Undercover Boss (2010) s02e05 Episode Script
Nascar
Male announcer: America is struggling to shake off the recession.
Public distrust of wealthy CEOs remains high.
But more and more bosses are looking for radical ways to reconnect with their workforce in order to find out what's really going on in their companies.
Each week, we follow the boss of a major corporation as they go undercover in their own company.
This week on Undercover Boss Gentlemen, start your engines.
Announcer: The chief marketing officer of NASCAR poses as Kevin, a lucky competition-winning race fan with an all-access pass.
- I'm Kevin.
- Hi, Kevin! Announcer: The boss will leave his sprawling New England mansion for a workout in the Southern heat.
It's hot in Daytona, boys! [All grunting.]
Go, Kevin! [Drill whirring.]
Kevin, let's go, baby.
If that was a Sprint Cup race, you'd be fired.
Announcer: Then it's off to the racetrack to find out what's really going on, up close and personal.
So you've probably seen a lot of changes in 15 years.
Yeah, some of 'em good, some of 'em bad.
Announcer: How will these dedicated crew members react when they find out his true identity? I was a little bit nervous to go undercover.
Announcer: Find out next on on Undercover Boss.
Announcer: NASCAR, the only family-owned sports franchise in the world.
With more than 400 corporate sponsors vying for pole position, it's the most branded sport on earth.
The sport's grandest stage, Daytona International Speedway.
Announcer: And at the head of this massive marketing machine is one man.
I am Steve Phelps.
I am the Chief Marketing Officer at NASCAR.
And I oversee sales and marketing and communications.
NASCAR stands for the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing.
It was founded in 1947 by Bill France, sr.
When Bill France stared NASCAR, today's sport started taking form.
Today at the head of NASCAR are two of the most recognizable faces in the sport, Chairman and CEO Brian France and President Mike Helton.
NASCAR fans are unlike any other sports fans in the world.
You've got moms and dads bringing their whole family to the racetrack where they often camp out for days on end, socializing with other fans about their favorite drivers, fondest memories, and basically just having a good time.
I've worked at NASCAR for five years.
Before that I worked for the National Football League forAlmost 14 years.
I'm married.
We have four kids.
What are we gonna do for the rest of the summer vacation? Football! Football for you? Yeah! Totally! Yeah! And golf! And golf? Okay.
I commute from the New York area down to Daytona Beach every week.
I'm here, typically, Monday morning through Thursday night.
Ready? Go! Oh, good girl! Run! Run! Run! Run, run, run! We miss Steve when he's not here.
And there certainly have been, uh, a few situations where Steve needs to be on the road and can't be there for school functions or different events.
Nice job, Peanut.
And the kids are disappointed.
They just say, "oh, I wish daddy were here.
" Let me see you.
Huggy! Huggy! It's just our family dynamic, and, um, it's all working out right now.
So it's all good.
Have a safe trip.
I love you.
Good luck.
I miss my kids a great deal.
I'm sure are people that would say that I have a horrible work-life balance.
That's part of the sacrifice that's made.
I started in NASCAR in 2005.
And in 2005, a really high watermark for NASCAR in terms of television ratings, sponsor participation.
Attendance was at its highest then.
Then, starting in 2008, with the recession, it's been very difficult for our sport in--in many different ways.
[Engine revving.]
Due to the recent recession, attendance is down 15% over the last two years, and sales of concessions and merchandise has dropped 20% over this time period.
Obviously, this is a great concern to the NASCAR family.
- Hey, Mike.
- Hey, Steve.
Brian and the rest of the board wants us to dig a little deep into the industry and-- from an inside look, if you will-- and get an idea maybe ways that we can Do our job and make it better for fans and teams.
I've been asked by Brian France and Mike Helton to go undercover.
They are clearly too visible to be able to do that, so they've asked me to go undercover.
And I think it'd also be good experience for you as our C.
M.
O.
to get an inside look with some of the race team behind-the-scenes elements.
We're one week away from a race at Daytona.
I'm hoping that working undercover with the people that make this sport run Good luck out there.
Will give me new insights on how to help this sport grow and get back to record levels.
While undercover, I'll be posing as Kevin Thomas from Burlington, Vermont.
My cover story is that I'm a NASCAR super fan that won a contest allowing me to work alongside employees in the racing industry.
They will be called back to headquarters at the end of the week to evaluate my performance to determine if I am NASCAR material.
[Engines whooshing.]
We're here at Hendrick Motorsports, one of the premiere teams in all of NASCAR.
Their pit crews are responsible for some of the fastest pit stop times in the sport.
There are pit stops, essentially to get fresh tires, because the tires wear as you go on the racetrack, and to get fuel.
They do that in 13 seconds, sometimes faster than that, working with teams to try to put their guy out front, try to win the race.
Hopefully, by working alongside Mark Martin's pit crew today as they prepare for the upcoming race in Daytona, I'll learn more about the NASCAR experience from one of our top teams.
How you doing? How are you? Great.
Good to see you.
Um, first of all, guys, I'm sure you wanna know what's going on here.
This is, uh, Kevin Thomas.
He's won a pretty cool deal that NASCAR's done.
A super fan award.
Uh, and he's gonna spend time with pit crew today.
So I know you guys'll take care of him, uh, and show him how easy our job is, right? [Chuckles.]
Okay.
This is Dion Williams.
He's a rear tire carrier for us.
He's gonna kind of shadow you tonight.
- Good to see you.
- What's up? Thanks for taking care of him.
Yep.
We will.
We'll get him right.
Where you from? - I'm from Vermont.
- Okay.
I head over here to this parking lot.
