At most of the North American racetracks the Newman/Haas Racing team will travel to this year, there are no garages to maintain and repair the race cars. But the Lincolnshire-based race team has that problem covered.
It brings its own garage along.
As the team heads out to the Miller 200 in Milwaukee, the Texaco Havelin 200 in Elkhart Lake, Wis., the Molson Indy in Toronto and other race events, transporters doubling as mobile garages make the trip. Inside are the cars and every component–from small nuts to engines and gear boxes–needed to maintain and repair them.
The transporters are tractor-trailers measuring a little more than 70 feet long by 8 1/2 half feet wide, with the trailer accounting for the rear 53 feet. All racing teams use them.
The cab of the garage is made by International Trucks in Chicago and the trailers by Featherlite, in Cresco, Iowa.
Racing teams began to travel with semitrailer trucks in the late 1970s and early ’80s, according to John “TZ” Tzouanakis, assistant team manager for Newman/Haas. In 1983, the trailers were equipped with the tools and technology to use them as mobile garages.
“When we (get) to the race, we put up an awning on one side of the trailer,” said Tzouanakis. “It’s 20 feet wide and extends from the top of the trailer down. There’s one walk-through door under the awning that lets people go in and out of the trailer, and a big overhead door at the rear to let the cars be taken in and out. Anything and everything we need for that car is in that transporter.”
When the cars aren’t on the track, they’re being maintained under that canvas awning, which extends 20 feet from the trailer and at its lowest point is 7 to 8 feet off the ground. Except for paint jobs, chassis construction and engine rebuilding, there’s not much that can’t be done in the garage–from machining parts to welding and from chassis setup to engine changes.
That’s because the transporter is complete with band saw, lathe, welder, drill press and grinding equipment.
“Whatever happens to the car gets fixed in that garage,” said Tzouanakis. “The driver may have an encounter with the wall that will bend up the rear suspension. We could take it back there, strip the old suspension and put a new one in. We could almost do anything there.”
Over the trailer’s fifth wheel is a debriefing room and a driver’s dressing room. “Inside the dressing room we have cabinets, shelves, a couple of places to sit down,” said Tzouanakis. “All the safety equipment the drivers need is there: driver’s suits, helmets, gloves, socks, shoes.”
At night, the area under the canopy can be enclosed with canvas “walls.” Basic equipment, such as air hoses and air guns, engine and chassis stands, are kept in the enclosure. The cars and more costly equipment are locked in the transporter.
When it comes time to leave for home, the two cars the team brings in each of its two transporters are loaded through the back door on a lift gate that does the work of an elevator.
The first car is rolled onto the lift gate, lifted to the upper level at the rear of the transporter (the lower level holds equipment) and pushed on to the deck. The process is repeated with the two cars moved nose to tail.
Rear-wheel chocks, along with ratchet-type straps securing the cars to the floor at all four corners, keep the cargo in place. “The cars when stored are so close to the roof that you have to bend down to walk around them,” said Tzouanakis.
“Many millions of dollars worth of equipment” is transported to the races, said Bill Curnew, a transport driver, or “truckie.”
“It’s a very demanding job,” he said. “When we’re not driving, we spend many hours in the shop (in Lincolnshire). There’s a lot of pressure. Mistakes can be costly, and not just in terms of dollars and cents.”
Curnew estimates the transporters rack up 50,000 to 60,000 miles each year. That includes motoring to warmer climates in the winter for testing and to racetracks from spring through fall. “With two drivers on each truck, we run straight through everywhere we go,” said Curnew.
But he doesn’t just drive. He’s also one of the 30-member Newman/Haas team at each race and has specific duties on race weekends. Newman/Haas has a total roster of 45.
“I’ve become the tire man on Christian Fittipaldi’s car,” he reported. “I prepare the wheels on the cars we’ll be needing, measuring the tires and making sure they’re inflated to the right pressure. We may have to increase or decrease the pressure of a tire during the race to help the handling of the car. And we’re responsible for a lot of backup equipment. We have spare wheel guns set up, for example, if one fails.”
Curnew also is part of the crew that sets up the pits, ensuring fuel is delivered and fuel tanks are put up properly. It also means installing timing and scoring equipment to help the team keep “a running appraisal” of the race, Curnew said.
Finally, there’s a lot of “spit and polish” involved in preparing for an event. “We’re trying to present the best possible image for Newman/Haas and our sponsors,” he noted. “We have to pay attention to the cleanliness and organization of the equipment and the pit area. The better organized the equipment is, the easier it is to run an efficient race. And the better we do our jobs, the less the mechanics have to worry about.”
Newman/Haas will compete in 17 races this year and 18 next year, when they add Japan.
Curnew will take his transporter and mobile garage to all but four of the North American races Newman/Haas will run this year. The four races where the transporters are not needed are at tracks that have permanent garages. The races are the Marlboro Grand Prix of Miami, in Homestead, Fla.; the Marlboro 500 in Brooklyn, Mich., and Fontana, Calif.; and the Miller 200 in Lexington, Ohio.
The mobile garages also stay home when the team travels to other continents, such as the Sunbelt Indy Carnival at Surfer’s Paradise in Queensland, Australia, held in early April, or the Rio 400 in Rio de Janeiro, run May 11.
In Australia and Brazil, said Tzouanakis, racing teams are provided with roofed structures divided by vinyl tarps.
But at the great majority of the team’s races, the transporter/garage is as important a part of the Newman/Haas team as any driver or mechanic.
“It’s the lifeline of the team,” said Tzouanakis. “Without it, there’s no way we could get to the races.”
