Joe knows teamwork
What did you do on vacation Joe? Well, I was on my way to my favorite fishing hole when I made a detour and went to Chicago for a ‘locker room’ pep talk with my drivers.
Joe Gibbs used his Hall of Fame skills to settle down his race teams of Tony Stewart and Denny Hamlin after their altercation in Daytona. When asked what was said, all the drivers mentioned was team work.
During the USG Sheetrock 400, the drivers passed along hand signals that assisted them during the race, and they weren’t indicating who was No. 1. It must have worked to perfection, as Tony won his first Cup race in 2008. It must be nice to have a boss with Joe Gibbs’ coaching skills.
Last week I made another trip to the Kentucky Speedway. While there I met up with Bill and Dianna Krick of FOCUS Motorsports Ministries, Inc. Bill Krick is the ARCA chaplain and provides many services for the racing program. He and his wife have been providing their services for 12 years.
While attending all races scheduled for the ARCA series, Bill and Dianna provide devotions and prayer before each race for the officials prior to the track opening on race day. They then provide a community chapel service for the ARCA community. While the cars are lined up for the start of the race, Bill prays individually with each driver. During the race, Bill and Dianna are in the infield care center, ready to provide assistance for injured drivers and their families. If a driver has to be transported to another facility, Bill will travel with him (or her), as Dianna provides assistance for the family.
As part of the ministry, Bill provides counseling at the track, or away from it. Dianna provides counseling for the women if needed. Besides prayer support, the ministry also provides literature to encourage spiritual growth. Bill and Dianna are certified in critical incident stress management. Bill officiates funeral services and he and his wife assist the grieving families.
Bill will also perform marriage ceremonies but does not like to perform them at the track. He says they just tend to be spectacles. He will only perform these ceremonies after about eight weeks of counseling.
Bill and Dianna provide their services full time, 12 months a year. They travel 35,000 to 40,000 miles a year in their ministry. Racing teams sign up to help out with gas and motel expenses.
The speedway has an excellent medical care center. It is a level 1 trauma center, staffed with two or three physicians and two or three nurses. The track doctor rides on the chase vehicle so as to be one of the first on the scene of an accident. The center can treat most any injury and provide initial stabilization. A life flight helicopter is on site and is ready to transport anyone to a larger medical facility if needed.
There is no Nextel Cup race this weekend as the teams take their last weekend off for the rest of the racing season. The top 12 drivers for the championship chase remain the same, but Dale Earnhardt Jr. is just 30 points away from dropping out of the chase.
Terry Labonte will be in the No. 55 NAPA Chevy, replacing Michael Waltrip as the driver. This move ensures the No. 55 of being in the race as Terry can use his Championship provisional if needed. Since Terry last won the championship in 1996, he gets the first shot ahead of Bill Elliott who last won the championship in 1988. Now the No. 55 team has to pray for no rain as that would require the line-up to be set on owner points.