We have a scheduled workout routine.
They try to get us acclimated to the heat as much as possible during this time of the season.
We're at our hottest with Daytona-Indy coming up.
A common misconception is that NASCAR is an individual sport.
Five to go.
However, it's actually much more of a team sport, and the driver can't win without a great pit crew.
These guys have to be in incredible shape to be effective at their job.
It could be about 100 degrees outside, but with your fire suits on, I mean, Heat Index could be anywhere from 110 to 120.
To kind of combat some of that, they train us out here in this heat.
How you doing? Gonna work out with us today? Gonna try.
He was talking a little crap about y'all over there earlier today.
Talking about his age, and he's in better shape than half of us.
He said in Vermont he ran all while drinking maple syrup.
And then went to Ben & Jerry's afterwards.
[Laughter.]
That did not happen.
[Whistle blows.]
[Grunting.]
Where you at, Kevin? Still breathing? [Laughing.]
Yeah.
Gonna be hot in Daytona, boys! Come on, Kevin.
Let's go, baby.
Let's go, Ben & Jerry's.
[Blows whistle.]
Let's go, Kevin! Make a Jack man out of you yet! Here we go.
Whoo-whee! [Grunting.]
Let's go, Kevin! I like that.
[Breathless.]
I'm tired.
You all right? I'm doin' all right.
Come on, get that air in them lungs.
Stand up, stand up.
Now we have practice.
All right, this is where we practice our pit stops at.
Okay.
They set it up exactly how it's gonna be at Daytona.
Basically, what you're gonna be doing for the first 30 minutes is just watching and observing.
[Drill whirring.]
When we're finished, we're gonna throw you in there and gonna let you try to be a tire carrier, all right? Okay.
Full charge! All right, let's do this.
Here we go.
[Drills whirring.]
Loosen 'em up, comin' around.
With a huge race just around the corner, you can really feel the team's intensity.
There's so much pressure placed on their shoulders.
Most people don't realize that they train like professional athletes.
Yeah! Good job, baby.
Good job.
It's your turn to shine now, buddy.
You're putting the tire on with your left hand.
Okay.
And you're using your right hand to hold the weight, basically.
You're down like this.
It's a slide.
And push.
That's it.
Okay.
[laughs.]
Stay low.
Remember, get the tire out of the space.
So step back, son.
Let me show you.
Step back.
It was an incredible experience to do what these guys do.
So it's one But this is--this is hard.
Step, see? Just like that, okay? All right, just like I showed you.
Keep it low.
[Chuckles.]
There you go.
It's there somewhere.
[Laughter.]
What do you think? I say that wasn't good enough for me.
If that was a Sprint Cup race, you'd be fired.
Kevin's job on my pit crew would be eighth man, which he would be the one facilitating the water bottle duties to the driver.
So basically, the water boy.
Where'd you-- where'd you start in NASCAR? I was just released from football, and, uh, I didn't even know what a wrench was, and NASCAR was pushing the drive for diversity.
Being that there was only about two or three African-Americans in the sport at the time.
You know, none of my family watched it, none of my friends watched it.
I told 'em what I was doing, they Kind of laughed at first.
Like, what is NASCAR, you know? You know, even with Hendrick Motorsports, I believe I was the first African-American to ever wear a Jeff Gordon fire suit over the wall.
And now we have about two or three.
You know, just in the past two years, you know? Pit crew members like myself, you know, just being seen by other minorities.
And, um, they began to take interest.
Dion is an ambassador for NASCAR.
We obviously want to make our sport more diverse.
We want to look like America.
And right now, we're-- uh, we're not where we want to be.
So your friends and family's now watching a lot? Yeah, they're definitely fans.
All my friends.
I go home, it's kind of I feel rock star-ish, you know? I'm competing with my NFL buddies, you know? Because, you know, there's a genuine interest in it.
I know that this is only, uh, you can do this, then your body gives up.
I mean, I have a wife.
I have two kids.
And, um, I have one due in September.
You got guys, little young guys, waiting for you to mess up, you know, so they can jump in your spot.
The teams run a business, and they need to be as successful as they can in running that business.
And that has to do with speed.
Ultimately, he's gonna lose his job, and that's understandably a very real concern for him, especially with a family with a third child on the way.
Great to be a fan, come out and get a chance to do this.
We enjoyed you, man.
I felt, actually, a connection with--with Dion.
Appreciate you working hard and, you know, taking it seriously.
I learned a lot.
I learned about his job.
I learned about, more importantly, about him.
He's got a great personality, he's fun.
He tries to make those around him feel at ease.
And if guys like him are worried that they have no future here, then that's definitely something I need to take a closer look at.
Announcer: Coming up We're not gonna make any mistakes.
Announcer: Steve paints NASCAR's most hallowed ground.
Put too much paint on it, it starts to drip.
Stay in the lines.
I went into the black.
What are you doing? Announcer: Later Hey, how are you? Hi! Announcer: NASCAR's marketing guru has trouble selling.
Hey, guys.
How are you? Anything to drink? Come on, let's go, hustle! Announcer: Steve Phelps, the Chief Marketing Officer of NASCAR, is a boss undercover in his own company.
His journey continues in Daytona Beach, Florida.
I'm here at Daytona International Speedway, our most iconic track.
We've got well over that are gonna come here on Saturday night to see the best racing in the world.
And, to gain the full fan experience, I'll be staying in an RV in the infield, the way the average NASCAR fan would.
Today, I'm gonna be working in facility operations.
I'm trying to get a sense for what happens to prep for a race.
- Glen.
- Yes? Got a gentleman to introduce you with.
