Atop the Spotter's Stand

Atop the Spotters Stand With #48 Spotter Earl Barban: Road Course Racing @ The Glen

Friday, August 10, 2012 107 reads
Heather Meyer

This week’s race is in the beautiful Finger Lakes area of New York, the last road course of the year.

So since we are at a road course will there be 2 or more spotters and where will you guys been along the course?

Earl says,” the 48 Lowes team will use Michael Landis the GM for the 88/48 shop will handle the Bus stop, Randy the practice spotter will take the esses while Earl will handle the front stretch, turns 10&1, cautions, starts and penalties.”

Of course Earl had me laughing with the odd names he has for different parts of the track, so I asked him, if it was easier or harder to spot than Sonoma?

“It’s definitely more challenging at Watkins Glen than Sonoma. There is about 45 seconds where you don’t see your car so you watch the jumbo tron for any smoke and pray it’s not your guy,” comments Barban.

Since we learned last week that Earl used to be a jack and gas man I thought it might be fun to ask if he remember what it was like pitting in reverse like we do at Watkins Glen.

Earl answered,” we didn’t do pit practice like they do now a days. There was one stop when I was a gas man that the can nozzle got caught in another crew members pants causing them to be covered in gas. Or when I was the jack man and couldn’t remember which way I supposed to go, after two stops I was frustrated and went to get something to drink, when I came back there were arrows and foot prints showing me the way.”

Now Earl stressed that none of these things caused Rusty Wallace to lose. Wallace was the driver that Earl crewed for.

What are the keys to getting Jimmie Johnson to Victory Lane this week?

Earl disclosed, “Besides good pit stops and track position, you need to stay on the track, not break anything or over brake you should come out with a top 15 which is good for a road course. Plus beat Montoya, Ambrose and Jeff Gordon.

As always I want to thank Earl, spotter for 5 times Champion Jimmie Johnson for his time this week. If you have any questions for our spotters email them to hmeyer@motorsportsnews.net

Earl wanted me to remind you that he has a contest going, you can get details here: http://t.co/wmOw87Pw 

Thanks to MotorSportsNews’ photographer Steve Langley for the new spotter photo for this series of articles.