Author’s Note: As we all know, NASCAR drivers garner more attention than anyone else on their team. However, there are so many people on the teams that all play an important role in the success of the team and the sport we love. I am going to feature a variety of people who have careers in NASCAR, but aren’t normally in the spotlight.
Jeff Kerr is a jackman, developmental pit crew coach, and assistant strength coach for Hendrick Motorsports. He jacks the No. 5 Sprint Cup car of Mark Martin on Sundays, and trains the developmental pit crew during the week.
Here are some of Kerr’s quick facts:
Family: Wife (Misty), Son (Greyson, 6), Daughter (Madison, 2)
Hobbies: Hunting, Fishing, Hanging out with the family
Favorite sport to watch: I play ‘em, I don’t watch’ em!
Favorite type of music: Country
Most memorable moment of his racing career: The first pitstop where I went over the wall, which was for Kerry Earnhardt
Most memorable life moment: Seeing my kids being born
Kerr played football in college for East Carolina University and got into racing through his brother-in-law, Walt Smith, who is currently a pit crew coach at Hendrick Motorsports. The athletic Kerr credits his football background with helping him with having a great situational awareness that is required for both football and going over the wall.
“When circumstances go wrong over-the-wall, it helps you handle the situation a little differently than some people would,” Kerr explains. “Football has also been a great teacher in mental toughness, teamwork, and agility. We also have over-the-wall ‘plays’ that we have to coordinate depending on wedge and trackbar that are very similar.”
Kerr says jacking the No. 5 car on Sundays is the easier of his two jobs. He lists his favorite part of jacking as winning races, and his least favorite part as getting hit by a car!
As a pit crew coach and strength trainer, Kerr and pit crew coach Chris Burkey are responsible for a developmental crew of 15 young men. Burkey is a former NFL scout who travels around looking for former college athletes that would like to have NASCAR careers.
Their job, Kerr says, is to “teach them [the development pit crew guys] all the basics they need to know to compete at a professional level in NASCAR. They are then given opportunities at the track to compete over-the-wall and we are there at the track helping them behind the wall.”
Kerr’s favorite part of coaching is getting to see his guys succeed after they have put in all the hard work and hours of preparation that culminates in them becoming successful athletes. However, he mentioned that he does have to handle certain guys that have a barrier up and do not want to listen to what needs to be done to become successful going over the wall.
For the meantime, Kerr’s goal in racing is to win a championship as a coach and as a jackman, and he would like to be involved in racing until he retires (unless he hits the lottery, that is). He states that his biggest challenge with his racing career is trying to juggle a solid work and travel schedule with a healthy family life.
Finally, he answers a few additional questions with his usual sense of humor:
TD: What makes drivers easy or difficult to work with? What traits do you wish every driver would possess?
JK: Are you trying to get me fired!?!
TD: If you could change anything about NASCAR, what would it be?
JK: Nothing, they don’t pay me to think.
TD: Do you have any funny stories from the road?
JK: Yeah, we have a kid that is a sleepwalker, and he got up in the middle of the night and climbed in the bed with his roommate. He then proceeded to spoon with that kid thinking it was his wife! The roommate woke up and felt warm breath on his ear and was a little shaken at the thought of what might have just happened. The roommate then tried to wake the sleepwalker, but with no success, and he proceeded to go sleep in the other bed.
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