Good morning.
All right.
- This is Kevin Thomas.
- Hi.
- Came to work with you today.
- Nice to meet you.
Nice to meet you as well.
We're trying to give Kevin the full race preparation from the view of Daytona's main sign guys.
So Wow.
You got something you got going this morning? Sure.
Are you a race fan? Huge race fan.
That's, uh, that's why I'm here.
Good, we'll show you Daytona like you've never seen it before.
I'm in your hands, your capable hands.
Let's go.
This is it.
This is the start/finish line, partner.
This is where it all begins and ends.
We're gonna paint the white and the yellow.
Okay.
What I'll do is I'll just paint the perimeter and fill it in.
I see.
We're not gonna make any mistakes.
All right.
Have at it.
I'm in.
All right.
Stay in the lines.
[Chuckles.]
I'll try.
Nice and dry out here today.
You don't sweat as much, but, boy, it's gonna get hot.
Paint-by-numbers here.
Yeah, this I not as complex as a lot of the other signs that he does.
But, uh, I wanna do a good job.
More pressure when you're watching me.
Well, imagine how it is with a bunch of people in the stands.
Oh, boy.
I went into the black.
What are you doing? Put too much paint on it, it starts to drip.
You know, 'cause of the gravity.
No! The breeze feels nice.
This is hot.
[Laughs.]
Welcome to the South, my friend.
We don't have to do two coats on this, do we? No, sir.
Just checking.
[Laughs.]
Well, these are the high banks, Kevin.
And when you see the banking on television, you think, well, it's 31 degrees.
Yeah.
You never put it into perspective until you're up there.
Till you tumble down? I just don't want to tumble down.
Here we go.
You can't even imagine how steep it is, I mean, truly.
And I think it's, like, over two stories high.
Wow.
You can feel it Pulling against the back of your legs as you're going up there.
How are your legs? I'm sweatin' like a bull moose.
[Laughs.]
Good.
Okay, I'm gonna ask you to hold the panel while I trace it out.
You definitely have to get balanced and Have a good center before you start working.
You're gonna have to get hazard pay for this, dude.
[Laughs.]
I'm insured.
Here's a spot where somebody hit.
It's amazing when you're up here after a wreck, 'cause you can just smell the accident.
Come on, 9.
Yeah, I like that.
Come on, 9.
Whoa! There goes biffle! Caution's out.
Caution's out.
You can smell the-- the rubber on the wall.
And you can smell the-- the metal on metal.
It's fabulous.
Let's go get the paint.
is a lot of banking.
My knees are creaking going up and down there.
[Laughs.]
What, just follow that line? Yeah, just follow the line across.
How's your finger that I just painted? Fine.
I was wondering what that finger would look like green.
All right, now I just made a mistake.
Here, let me see.
Here we go.
Nice job.
All right.
Well, let's move this over here.
Oh, no.
No! That's all right.
Let's put all the stuff back in there.
You came down alone? Yeah.
Left your family up there? I did, yeah.
I've got, uh, a wife and four kids.
All right, good for you.
Do you have kids? I got two boys.
What are your boys' names? Daniel and Christopher.
Daniel was diagnosed with leukemia.
Yeah, he was 11.
I'm sorry to hear that.
But, um, he's gaining weight.
He's in school.
He missed all of sixth grade.
God bless.
Yeah, it's been a rough two years, but the, uh, support I got from the people who are at the tracks has been amazing.
Boy, that's a tough deal for an 11-year-old.
And, I'm sure, hard on you and your wife.
You know, Glen's story's a lot different than my own.
I've had kids who Broken arms and bumps and bruises.
This is, uh, this is the real deal.
He'sCleared and just all healthy now? No.
No, we go-- he gets chemo every two weeks.
How's the treatment on him? Good moments and bad moments.
It's a situation where you go over For a treatment, and his counts come up wrong, and we wind up spending two or three days in the hospital.
Having spent the morning with you, you just seem so positive about your job and positive about-- you know, just a good energy.
How do you-- how do you do that with all the stuff that goes on at home? I was at a point in my life where I knew I could either hate life or be a leader.
You just gotta be strong for your kids.
That's great.
But it's something that's just a burden, that's always in the back of our minds.
When we get another bill, "oh, how are we gonna do this?" [Door creaks.]
Glen Is going through something that is emotionally very difficult.
Being a dad, ahem, I can't imagine one of my children having leukemia.
I'm sure I'd be devastated.
Um, I certainly would seek the best care I could for any of my children.
And, uh, probably do a lot of praying as well.
Since the recession, not only are ticket sales down, but concessions are down too.
These people that are working concessions-- they don't work for NASCAR, but they essentially are the face of NASCAR, because they're interacting with all these fans that are coming here who are hungry and thirsty.
And I'm a salesman, so this job should be a lot easier then what I've been doing.
Foot-long corn dogs! Chicken tenders with fries! Hey, how are you? Hi! I'm Kevin.
Hi, Kevin! Are you our new worker? I am your new worker.
Oh, boy, am I ready for you.
Hi, I'm Kevin.
Hi, Kevin, I'm Rachel.
I'm the mom.
How are you? Hello, mom.
And this is Tom.
I'm Tom.
I'm the youngest son.
And that is my sister.
She's the boss.
Well, Kevin, come on over and let me tell you a little bit about us.
We're volunteers, and we're doing it for our local high school.
I have three daughters that are cheerleaders.
And for some reason, the local school system doesn't consider cheerleading a sport.
So we do fundraisers like this to make money for our cheerleaders, so that's what we're here for.
Um, they set us up with a stand and all this, and they give us a percentage of the proceeds.
