Sunday, September 28, 2003
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

JOE HAWK: `Dream Team' pit crew is pretty in pink and proud of it

The all-female pit crew for Shawna Robinson, a driver in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, pushes Robinson's truck off the track after its engine blew on lap 71 in the Las Vegas 350K at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Saturday night. Robinson finished 29th. Photo by K.M. Cannon.

The first thing you need to know about the "Dream Team," the all-female pit crew that raised more than a few eyebrows around Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Saturday night, is that it's a publicity stunt, a marketing ploy.

It's P.T. Barnum meets Good Ol' Boy Racing.

"It is. I'd be the first to say it," says Shawna Robinson, the driver of the No. 49 Chevrolet truck serviced by the sexy seven-woman NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series crew sponsored by Aaron Sales & Leasing, a Fort Worth, Texas-based furniture company.

But the first thing to know about the "Dream Team" definitely is not the only thing to know about the "Dream Team."

There's a wealth of good intentions, a richness of sincerity, behind this treasure of good looks.

Give these women credit. Give them respect. And don't be ashamed to give them a second look.

They don't mind. Really.

"We're trying to look pretty. We're not trying to look really masculine," says Sue Webb, a personal trainer/mother and the team's rear-tire changer. "We're proud of that fact."

Understand, though, this is racetrack "T&A" -- as in tires and air-wrenches.

This "Va-va-voom!" is more about "Va-va-vroooom!"

Dressed in their pink-and-blue firesuits with their "Dream Team" logo -- a "Charlie's Angels"-like design -- prominently displayed, the crew is quickly "over the wall" in what some view as an over-the-top promotion.

There they were Saturday, under the bright lights at the speedway, awaiting the pitting of Robinson, who started outside on the 12th row of the Las Vegas 350K. Working just their second race of the season, they were poised to handle all two-tire changes, leaving the more difficult four-tire efforts to a male backup crew provided by Texas Motor Speedway and Team Texas High Performance Driving School.

"The appeal is the athleticism, the competition. I think we were all drawn to it by that," says Gina Tomaseski, team spokeswoman and self-described "jack-girl."

"Some of us were NASCAR fans before, some of us weren't. But that first day we went out to the garage and started working on a (practice) car, we became immediate fans. Now we watch Speed Channel. We know all the different crew members. ... I can see why it's contagious."

Tomaseski, who raises the truck for tire changes, is joined by rear-tire carrier Tracy Romagnoli, rear-tire changer Webb, front-tire carrier Shanda Bronston, front-tire changer Geri Parris, gas-girl Gail Stracener and catch-can girl Sandy Owens. The alternate is Alaena Grable.

All the members are from the Dallas-Fort Worth area, and they were selected through a marketing search that scoured area gyms looking for strong, athletic women. After all, truck tires weigh 50 pounds apiece.

Using rental cars and vans to practice on, the crew initially struggled with 50-second pit stops. But they said they shaved that time in half by their first race, the O'Reilly 400K at Texas Motor Speedway on June 6, averaging 23 seconds for three stops, all under caution.

While Robinson finished 29th Saturday when her truck went out on lap 71 because of a blown engine, her team got in one 16-second, gas-only pit stop, and a 21-second stop for a change of two tires.

Even though the night was short, Robinson applauds the efforts of her crew -- the team will come together again Oct. 11 for the Silverado 350K at Texas Motor Speedway -- but she thinks they would be even better if there was a financial commitment to more races. No rookie pit crew, female or male, can become cohesive in just three races.

"It's a great concept, a great idea," Robinson says. "I think it could be done really, really well. These girls are capable of it. But you have to put a lot of time and money and equipment and trainers into it. You have to do what everybody else does.

"You can't expect to go out and compete if you're not doing what everybody else does."

The crew, naturally, would like to get more experience. The members, ages 22 to 39, are hopeful there will be more races for them next year, which they'll work to accommodate around careers, motherhood and, in two cases, college.

And don't worry about them losing any of their femininity in the process -- bruises, contusions and chipped fingernails aside. It's a rough, frenetic job, but this "Dream Team" cleans up real well.

Which brings us back to the publicity-stunt angle of this pit crew: Hot women sell.

"You really can't control what somebody else thinks. You really can't," says Bronston, who smiles coyly at the assessment. "All we're trying to do is the best we can and then go on from there.

"Someone should read up on us before they judge us."

Joe Hawk's column is published Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. He can be reached at 387-2912 or jhawk@reviewjournal.com.