Special guest: Dale Tanhardt
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Thumbnail Cred: Eric Estepp, Sean Gardner (Getty)
0:00 NASCAR Industry Burnout
7:07 New Daytona 500 Entries
9:47 Early Daytona 500 Odds
44 comments
I figured teams were struggling to find help Team Penske is always posting a now hiring post. I wish I could work for a race team I totally would, but nowadays you need a degree in all sorts of stuff.
I go to nascar technical institute, it’s now as simple as people think. You need to start at the bottom of the food chain. Right now I work for kasey khane racing just waiting for a bigger opportunity.
If they offered more on sight training for the basic stuff they could get so many more workers. Maybe even offer internships
@@RhygonGG you learn everything you need to know at NTI.. but does not guarantee a job on a team.
I build heat induction power supplies and coils.. Would love to work for NASCAR, They heat treat parts right?
@@xcelassist What’s NTI? Also that’s awesome that you are working for Kasey Kahne Racing. Good luck in what you do!
Can you imagine the celebration if AJ won the 500??
He would literally scream for the following 48 hours
I like AJ, but can you imagine if he wins the 500 and not qualifying for the playoffs. excited and disappointed all at the same time.
@robertgarneau5346 that’s true, the 16 would be in the owners playoffs so ig that’s something
@@robertgarneau5346tbf they can change that lol. They can just ask him if he wants to race the whole year and they could change it.
@@robertgarneau5346regardless, it’s the Daytona 500. Winning that alone can make someone’s season a success
The more entries for the Daytona 500 the better. Hopefully that will give us some great duels
Agree. I wish they was longer , I think they used to be 150 miles. I don’t think there that long anymore. But I’m not sure, but if there under 150 miles. That’s what they should be IMHO
Not directly NASCAR related, but I am an automotive/electrical technician in LA and I’ve been cold contacted by Honda HPD (Where they develop and build for Indycar and other racing projects) recruiters repeatedly for technician positions over a period of years. It has gotten to the point I’m asking questions how finances and daily operations are going at HPD. Predictably, the technician positions don’t pay anywhere close to being able to afford a small home or multi-bedroom apartment in Santa Clarita. Just food for thought.
Excellent point, although a comparable salary in North Carolina would probably be sufficient to buy a house
@@shmeevesure, but I doubt they’re offering people who live in North Carolina the same salary numbers as those who live in Santa Clara. Most of the time, salary numbers are adjusted for your location’s economic situation.
Yep! I have an uncle that has been a technician since the early 90s and his hourly pay has only gone up $10 or so. He is making less compared to min wage now than he was then. The only difference is he’s far more efficient and can complete jobs way faster. He’s content but he understands why people don’t want to be techs.
I started looking back into being a tech. In my area it’s like $19/hr. You gotta have $15k in tools. The shop charges the customer like $150/hr…..no wonder why they are struggling to find techs.
@@shmeeveLove thanks for letting me know Love thanks ❤❤
It’s becoming clear that the business model in NASCAR is broken. Huge TV deal and solid attendance but the Teams need massive outside Sponsors to get by. The reality is that the Teams can’t pay enough to attract the talent they need.
Yes it is. And the teams can only fix it themselves. They choose to spend to win. I don’t blame them.
This has been a problem since about 2007. Nothing has changed
It’s time for Nascar to finally start paying the teams their share from the TV deals. Enough is enough.
that’s why they’re working on fixing it
Burn out from stress has always existed.. ask Chad Knaus, he had a serious case of it going on.
As for the betting guy.. Holy MULLET Batman!
I can understand the burn out my dad worked in Ferrari challenge for years but he eventually got burnt out and moved to a different series and I can completely understand the frustration of it
Very interesting interview at the end regarding Daytona 500 odds. David Ragan is a sweet underdog pick, but I got an even better one once his ride is confirmed….Riley Herbst. ☠️ Especially if he’s in a FRM entry, he will be a SERIOUS threat. Heck, his top 10 in 500 was in Rick Ware equipment!
I was verbally offered a mechanic position at RWR in February. I had every intention to accept, money aside, but as the summer came along, I stopped receiving emails and calls from them. Sometimes it’s not the employees
Every business that need skilled technical workers is short handed and in dire need of help. NASCAR and race teams need to address pay issues. Add to the fact that pay scales have not been able to keep up with the ridiculous inflation we’ve had for the past few years….
Thanks Biden
As a business owner I can’t agree enough. It’s very hard to address pay issues when inflation is out of control. It’s not 8% or whatever when everyday goods are up 25 to 30%. I’m struggling to keep the lights on and there’s just not much more blood in this turnip to give.
NO INDUSTRY has kept up with inflation. I used to be comfortable and didn’t have to budget nearly as much as I do now. With that said, NASCAR needs to throw out it’s current business model and start over. It just isn’t working. Racing is expensive regardless. As the late great Junior Johnson once said (and I am paraphrasing), it takes a huge fortune to win a small one.
Having been to the Thorsport open house in Ohio, even the Truck Series Engineers are working 60/70 hours a week, and they have less travel and stuff like that. They even talked about feeling pretty burned out. Needless to say, you have to really love the sport for a NASCAR job to work for you
Unless you are making big money it’s not worth the time being away from home and all the hours. And these guys are not making big money whatsoever.
I just wanna see Alex bowman continue his dominance of getting the front row in qualifying
Same
I hope that Travis Pastrana can return again to 23XI for Daytona, it would be nice if he could. But if not, then I’m okay with that too.
Lot of people think baseball season too long, nascar starts before and ends after
I legit saw a posting on indeed a few months ago for a truck series crew chief. No lie. It was a smaller team and had generic requirements. It surprised me though. Couldn’t believe it. You would think that these jobs don’t need to post and have people in line they can pick from.
One name I’m keeping my eyes on is Alex Bowman. The reason is because as of recently, he has been running great on the Speedways, and he has done really good at Daytona.
Hopefully teams have a spot for me in the future, I am extremely interested in being a mechanic or a pit crew member.
As someone who worked for a nascar team in the fabrication side for over half a decade, I can confirm the pay doesn’t align with the workload/deadlines, or the amount of money involved in the whole process. I was a Rollcage builder and Sheetmetal fabricator, and was able to make considerably more after leaving the race shop and going back into a more commercial fabrication setting.
When it comes to teams not being able to hire workers because of burnout it’s not just in NASCAR where this is a problem as it has been a major issue in F1 ever since it was created in 1950. This was made much worse in the mid 2000’s when F1 under Bernie Ecclestone decided to make it a truly global series with more races in Asia & the Middle East & less races in Europe where the majority of F1 teams are based resulting in more travel & less time for rest. Now Liberty Media & the FIA has extended the schedule to the longest it has ever been at 24 races. There is a video that was made by Aidan Millward about a year ago that goes more in depth on what burnout has done to the crew members in F1 teams. While we are on this subject, I think the best series for any aspiring worker in the motorsports industry to get into currently is IMSA/WEC or the NHRA mainly because they have a smaller schedule & less risk of burnout when compared to NASCAR or F1. I was also going to say Indycar but there is too much uncertainty in that series currently especially with the rumors that Honda are threatening to leave after 2026 which will likely mean less job opportunities in that series should that happen.
This year was my first year working in the sport. All the guys who have done it for a while you can tell are feeling some burnout. I think the love for the sport is what keeps a lot of them going. As far as pay, I think it’s pretty fair compared to my last job.