What percentage do you get to keep? of the proceeds helps fund our cheerleading for the year.
So we've got to hustle.
Got it.
While we're waiting on some people to walk by, why don't we go cook some stuff? Let's do it.
Chicken nuggets are in here.
Tear it open and stick it in one of these baskets.
Grab the handle, into the grease.
Now three minutes, and those will be ready to eat.
So let's grab the tongs.
Take one of those.
You're gonna put it right here.
Then we're gonna roll it up, put it in the case.
This way? Yep.
Rolly, rolly, rolly.
Um You gotta pick it up quick.
You always gotta be ahead.
No chance to stop.
Flip in the ends.
We make a nickel on that.
So you gotta sell a lot of 'em to make good money.
Okay.
Stick 'er in there.
Let met get these wrapped up real quick.
You know what? He just can't stand to watch my slowness.
We need some ice put in these tubs here to keep our beverages nice and cold.
So we're out of fries and we're out of chicken nuggets.
Now, the french fries gotta be cooked over here.
Oh, they got away.
That's all right, don't worry.
Don't worry about it.
They'll be fine.
Down in the grease we go.
There you go.
Throw the bag in the trash can.
SoNow we can just take a breath for a second.
Whoo! Yeah, "caution: Hot.
" Yeah.
Oh, yeah, it says, "hot surface.
" That's--that's a six-foot "gotcha.
" Us short people don't lean on stuff like that.
Hey! [laughter.]
Are you guys race fans? I am.
Are you like me? Yeah, I'm a huge-- he's a huge race fan.
I'm a--I'm a cheer mom.
You're very focused on the cheering.
Yeah, that's right.
That's right.
All righty, so that's the cooking.
You kind of got-- you got the hang of this? I guess.
The only thing you haven't done is you haven't sold a dime yet.
So we can stand back here all night and cook, but until you get out there and hustle All right.
Hey, guys.
How are you? You hungry? Anything to drink? No.
You hungry? You thirsty? Nah, we got everything.
Thanks.
Okay.
Enjoy the race.
Sometimes, it's a hard sell, isn't it, Kevin? You gotta get out there and hustle 'em.
You--you hungry? You hungry? You want something? We got some drink.
It's hot out here.
No? We've got--we've got chicken tenders, foot-long corn dogs, cold beverage.
Are you hot? You look a little parched.
Look at you.
You need something to drink! Let's go over here and get you something to drink.
Tom and Cindy, they're like cheerleaders themselves.
Thanks for helping us out.
What's your name? James.
Hey, James.
Thanks for doing that.
I appreciate it.
Three people have walked by.
Come on, let's go.
Hustle! Hey, how's it going? All right.
Hey, we got another customer! What do you like, buddy? Come on, Kevin, let's go! Come on, come on.
Hurry.
You guys thirsty? You hungry? Come on up.
Don't be shy.
Great attitude.
Just a can-do spirit.
It's infectious.
There you.
Ice cold.
Hey, thanks a lot, guys.
It's great to see.
Announcer: Coming up, our boss gets an all-access pass, but he might not like what he finds out.
You've probably seen a lot of changes in 15 years.
Yeah, some of 'em good, some of 'em bad.
Announcer: And later We're underway, racing at Daytona! Announcer: The race is on.
Oh! And here's a big one.
Seven, eight, nine cars involved, many of which were running inside the top ten.
Oh, my, Mark Martin's car is on fire right there.
Steve Phelps, the Chief Marketing Officer of NASCAR, is a boss undercover in his own company.
He just can't stand to watch my slowness.
The employees think he's won a fan contest to try out different jobs in NASCAR.
His journey continues in Daytona Beach, Florida.
It's race day today, and all the teams are loading into the track.
I'm gonna be working with the tire specialist for the double zero.
I'm gonna run tires or do whatever a tire specialist does.
I want to make sure I do the best job I can.
All right, man.
Hey, Scott.
Scott Swift, meet Kevin Thomas.
Hey, Kevin, nice to meet you.
How are you, Scott? He's the tire man for David Reutimann.
Awesome.
Kevin's gonna be working with you today.
Okay.
The most important thing that happens between a driver and his race car are the tires.
You're gonna need to show him just how How critical it is to do that job.
Okay.
So, uh, good luck.
Thanks.
I know you'll do well.
And, uh, if not, he's gonna send me a report.
Nice meeting you.
All right, you too.
Take care.
Well, I'm in your hands, Scott.
Okay, we'll go over here in front of Goodyear and grab the tires and start taking them to the truck.
All right, hang on.
Watch this.
Okay.
They look easy.
All right, go ahead and pull that back.
Whoa, sorry.
Least I got somebody helping me move.
I normally have to move them one at a time, by myself.
How's life on the road? It's--it's okay.
Yeah, I'm home, basically, two days a week.
But I only have one day a week off.
The other two days, I'm at the shop working.
So, uh, it kind of sucks, like, being away from your family and everything.
And then, you know, everybody else is spending Fourth of July with their family going to the beach and stuff, and, you know, we're here at the racetrack, but Yep.
I don't know, it's the life we chose, and I guess family gets used to it, so Yeah.
All the NASCAR folks are out there for 38 weeks a year.
And it's a long, long season that they're out there and away from their families and doing their job and That's difficult.
I certainly miss my family.
And it's something that I personally deal with it every week as well.
It's just great for me to be here in the garage.
It's very cool.
Yeah, it is kind of neat.
You know, you can get closer than you can in, say, like baseball or football or On the playing field, if you will.
Right.
All right, we'll take these and put them behind the truck.
