Chip Ganassi Racing pit crews get early start on mastering INDYCAR's new wheels

INDIANAPOLIS — The INDYCAR season may be over but the work on pit road has already begun at Chip Ganassi Racing.

CGR’s pit crews returned to practice this week for offseason work with an added challenge this year: learning how to handle INDYCAR's new wheels.

For pit crew coach Greg Miller, starting early is important because races can be won or lost during the handful of seconds a car spends in its pit box.

“When the car comes down pit road, the easiest place to pass somebody is on pit road,” Miller said. “So we try to refine this the best we can, so that when we do come down pit road, we’re passing as many cars as possible.”

CGR typically holds pit practice three times a week during the offseason. Beginning shortly after the season allows the crews to accumulate repetitions before vacations and the holiday season interrupt the schedule.

Those repetitions carry additional importance this offseason because the new wheel requires a different technique.

The previous wheels had a lip around the outside that crew members could use to grip and maneuver them. The new wheels do not. Instead, crew members must reach into the wheel and grab a spoke to lift it and guide it onto the hub.

For some of CGR’s tire changers, it is an entirely new movement.

“A lot of our changers have never used a spoke before, so they’re having to relearn how to grab the wheel to get it up on the hub as fast as possible,” Miller said.

The difference might appear minor, but on pit road — where fractions of a second matter — changing the way a crew member grips and moves a wheel can require considerable repetition.

Miller said one of the challenges is simply getting a hand into the relatively small opening around the spoke. From there, crews must learn to perform the movement quickly and, just as importantly, consistently.

“Speed — it’s always got to be about speed for us on pit road,” Miller said. “That is going to be our biggest challenge. How do we change that and become consistent with that.”

The first three days provided an encouraging start.

“There’s obviously a learning curve, but for the first week of practice, I’m pretty happy,” Miller said. “It’s not as bad as I was expecting it to be. So, you know, we’re just looking forward to making more progress.”

That progress will be measured over an offseason in which mastering the new wheel has become CGR’s primary pit crew objective.

Miller views the offseason for pit crews much the way race teams view on-track testing. It provides an opportunity not only to build repetitions but also to experiment with personnel in different positions and determine which combinations might make each crew stronger.

This year, the wheel adds another variable.

“That is the priority of the offseason for us — perfecting the wheels,” Miller said. “We also utilize the offseason as our test period. The cars get to go to different tracks and test. The offseason is our opportunity to test our guys in other positions, try and see if there’s better makeups for us to become even better for the new year.”

Every INDYCAR team will make the transition, although Miller acknowledged some competitors have crew members with previous experience using this style of wheel. That could give them an early advantage while CGR’s crews develop the new technique.

Miller believes repetition will close that gap.

“There might be some guys that are a little bit ahead of us,” he said. “So, I feel right now we’re probably playing some catch up to those guys, but there’s no doubt we’ve got a great group of guys here. There’s no doubt in my mind that we will figure it out and be ready to perform next year.”

For CGR, that process began this week — months before the first green flag of the new season — with three days of learning a different way to perform one of racing’s most familiar jobs.