Going the distance

Robinson's pit crew acquits itself nicely at O'Reilly 400K

Gaughan three-peats Brendan Gaughan finally regained the lead with five laps left and went on to win his third consecutive NASCAR Truck race at Texas Motor Speedway on Friday night. Full story, click here.

FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) -- Shawna Robinson was a lap down when she left pit road for the first time Friday night, but the problem wasn't caused by NASCAR's first all-female pit crew. It was a mistake by the driver.

Robinson jumped the start in the Craftsman Truck Series race at Texas Motor Speedway and had to come in for a stop-and-go penalty. She lost the lap while on pit road.

"I was just so fired up for doing well that I messed up and started too soon," Robinson said.

The seven-woman pit crew went over the wall three times, all during caution periods of the O'Reilly 400 to change two tires and add gas to the No. 49 Team Texas Chevrolet. While the stops weren't fast, they never cost Robinson position on the track.

"I really felt like I let these girls down. The only mistakes made out there were my fault," Robinson said. "But this is just a start for us. These girls were awesome."

Robinson finished 18th in the 36-truck field, five laps behind winner Brendan Gaughan, who won at Texas for the third straight time.

"Now we know we can do it, no question about it," said gasman Gail Stracener.

Once Robinson stopped the truck for service, after a caution on the 54th lap when she was already two laps down, the crew changed right-side tires and added gas. It took about 25 seconds before the truck left the box.

Robinson then made another mistake, getting penalized for exiting pit road too fast. She had to go to the end of the longest line for the restart, losing another lap but remaining in 19th place -- the same position as when she came in.

On the second stop after another caution on the 101st lap, they changed tires on the left side and added gas, coming out in the 18th spot. The stop lasted about 20 seconds.

About 20 laps later, they changed tires on the right side and added plenty of gas to finish the 167-lap race.

"We had some butterflies at first, but we have so much more confidence now," said Shanda Bronston, the front tire carrier. "We gave it all we had. I'm very satisfied with what we did."

The idea for the all-female crew came from the staff of Texas Motor Speedway general manager Eddie Gossage, who readily admitted it was a publicity stunt.

A marketing agency was hired to find crew members, searching mostly in health clubs for competitive women in great shape. There were 20 candidates who came in for tryouts, and the seven who were chosen range in age from 21 to 39.

Robinson ran in seven Winston Cup races last year, including the Daytona 500 as the first woman there since 1980. She has been unable to find a Winston Cup or Busch ride this year.

The team isn't scheduled to race again until Sept. 27 in Las Vegas, and will be at Texas again on Oct. 11.

 

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