So now the fun stuff begins.
All right.
When we get these tires, they're in no order.
We have to go through and physically put 'em in sets.
Okay.
We try to keep these bar code numbers as close together as we can.
Okay.
Because, chances are, they come out of the same mold, same batch of rubber.
Just try to keep everything As consistent as possible.
Yeah.
Tire specialist is a pretty complex job.
What I'm doing here is I'm measuring the tire tread depth.
Yep.
The measurement Scott is taking now will be cross referenced with the information he gathers in tonight's race.
And then that way, I can tell how the tire wears.
It's, um, it's a process.
[Beeping.]
Stack 'em four high.
Put the sticker number facing out, just like that.
Gettin' steamy.
Yeah, gettin' a little warm her.
Here, that's upside down, bud.
Sorry.
I mean, there is some science to it.
But it's not rocket science, so I'm gonna pick up the pace here a little bit.
[Beep beep beep.]
Okay.
Stack that on the right side.
I've been hauling tires that are about 70, 75 pounds a piece.
The weight workout, you can see by my frame that's, uh, that's not my strong suit.
[Grunts.]
[Laughs.]
So you probably seen a lot of changes in 15 years.
Yeah.
Changes in technology.
Some of 'em good, some of 'em bad.
[Beeping.]
So if you were, uh-- if you were Brian France or Mike Helton for a day Ooh.
What would-- what would you change? The sport's more commercial and corporate-driven now than it is family-oriented, and, you know, it's kind of hard to get family into the racetrack.
There is opportunities to take 'em, but even if you've got your family member's name on the list, and, you know, at the last minute, XYZ Corporation comes up and wants to get in as a potential sponsor, then your family doesn't get to get in.
Hearing Scott talking about the commercialization of the sport, it really dawned on me that that's exactly what I do.
Certainly turned into a big business.
Yeah, pretty much.
I mean, you know, it's like $20 million plus to run one of these teams for a year.
I mean, hell, my tire bill for one week for just my car is anywhere between $24,000 and $27,000 For one weekend.
Wow.
So you multiply that by 36 weeks, you know? That's a lot of money.
But on the flip side of that is, you know, it is kind of nice to be able to take your wife to one of the races and, you know, spend some time with 'em.
I understand Scott's concerns, but, you know, it's a two-edged sword.
The commercialism pays for all the jobs that you see here, and there are tens of thousands of jobs that are part of NASCAR.
So it's a-- it's a tough one.
[Cheers and applause.]
This is the big race of the weekend for us.
Gentlemen, start your engines.
[Engines revving.]
[Indistinct.]
And I'm incredibly proud to be able to put on this uniform and hopefully help this team in some way.
This is the only job I'll have that can impact the outcome of the race.
So I'll go out and do the best job I can.
All right, man, you ready? It's the big race.
It's go time.
Come on.
I did notice Dion, the rear tire carrier, and his crew working Mark Martin's stall.
This is the moment they've all been training for.
The green flag in the air, and we are underway, racing at Daytona.
[Rock music, cars zooming.]
Mark Martin has raced here 50 times.
Still never won.
Maybe he can break it tonight.
David Reutimann has been solid here this evening.
What these guys do, the pressure's immense.
If you have bad pit stops, you can't win the race.
If you have good pit stops, it gives you the opportunity to win the race.
Two right-side tires.
Okay? Cool.
The job that Scott gave me tonight during the race is one of a tire scraper.
He needs me to clear a smooth piece of the tread, to take another measurement and compare it with the earlier readings to determine how the tire is wearing on the track.
Got this whole crew trying to get their driver up front, get him to win.
The tire wear looks really good.
I mean, he's wearing a little bit on the right rear.
But that's good.
It means the car is freed up a little bit.
Okay.
So every--right now, everything looks pretty good.
So hopefully, it'll stay that way.
It's a very sensory experience at the racetrack.
Boy, you can really feel the heat coming off the tires.
Yeah, it gets hot.
Yeah.
The sound's incredible.
You can smell the tires and the oil and the gas.
It's amazing.
Oh! Up top.
Oh, hang on.
And here's a big one.
There it is.
Seven, eight, nine cars involved.
Many which were running inside the top ten.
That's the whole field.
That's the whole field.
Wow.
That was wicked.
Mark Martin got a piece of the action.
It's a heck of a wreck right there, boys.
Mark Martin's car is on fire right there.
It's a fireball out there.
Can see Mark climbing out right there.
The Lowe's guys come over and get him out.
That's pretty cool right there, man.
I feel bad for Dion, who I work with, and that whole five crew who- just a bunch of nice guys out there.
And it's part of racing, and they understand that.
But I'm sure they're incredibly disappointed.
Gettin' ready to roll.
We've got eight laps to get it done, and it begins right now! Hey, you doing all right? I'm all right, man.
Yeah.
Just [Engines roaring.]
Appreciate it, man.
All right, buddy.
I'll see you.
Take care.
All right, now.
David Reutimann's been good tonight.
He's in tenth, trying to maintain that position.
Not gonna do it.
Kevin Harvick, the race leader, Harvick wins at Daytona! Oh, yeah! Great job, driver.
Great job, buddy.
You know, David got caught in the back, and looks like he finished You know, kind of got trapped back there.
Couldn't move forward and, um You know, it's unfortunate.
He was running so well all night.
And that's part of racing.
Hey, man, really appreciate the opportunity.
You guys were awesome.
Everyone on the double zero and Cool, man, glad you saw it.
I'm glad you, uh-- glad you got a chance to be a part of it, so No, I--thanks-- you done-- you done good yourself, man.
