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Quote:
CONCORD, N.C. -- Shawna Robinson knows she is under the gun in this weekend's O'Reilly 400 at Texas Motor Speedway. And she's not even on the pit crew.
Gina Tomaseski is on the pit crew, so she knows the pressure, too. Tomaseski is the "jackgirl," as she calls herself, on the unique all-female crew that will pit Robinson's No. 49 truck during Friday night's NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race.
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Shawna Robinson
Both women realize that to be taken seriously, they have to deliver results. Robinson, who has been rideless since the BAM Racing debacle last year in Winston Cup, said she has worked too hard for too long to be seen as a professional driver to have something mess up that reputation.
"I don't want it to turn into a farce," Robinson said. "I don't want it to turn into a publicity stunt. This is a risk, there's no question. It could put me right in that category. If we fall on our face, and I say 'we,' then we're going to look like idiots. We don't want that to happen, none us do. We're the only ones that can prevent it."
But Robinson, driving for Team Texas and owner Mike Starr, has nothing to do with the actual pit duties on which her fate rests. That task is left to seven rookies. And, yes, they are all women.
"Even when I tell people about what we're doing, some people look at it and go, 'Oh, isn't that fun. It's another little modeling job,'" Tomaseski said. "They think we're Hooters girls or something, just looking pretty standing by the car.
"The team we have now has taken this on as a personal athletic event. Our main goal is to get Shawna the best pit stop and give her all the opportunity in the world to win this race."
Tomaseski, a married mother of two who competes in fitness competitions, is the spokesperson for the crew. She's joined by rear tire carrier Tracy Romagnoli, rear tire changer Sue Webb, front tire carrier Shanda Bronston, front tire changer Geri Parris, gasgirl Gail Stracener and catch-can girl Sandy Owens.
All the women are from Texas, where the race team is based. In addition to Tomaseski, Romagnoli, Webb, Bronston and Owens are mothers. All the women are in terrific shape, a characteristic organizers first looked for.
The organizers scoured some of the gyms in Texas looking for in-shape, competitive women. They found a lot. The eventual members of the crew went through a series of interviews and tryouts, which included their first look at a pit stop.
And that's part of the reason Robinson was "apprehensive" at first.
"I don't care if they're male or female," Robinson said. "If they told me there were five professional athletes or college football players that were going to be my team, I'd say, 'That's great. But have they ever done pit stops before?'"
In this case, no. But the women have been hard at work since April, practicing stops individually and as a team. They've had regular meetings and practices and have been watching video of themselves.
And they've kept an eye on televised Winston Cup races.
"There are so many steps," said Tomaseski, going over a stop in her head. "You have to hold the jack a certain way, you've got to jump off the wall, run around, take it down, slam it in, pop it, tighten it, and then you jack it up. It just seems like it's a half-an-hour worth of work. When you see it on TV, they're in and out, and I go, 'Wait a minute. I couldn't even see what he did, he did it so fast.'"
Their times? The first one Tomaseski remembered was 50-plus seconds. Nowadays, they are in the 20-second range, and getting lower. They aren't ready for Winston Cup racing, but no one expects them to be.
"I don't expect them to be lightning fast like a Winston Cup team is," Robinson said. "I expect them to be good, to get me back out there safe and in a decent amount of time."
Part of the problem has been the inability to get actual hands-on training. The first time Robinson makes a stop Friday will be the first time any of the seven have been over the wall during an actual race.
Starr has tried to simulate stops, using rental cars and vans in and around the practice truck, and having a van scream down pit road.
But it ain't the same.
"You can train all you can train, and it's going to help, but until you get in a real race situation, you don't really know," Robinson said.
So why take the risk? It's all about opportunity, really. The economics of the sport have dictated certain risks like this one. The cynic would call it a publicity stunt.
"You're going to have that," Robinson said. "I'm going to have that. But, hey, you know what? It's so hard to get sponsorship, you've got to be almost a circus act or promoter to figure out the way to get the money. If this thing works and is legitimate, it could be a good program."
Texas Motor Speedway is helping promote and market the crew, which adds some legitimacy. Robinson would like to see her crew stay together, whether that be in the NCTS with Team Texas, or perhaps in the Busch Series with another team.
"We really need to get to where this team and I are a package, whether we go truck racing or Busch racing, it can be sold," Robinson said. "That's the goal."
Tomaseski hopes her crew can stay together, too. Whatever happens, she insists this isn't a launch pad for another career.
"I tell you what, if any of us even thought about modeling, forget it," Tomaseski said. "Everybody's nails have been broken off, their fingers are black from being smashed. My right thigh, from my hip to my knee, is all bruises."
A photographer who took a recent team picture had to erase all the cuts and bruises from the photo.
What remains to be seen is whether Tomaseski and her crew can pull off quick enough pit stops to keep Robinson going -- and keep skeptics from laughing off the all-female crew.
"Shawna wants us at 18 (seconds)," Tomaseski said, "and we will be there, easily."
bron: nascar.com
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sorry maar dees fotooke is dus echt wel grappig.  
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05-06-2003, 17:45
