From Pit Lane
Steve Hedrick, Mechanic

2007.10.26: Steve Hedrick is AIM Autosport's crew veteran. In fact, he was part of the program before the team existed. He started as a mechanic in 1993, working on the Formula Ford 1600 car designed and built by AIM co-owners Ian and Keith Willis, raced by Ian. Steve is now the go-to guy on the crew, maintaining the team's equipment, driving the transporter with Walter Ristucci, loading and unloading at the track, setting up pit lane and fueling the No. 61 Riley Mk XI. He stopped for a few minutes in Montréal to remember 15 great years with AIM.

I've always been interested in racing, ever since I was a little kid. Back when NASCAR was a fledgling and they were just getting occasional races on TV, I was the only one in my family who was interested in racing. So if nobody else was watching the TV, I'd be able to switch to the racing.

We started out like a regional racing team, out of pocket, low budget, using things over and over again just to make sure we didn't run out of money. But we always had a top-contending car. I started as a weekend warrior – we'd show up Thursday night, do the race weekend and head home Sunday night to do our real jobs on Monday. We'd try to make it to the shop and work on the cars for a day, usually a Saturday or Sunday on a weekend, just to get the cars prepped and ready for the next race.

The team has really grown into a much more professional operation. It's very impressive. I always wanted to stay with the team because I saw it had the prospect of growing bigger and getting to a more professional area. I always stuck with it just because I wanted to see it through.

Being a mechanic is more of a young person's game and it's more of a single person's game because of the amount of time you have to spend doing it, but it is a great way to make a living. It's better than having a real job!

The very best part of the job is being able to spend weekends at the race track. You sit here and listen to the engines in the background, you can walk up to fence and watch cars go around. You get to see all the different types of racing. We don't get enough time to watch a race or anything, but it's cool.

One thing people don't realize is the amount of time it takes to travel to the different race tracks and the amount of time spent on the road just to get there and get it all set up so it's workable and so you can use it as efficiently as your shop at home. In the paddock and pit lane, we usually try to set up one while we're doing the other if we can.

In the paddock, when we put up the awning and everything, it can take half a day. We set up the initial important stuff that we need and then somebody starts working on the car and the rest of it just keeps getting put together as the day goes on. As the mechanics start working on the car, we'll keep going around putting this and that out. It could take all weekend!

The pit lane is usually an hour and a half to two hours to set up, just to get everything situated so you can use it, put up antennas and hook up electricity and lay down bottles and hook up hoses. The pit boxes are different sizes at different tracks, so you have to set up and try to fit your equipment in there so one thing doesn't get in the way of another.

Another thing people may not realize is the amount of time we have to spend away from home. To use NASCAR as an example, they have a garage crew and a shop crew and a road crew or pit-lane crew. The pit-lane crew goes home during the week and the shop crew goes home on the weekends. If we go from race to race to race each weekend, we don't have time to go back to our shop. We have to stay on the road every day for whatever amount of days we're gone racing. It takes a lot of time away from home.

But it's a great way to spend life!

<< Back Home
<< Back to News