I appreciate it.
Thanks, pal.
Thanks for the help, and Well, I'll tell you what.
I-I am a different kind of fan tonight, 'cause Unfortunately, most fans can't do what I just did, and, uh, I sure wish there was a way that we could have every fan do what I did.
Great, great experiences that I had here.
It's something I will never forget for the rest of my life.
It was awesome.
It really was.
Coming up, Steve summons the employees to NASCAR's corporate headquarters.
All the years I've been in racing, I've never seen the inside of NASCAR's corporate headquarters.
My journey is almost over.
My coworkers are being summoned here to headquarters.
They've been told that they are here to evaluate me.
I can't wait to tell them why they're really here.
We've been brought here to evaluate Kevin's performance the other night.
It's be great to see Kevin again.
Kevin was a pretty great guy.
Yeah, Kevin was a good worker, so it'll be good to see Kevin again.
Yeah, we like Kevin.
All the years I've been in racing, I've never seen the inside of NASCAR's corporate headquarters.
Hi.
How are you? Hello.
Hey, Kevin.
You look a little different today, Kevin.
You look like you should be on the news somewhere.
[Laughs.]
I know you probably thought you were here to evaluate my time with you.
Right.
Actually That's not why you're here.
Um, my name isn't Kevin Thomas.
My name is actually Steve Phelps.
I've gone undercover.
[Chuckling.]
And, uh Yeah, right.
You are--you are part of that undercover assignment.
[Laughing.]
I am the Chief Marketing Officer here at NASCAR.
Wonderful! DionGoing out there and trying to put that tire on, to do the right technique, which I messed up with, but you-- yeah.
You taught me.
And at least I got the wheel on.
Yeah, you did.
You did.
Dion, I was really impressed with you.
And I think you're a tremendous ambassador for our sport.
One thing that I think would be helpful, um, is to get--is to get your thoughts and ideas moving forward.
So what I've decided to do I start something called an industry council.
And you're gonna be its charter member.
And essentially share your ideas with us about what you think is working and what you think needs to be improved.
So what are your--what are your thoughts about that? I think that's a great idea, you know? I'm flooded with thoughts each week, you know? Maybe coming from my perspective with my background that maybe we haven't tapped into yet.
So, I mean Kind of excited about that idea.
That's fantastic.
So, hey, one other thing that I wanted to talk to you about.
I know you talked about having a bit of a shelf life with, uh, with the job that you're in.
Any time in the future that you want to come work here at NASCAR, you just let me know.
[Chuckles.]
Appreciate that.
And give me a shout and-- and I'll get it taken care of and we'll find a job that you want to do and a job that'll work and Uh, that you'll enjoy.
Makes me feel special.
Makes me feel good.
You know, I'm still trying to swallow everything.
[Chuckling.]
All right, my friend.
You be well.
Same here.
Thanks so much.
No problem.
I enjoyed it.
I feel privileged and honored to know I have a future in NASCAR.
I'm excited about the opportunity.
Scott, I personally appreciate all the time you spent with me.
I really appreciated you and all the folks at Michael Walter Racing.
Well, cool.
They're are a couple things that I want to do.
Okay.
For you personally.
First of all, you're on the road all the time.
Yeah.
Just really, really working hard.
And you talked about see if there was a way to get family to come and Mm-hmm.
So what I want to do is to fly your family to the race of your choice, all-expenses paid, and then credential it.
Well, cool, man.
I appreciate that.
Thanks.
That was good.
You're welcome.
The second thing that I want to do provide tickets to every member of your pit crew so they can bring their families to a race in 2011.
Awesome, man.
Thank y'all.
Thank y'all.
I appreciate that.
Means a lot.
It's good for us to be able to speak openly and be heard.
You know, and not it just be what the drivers or what the car owners or sponsors are wanting.
You know, because, ultimately, we're the ones that make the sport tick.
Appreciate you coming in this morning.
And I'll still call you Kevin.
[Both laugh.]
Cindy and Tom, I really enjoyed working with you guys.
The way you interact with our fans was just in credible.
I enjoyed getting out there and doing it with you as well.
What I wanted to do is to provide you, Cindy, with doubling, essentially, the proceeds you've made, both in the February race and in the July race to give to the-- to the girls.
Yes! All right.
Which is roughly $10,000 extra.
So hopefully, that will help out the girls.
That's excellent.
Excellent.
Yeah.
I can't believe this.
Ha ha! And, Tom, I know you're a big race fan.
Yep.
And you don't get to go to a lot of other markets.
And you're working while the races are going on.
So what we'd like to do is we'd like to send you to the championship race.
Awesome! I'd be glad to go.
All expenses paid.
Airfare, hotel.
Oh, wow.
That'd be great.
Awesome.
Awesome.
It'd be a great experience for you, I think.
I've been a NASCAR fan since as early as I can remember.
And take your sister.
You can feel free to take your sister or anyone else.
I might have somebody else to take.
[Laughter.]
It might be sis.
We'll see, we'll see.
Oh, it's great.
It's great.
It'sFor my girls.
Mmm.
I'd do anything for my girls.
I adopted three wonderful children.
I couldn't have any of my own, so They mean the world to me, pretty much.
Would you say something? [Sniffles.]
So I'll stop? I can't come up with nothing funny to say.
[Laughter.]
I'm thinking.
My brain isn't getting it.
Glen, I really enjoyed working with you.
Uh-huh.
Your work is literally backbreaking at times, what you do, and Out there working in 100-degree weather and The other thing, too.
I appreciated you-- your sharing your story with me, and I know you've had a difficult situation with your son Daniel and Right.
