what's the most common blunders that occur during pit stops. what's the most memorable pit stop moment?

Question

many times you see tires getting away, or a driver leaves pit road with equipment still attached. what othe blunders happen there?

Answer 1

Missing lug nuts, loose lug nuts, running over crew guys, crew guys catching on fire, pitting out side of the box, too many men over the wall, dropped the jack, roll off the jack,.... running out of screw-ups. Speeding, but that is not during the stop but on pit road.
Most memorable? Probably crew guys catching on fire, or Jimmie Johnson's entire pit stall going up in flames last year.

Answer 2

One of the strangest that I've seen was when the driver was handed a drink and the driver took off befor the pole was retrived by the crewman.The pole struck the side or back of 6 or 7 cars before it came out.
At Indianapolis Raceway Park during a BUSCH race one of the pit crews used nitrogen tanks strapped on their backs(looked like a scuba tank).This took NASCAR by surprise,it did make a fraction of second difference.
But the winner in my book was Kyle Petty at a Talladega open test.The Speedway had just put up new flag poles behind the pit road fence.Kyle came off the track with no brakes,he mangaed to turn into the gravel area between the cup and busch garages.He took out all 3 new flag poles.At the drivers meeting 3 weeks later he was presented a special award,made from one of the flag poles.
In the 50's and 60's before the inspectors there were numerous incidents that happened,and in other series(ARCA) I saw the left side tires fall off a car leaving it's pit box,The jack was dropped before the lugs were tightened and when he pulled out and straigtened his car the left sides came off.
But the art of pit stops belong to the Wood Brothers.In the 60's they set the standards for the stops.
That's all I have to say about that.

Answer 3

I'd have to say that the most common blunder is a loose lugnut. Other than that, alot of time is lost on a pit if the pit crew doesn't have their timing in sync.

The most memorable pit stop moment for me was when Dale Jarret spun out on pit row. The other one would be when Jimmie Johnson hit a member of Jeff Gordon's crew.

Answer 4

Common problems: Loose lugnuts, catch can hanging in the fill tube, pitting out of the box, stalling the car taking off, flat spotting the tires (ENTERING the pit box) when you were only going to take 2 tires (then you have to change all 4), a tire rolling away, hitting another car (or crew member) going into or coming out of your stall, pitting too close to the wall to get the jack in, running over the hose, wedge wrench left in, speeding on pit road, hitting the commitment cone.
Less common problems: Lugnut getting stuck between the brake caliper, over revving leaving the pit stall potentially causing transmission problems, an actual jack (or other piece of equipment) malfunction, not able to get all the gas in, not getting debris off the grill, a crew member falling down.
Memorable moment: O.K. it's not the most memorable moment but last year there was a fule spill in somebody's pit box and when they took off it started on fire and looked pretty cool. Nobody was hurt and they got it put out right away.

Answer 5

Its not too common but you do see it happen sometimes, where a driver hits crew members on his team or on other drivers teams. Dale Jarrett has done it a few times and someone did it recently but i cant remember whot it was. There are also people that enter pit road to fast and lose control and run into the wall. Another Dale Jarrett blunder.
But those ones are a little less common. Usually the forget lugnuts or or hit someone on there way out of the pits.

Answer 6

Earnhardt Sr.'s crew started painting there lug nuts day-glow orange so the tire changer could see them easier through the brake dust. The tire changer, like most, carried an unpainted lug nut in his mouth in case a new, orange, lug goes flying he doesn't have to chase it, he just grabs the one out of his mouth.

Well, that happened one day during a caution and the Nascar Official, who had gotten too used to seeing the #3's orange lugs, saw only 4 lugs and called DE back into the pit's. The crew members argued with the Official that there was 5 lugs and why, while DE made his lap around the track.
The Official conformed there was 5 lugs while the restart took place putting DE waaay behind.
Nascar NEVER gave him his track position back so he got screwed by his own team's innovation.........and by the Official.

Answer 7

tire changers tripping and falling
drivers running over airhose
speeding
hitting other teams crew members
Bristol's pit road: Under caution 1 pit lane. Under green 2.

Most memorable pit moment: Jeff Gordon at Bristol under green left pit and instead of leaving pit road at the end, he drove all the way back around like you would if there was a caution. I was screaming and saying some not so nice words to him that day!

Answer 8

These are some common mistakes:
running over the air hose is common
lugnuts getting stuck in the impact wrench
overdrive the pit box
driving to close to the pit wall
one driver hitting another driver pulling out of his box
flat spotting the tire upon leaving the box
stalling the engine

Answer 9

Lug nuts and catch cans the best of the worst for me was when Jeff Gordon tried to knock off our pit crew. I thinks he he 2 or 3 of Jimmy Johnson's.

Answer 10

Loose lugnuts, airguns jamming, car falling off the jack, leaving the wedge wrench in the car...those are all pretty common mistakes. But you actually have to get there in order for your guys to make those mistakes...something Matt Kenseth couldn't do at Dover one year. I think he actually propped his car up on the edge of the pit wall from the way he hit it...anyway, it was a Chase race and really f*cked up his chance to win the title.