAR at the PIT Instruction and Training Center in Mooresville.

The N.C. Center for the Advancement of Teaching (NCCAT) sponsored the event, which allowed the crew of 24 to experience a side of the sport that most fans never see while giving them a few lessons to take back to their students.

“This has been a great hands-on experience,” said Tammy Gathings, an elementary school physical education teacher.

“I think I’ll be taking back important things like strength and agility, which you can use in any field.”

“This week is all about making the teachers aware of motorsports opportunities for the kids and bringing racing into the classroom, whether it is in a math word problem or bringing up the history of NASCAR,” said Breon Klopp, senior director of development for PIT. “Most aren’t aware that racing isn’t just about the drivers.”

After visiting some of NASCAR’s legendary landmarks, such as Lowe’s Motor Speedway, Sam Bass Galleries and Penske Racing, the teachers headed over to the PIT to slip on fire suits and learn what a real pit crew does during a fast-paced race.

The pit crew instructors were members of PIT’s 5off5on team, the coaching division of the PIT. After a morning of videos and instruction, the teachers were ready for the real thing and formed four teams to learn how to perform an actual pit stop.  Click here to continue reading article…

Learning in the Pits

By Brian Summerfield
Managing Editor, Chief Learning Officer Magazine

Last week, some of the enterprise learning industry’s thought leaders gathered at Chief Learning Officer magazine’s Think Tank event at the Charlotte, N.C., corporate headquarters of Lowe’s Companies Inc. to discuss how to measure the impact of learning. While there, attendees got a look at an intensive development program for people who work in one of the most high-pressure performance environments around: the race-car pit crew.

Part of the event included a visit to PIT Instruction & Training, a 5.5 acre facility primarily devoted to developing the next generation of top pit-crew talent in various motor sports. The PIT campus, which houses the Pit Crew U and 5 Off 5 On training programs, includes a quarter-mile practice track, six pit stalls, a fitness center with physical therapy and medical services and a multi-use, large-screen theater that can seat 98 people.

A typical over-the-wall pit crew has seven members: a jackman who raises the car, front- and rear-tire changers who remove and apply lug nuts, front- and rear-tire carriers who put new wheels on and roll old ones off, a gas man who supplies a can of high-octane fuel for refilling the tank and a catch can man who captures any gasoline spillage in a can. In the second half of a race, an eighth member of the team is permitted in the pit to strip protective film off the windshield and give the driver food and water. Amazingly, a good crew can have a car in and out of the pit in less than 13 seconds.

To accomplish its mission of cultivating the best pit-crew performers, PIT Instruction & Training places special emphasis on experiential learning. The organization attempts to replicate racing environments, with program participants practicing changing out tires, filling up gasoline and pulling off windshield covers for operational stock cars.  Click here to continue reading article…

Urban Youth Racing School Career Week

NASCAR Series sponsor, Craftsman, kicks off their fifth annual Craftsman Career Development Apprenticeship Week in Mooresville, NC today, bringing six students from the Urban Youth Racing Schools (UYRS) in Philadelphia, PA and Washington, DC to the Mooresville area to work with four different teams in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series.

The students, who range in age from 16-18, report for duty at their respective race shops today and will work side-by-side with the teams through Wednesday as they prepare their race trucks for the Power Stroke Diesel 200 at O’Reilly Raceway

Park in Indiana. On Thursday, the students will fly to Indianapolis, IN where they will continue their learning experience as they work in the pits with their teams racing toward victory on Friday night. All students will round out the evening joining the race winner in the Craftsman Victory Lane celebration.

“Since implementing this apprenticeship program with the Urban Youth Racing School in 2002, we’ve seen past inters go on to work with teams and complete internships within various motorsports entities,” said Scott Howard, manager of Strategic Partnerships for Sears. “Through our relationships within the NASCAR garage, the Craftsman brand has been able to put tools in these kids hands and give them the opportunity to learn the trade first-hand and build relationships of their own, giving them a jumpstart on pursuing careers in the industry whether it be on or off the track.”

Philadelphia students include Kyle Baker who will intern with Red Horse Racing and driver David Starr; Brigette Depalma and Chris Lawrence who will be teamed up with TRG Motorsports and drivers T.J. Bell and Donny Lia, respectively; and Jeremy Ortiz who will work with Circle Bar Motorsports and driver Brendan Gaughan. Washington, DC-based students include Jarel Harris who will team up with Xpress Motorsports and driver Bryan Scott and Serfrederick Hill, II who will work with Circle Bar Racing and driver Rick Crawford.

In addition to their race shop duties, the students will also attend a pit crew demonstration at the P.I.T. Instruction and Training facility in Mooresville. Students will learn the intricate details of each position on the pit crew and will try their hand at tire changing, tire carrying and jacking the car.  Click here to continue reading article…