The leukemia that he's fighting and There's one thing I wanted to--to give to, uh, to Daniel.
Uh, this was from this past weekend.
And it's a helmet.
Uh-huh.
And it was signed by all the drivers who participated in the Coke Zero 400 this past weekend.
Really? And the drivers, uh, drivers and I thought this would be a nice thing for Daniel to be able to put in his room, uh [Laughing.]
And, obviously, um, really want to see Daniel get better.
Well, thank you so much.
You're welcome.
Hey, one other thing too.
Anything that the speedway hasn't covered from a financial standpoint, any out-of-pocket expenses that you have, NASCAR wants to pay for those until Daniel's better.
Really? Yeah.
[Choking up.]
Um Anything that's not covered-- travel expenses, any other medical things that are not covered, we will cover for you.
You serious? Yes.
Excuse me.
It's okay.
Um Wow.
UmOkay.
Really? Yes.
It's--it's more than generous.
It just overwhelms me.
And it also Reinforces the fact that, uh, I work for a great company.
Well, I'm glad I'm the one that's able to tell you this.
[Exhales.]
I can't thank you enou-- I mean, it's gonna take a while to digest this.
Steve, huh? Steve--Steve it is.
[laughing.]
[Overlapping chatter.]
I'm waiting to go on to talk to the employees.
Uh, a little bit nervous.
I feel good.
Please welcome the Chief Marketing Officer of NASCAR, Mr.
Steve Phelps! [Cheers and applause.]
Thank you, Daytona.
Thank you.
Um, as Robin said, my name is Steve Phelps.
And over the past week, I've been undercover.
[Gasps and chatter.]
When I started this journey, I really had two objectives.
The first to try to find better ways for us to connect with our fans.
And the second thing was to try to get a better sense for what goes on with various employees within in the industry.
So I had some great experiences over the past week.
Why don't we take a look at some, and you'll be able to have some fun at my expense, I'm sure.
All right, just like how I showed you.
It's there somewhere.
If that was the Sprint Cup race, you'd be fired.
[Laughter.]
And this is something that they opened up Whoo! To all of us.
That's not--that's not-- "caution: Hot.
" Yeah.
[Laughter.]
Here, that's upside down, bud.
[Laughter.]
I mean, there's-- there's some science to it.
You know, but it's not rocket science.
[Laughter.]
[Cheers and applause.]
It's been a great privilege for me to be out here undercover.
And I learned a lot.
So thanks so much.
[Cheers and applause.]
I want to introduce you to my daughters.
This is Sierra.
That's great that the-- that the higher ups will come down to-- to where the rubber meets the road.
And find out what it's all about in the trenches.
This is my son Daniel.
Hey, Daniel.
How are you? It's a pleasure meeting you.
Nice to meet you.
What I'll take from this week is knowing that I was able to affect some people's lives in a positive way, and that's something that I feel very fortunate to have done.
[Crying.]
Thank you.
You're very welcome.
What I found working with these people is that we truly have the best fans in the world.
And some of those best fans in the world are the ones that work right here at NASCAR.
Public distrust of wealthy CEOs remains high.
But more and more bosses are looking for radical ways to reconnect with their workforce in order to find out what's really going on in their companies.
Each week, we follow the boss of a major corporation as they go undercover in their own company.
This week on Undercover Boss Gentlemen, start your engines.
Announcer: The chief marketing officer of NASCAR poses as Kevin, a lucky competition-winning race fan with an all-access pass.
- I'm Kevin.
- Hi, Kevin! Announcer: The boss will leave his sprawling New England mansion for a workout in the Southern heat.
It's hot in Daytona, boys! [All grunting.]
Go, Kevin! [Drill whirring.]
Kevin, let's go, baby.
If that was a Sprint Cup race, you'd be fired.
Announcer: Then it's off to the racetrack to find out what's really going on, up close and personal.
So you've probably seen a lot of changes in 15 years.
Yeah, some of 'em good, some of 'em bad.
Announcer: How will these dedicated crew members react when they find out his true identity? I was a little bit nervous to go undercover.
Announcer: Find out next on on Undercover Boss.
Announcer: NASCAR, the only family-owned sports franchise in the world.
With more than 400 corporate sponsors vying for pole position, it's the most branded sport on earth.
The sport's grandest stage, Daytona International Speedway.
Announcer: And at the head of this massive marketing machine is one man.
I am Steve Phelps.
I am the Chief Marketing Officer at NASCAR.
And I oversee sales and marketing and communications.
NASCAR stands for the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing.
It was founded in 1947 by Bill France, sr.
When Bill France stared NASCAR, today's sport started taking form.
Today at the head of NASCAR are two of the most recognizable faces in the sport, Chairman and CEO Brian France and President Mike Helton.
NASCAR fans are unlike any other sports fans in the world.
You've got moms and dads bringing their whole family to the racetrack where they often camp out for days on end, socializing with other fans about their favorite drivers, fondest memories, and basically just having a good time.
I've worked at NASCAR for five years.
Before that I worked for the National Football League forAlmost 14 years.
I'm married.
We have four kids.
What are we gonna do for the rest of the summer vacation? Football! Football for you? Yeah! Totally! Yeah! And golf! And golf? Okay.
I commute from the New York area down to Daytona Beach every week.
I'm here, typically, Monday morning through Thursday night.
Ready? Go! Oh, good girl! Run! Run! Run! Run, run, run! We miss Steve when he's not here.
And there certainly have been, uh, a few situations where Steve needs to be on the road and can't be there for school functions or different events.
Nice job, Peanut.
And the kids are disappointed.
