Drag Illustrated Issue 151, December 2019 | Page 48
D.I. COLUMNIST
Tuned Up
with Will Hanna
One of Your Biggest Sponsors is Your Crew
‘I
’d like to thank my
crew. Couldn’t do it
without them.”
How many times have we
heard a driver say that in an
interview or read that in a
story or press release? I’d
like to say most of the times
it’s genuine. Sometimes it’s
somewhere between genu-
ine and going through the
motions. Sometimes it’s just
habit to say if you’re lucky
enough to be in situations
where you get to say it.
As racers we go out of our
way to thank a sponsor and
make sure we plug them
whether it’s a major deal or a
box of spark plugs, and right-
fully so. However, it’s easy to
take the contributions of our
crew members for granted.
Having a crew member
that is dependable and helps
at the track and the shop is
invaluable. In the heat of
battle we often expect a crew
member to contribute and
do their “job.” In fact, many
times as racers we depend on
our crew to help and do a particu-
lar job. See “couldn’t do it without
them” above.
It’s very easy to get immersed and
caught up in our own world when it
comes to going racing. When that
happens, we quickly forget we’re
asking someone to volunteer their
free time, their days off from work to
help us chase our dreams of winning
races. As a society in general, free
time is something we have less and
less of, so it’s a valuable commodity.
I count myself fortunate to have
worked for as many teams as I have
over the years. I started at the bot-
tom and worked for several teams
doing various jobs before getting a
chance to start tuning and working
as a crew chief and consultant. My
military experience and manage-
ment courses in college also have
given me perspective of working
with and managing team members.
Every race car runs on money.
Some crew members are paid, but
most are volunteers. I think a lot of
racers would love to be able to pay
their crew, but they need to spend
the money on the car.
One of the things I learned from
one of my management classes in
college that stuck with me is Fred-
erick Herzberg’s Two-Factor The-
ory of Motivation. The two-factor
theory states that there are certain
factors in the workplace that cause
job satisfaction, while a separate set
of factors cause dissatisfaction, all
of which act independently of each
other. Take for instance increased
pay. Getting paid more to do a job
can cause a worker to be less dissat-
isfied, but not more satisfied. Other
things included with more pay are
job security, fringe benefits and
work conditions, which could only
cause more or less dissatisfaction.
Things that caused work-
ers to be more satisfied with
a job were recognition for
achievement, opportunity
to do something meaning-
ful, responsibility and em-
powerment to decide how to
do a job. Satisfaction leads
to real motivation. You can’t
motivate a person by mak-
ing them less dissatisfied with
the things mentioned above
like pay, benefits, etc.
It may seem trivial, but a
simple thanks goes a long
way. I always try my best to
tell people I work with “good
job,” and when possible cite
something specific.
Rather than look at our
crew as employees or work-
ers, we should look at them as
sponsors. They may not give
money, but many give their
time, which is just as valuable.
Sure, dirty paper that folds is
appreciated, but having your
name on the car somewhere
is something you can re-
ally take pride in. It’s not the
norm, but if we gave a decal
commensurate with the amount of
time many crew members give, it
would be a whole lot bigger than
the small non-valuable part of the
car most get their name on, if they
get it at all.
Recognition is something most
every racer can afford to give their
crew, and should.
DI DI DI
DI DI DI DI
DI DI DI
Will Hanna is a tuner/consultant-
for-hire offering services from run
evaluation to trackside consulting.
He can be reached via email at
[email protected].
TRACKSIDE CONSULTING • REMOTE TUNING • RUN EVALUATION / “Monday Morning Crew Chief Service” Available
[email protected] • 979.415.4959
48 | D r a g
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Issue 151