FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

FLAT ROCK — Chris English knows there will be skeptics. After all, he was skeptical of a phone call from Dwayne Leik that has since sprung 14 Blue Ridge Community College students into action — all hoping to join a NASCAR Busch Series pit crew for the upcoming season.

The story may sound straight out of Hollywood. Leik, a part-time Busch Series driver, noticed the school’s baseball field while travelling along Interstate 26 and contacted English on a lark about fielding a pit crew for the newly formed Keith Duesenberg/Leik Motorsports racing team.

“I thought it was a prank call,” said English, instructor of the school’s automotive technology program. “I waited a day or two until I called back. I had to pinch myself to believe it.”

Leik needed a pit crew to back Jay Sauter and the Western Union No. 1 car. English and a handful of club students responded by starting conditioning work in September. By October, they were practicing pit stops two hours a day. The 14-member crew will need to be trimmed to five by Feb. 18, when the Busch Series schedule opens in Daytona, Fla.

English expects to have the final five by the end of January.

“It truly is a unique program in the sense that there are some programs out there that have pit crew training. But (those) students actually pay like a tuition to go to these things and learn how to do pit stops,” said Leik, whose racing team will operate out of a newly constructed facility in Fletcher. “We’re guaranteeing them a spot on our team provided they can turn in numbers that we’re looking for.”

Keith Duesenberg & Leik Motorsports have supplied the crew with a practice car and all necessary tools. The racing team also will provide the selected pit crew’s travel expenses to stops like Las Vegas, Texas and Mexico. The students will not be paid. Leik said the average Busch Series pit crew salary can range from $50,000 to $75,000 per person.

“This is an opportunity of a lifetime for an individual that wants to get into NASCAR and would like to have a career in this field,” English said. “This is their foot in the door. If this is something they want to pursue on any end of it — fabricating, working in the pits, marketing — this opens some doors.”

The crew has clocked a 15-second pit stop and hopes to be at 14 seconds — good pit stops are in the 13-to-14-second range — before Daytona.

“The hardest thing has been putting the physical and mental together. You’re working on five lugnuts at a time. It’s easy to say, but it’s hard to do,” rear tire changer Reilly Doyle said. “Just being on the other side of the fence, looking from the inside-out for once, instead of the outside-in, is pretty neat.”

Members who do not earn a spot with the Busch Series could have chances to work with the ARCA racing circuit and NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, English said.

“I love NASCAR. I always wanted to be a driver,” said Stacey Mackinnon, front tire changer and the crew’s lone woman. “I talked to Dwayne and I asked is there anything wrong with being a girl, and he said ‘You know what? If you can take a tire off and jack up a car, it’s fine.’ I love it. I just like being involved. Half the time, I’m outdoing the guys. It’s fun.”

Sauter finished 139th out of 149 Busch Series drivers last season.

“We’re floored. We’re so happy just to have the opportunity,” rear tire changer Matt Rieger said. “It’s very fast paced. I never knew it’d be so athletic, but it’s very athletic and there’ s a lot of strategy to it.”

For More Information on the Western Union Speed Team Contact:

Keith Duesenberg Racing

Internet: keith@duesenberg-racing.com

www.duesenberg-racing.com