5 questions for NASCAR inspector Jim Wagner-Brownell

Meredith Long, The Sporting News

Published August 8, 2007 at midnight

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Jim Wagner-Brownell has worked as an inspector and pit road official for the NASCAR Nextel Cup series for almost six years. On a typical weekend, he inspects the cars three times and works pit road for the Cup race and most Busch races. Wagner-Brownell recently spoke with The Sporting News' Meredith Long.

1How did you get started in NASCAR?

I've always been interested in some type of racing. I started racing snowmobiles when I was 16 and went on to drag racing. I raced on the dirt tracks for a couple of years. I lived in central New York at the time and you really can't travel more than 10 miles without hitting a racetrack someplace. I worked with modified cars some for one of our officials and got the chance to come into Nextel Cup, and now I'm living my lifelong dream.

2As a kid, did you see yourself working for NASCAR?

Early on, I wanted to be a doctor, and then I realized how hard doctors have to work and I changed my mind on that really fast. Once I started racing, I saw myself either working for a team, driving a car or working in the sport someplace.

3What is the craziest thing you've seen on pit road?

It's kind of the scariest thing and craziest thing. Cars will quite often stall out on pit road, and when they do, they have a little bit of a flame coming out of the exhaust. One of the cars a couple of years ago came in and stalled out, and I stood and watched the rear tire changer get down on the ground. When the car driver fired up the car, it threw flames out so much it just knocked him backward.

4What is the hardest part about your job?

I think it's trying to keep everybody straight and on an even playing field and doing that as nicely as I can and still holding all the rules in check and keeping everyone on the same page.

5What is the one thing you see that doesn't pass inspection the most?

They have a lot of area where they can work in setting up their chassis and their heights and that affects a lot of different things on the cars. Trying to keep all that stuff in check is difficult. The teams will be adjusting one area to suit one department and actually be out of where they need to be for another department. These cars are really hard to set up to our tolerances, and sometimes they come in and have something they can just pull aside and fix for us, but I'd have to say the height and wheel base area are probably the areas where we pull the most cars over and have them adjust for us.

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