They just say, "oh, I wish daddy were here.
" Let me see you.
Huggy! Huggy! It's just our family dynamic, and, um, it's all working out right now.
So it's all good.
Have a safe trip.
I love you.
Good luck.
I miss my kids a great deal.
I'm sure are people that would say that I have a horrible work-life balance.
That's part of the sacrifice that's made.
I started in NASCAR in 2005.
And in 2005, a really high watermark for NASCAR in terms of television ratings, sponsor participation.
Attendance was at its highest then.
Then, starting in 2008, with the recession, it's been very difficult for our sport in--in many different ways.
[Engine revving.]
Due to the recent recession, attendance is down 15% over the last two years, and sales of concessions and merchandise has dropped 20% over this time period.
Obviously, this is a great concern to the NASCAR family.
- Hey, Mike.
- Hey, Steve.
Brian and the rest of the board wants us to dig a little deep into the industry and-- from an inside look, if you will-- and get an idea maybe ways that we can Do our job and make it better for fans and teams.
I've been asked by Brian France and Mike Helton to go undercover.
They are clearly too visible to be able to do that, so they've asked me to go undercover.
And I think it'd also be good experience for you as our C.
M.
O.
to get an inside look with some of the race team behind-the-scenes elements.
We're one week away from a race at Daytona.
I'm hoping that working undercover with the people that make this sport run Good luck out there.
Will give me new insights on how to help this sport grow and get back to record levels.
While undercover, I'll be posing as Kevin Thomas from Burlington, Vermont.
My cover story is that I'm a NASCAR super fan that won a contest allowing me to work alongside employees in the racing industry.
They will be called back to headquarters at the end of the week to evaluate my performance to determine if I am NASCAR material.
[Engines whooshing.]
We're here at Hendrick Motorsports, one of the premiere teams in all of NASCAR.
Their pit crews are responsible for some of the fastest pit stop times in the sport.
There are pit stops, essentially to get fresh tires, because the tires wear as you go on the racetrack, and to get fuel.
They do that in 13 seconds, sometimes faster than that, working with teams to try to put their guy out front, try to win the race.
Hopefully, by working alongside Mark Martin's pit crew today as they prepare for the upcoming race in Daytona, I'll learn more about the NASCAR experience from one of our top teams.
How you doing? How are you? Great.
Good to see you.
Um, first of all, guys, I'm sure you wanna know what's going on here.
This is, uh, Kevin Thomas.
He's won a pretty cool deal that NASCAR's done.
A super fan award.
Uh, and he's gonna spend time with pit crew today.
So I know you guys'll take care of him, uh, and show him how easy our job is, right? [Chuckles.]
Okay.
This is Dion Williams.
He's a rear tire carrier for us.
He's gonna kind of shadow you tonight.
- Good to see you.
- What's up? Thanks for taking care of him.
Yep.
We will.
We'll get him right.
Where you from? - I'm from Vermont.
- Okay.
I head over here to this parking lot.
We have a scheduled workout routine.
They try to get us acclimated to the heat as much as possible during this time of the season.
We're at our hottest with Daytona-Indy coming up.
A common misconception is that NASCAR is an individual sport.
Five to go.
However, it's actually much more of a team sport, and the driver can't win without a great pit crew.
These guys have to be in incredible shape to be effective at their job.
It could be about 100 degrees outside, but with your fire suits on, I mean, Heat Index could be anywhere from 110 to 120.
To kind of combat some of that, they train us out here in this heat.
How you doing? Gonna work out with us today? Gonna try.
He was talking a little crap about y'all over there earlier today.
Talking about his age, and he's in better shape than half of us.
He said in Vermont he ran all while drinking maple syrup.
And then went to Ben & Jerry's afterwards.
[Laughter.]
That did not happen.
[Whistle blows.]
[Grunting.]
Where you at, Kevin? Still breathing? [Laughing.]
Yeah.
Gonna be hot in Daytona, boys! Come on, Kevin.
Let's go, baby.
Let's go, Ben & Jerry's.
[Blows whistle.]
Let's go, Kevin! Make a Jack man out of you yet! Here we go.
Whoo-whee! [Grunting.]
Let's go, Kevin! I like that.
[Breathless.]
I'm tired.
You all right? I'm doin' all right.
Come on, get that air in them lungs.
Stand up, stand up.
Now we have practice.
All right, this is where we practice our pit stops at.
Okay.
They set it up exactly how it's gonna be at Daytona.
Basically, what you're gonna be doing for the first 30 minutes is just watching and observing.
[Drill whirring.]
When we're finished, we're gonna throw you in there and gonna let you try to be a tire carrier, all right? Okay.
Full charge! All right, let's do this.
Here we go.
[Drills whirring.]
Loosen 'em up, comin' around.
With a huge race just around the corner, you can really feel the team's intensity.
There's so much pressure placed on their shoulders.
Most people don't realize that they train like professional athletes.
Yeah! Good job, baby.
Good job.
It's your turn to shine now, buddy.
You're putting the tire on with your left hand.
Okay.
And you're using your right hand to hold the weight, basically.
You're down like this.
It's a slide.
And push.
That's it.
Okay.
[laughs.]
Stay low.
Remember, get the tire out of the space.
So step back, son.
Let me show you.
Step back.
It was an incredible experience to do what these guys do.
So it's one But this is--this is hard.
Step, see? Just like that, okay? All right, just like I showed you.
Keep it low.
[Chuckles.]
There you go.
It's there somewhere.
[Laughter.]
What do you think? I say that wasn't good enough for me.
If that was a Sprint Cup race, you'd be fired.
Kevin's job on my pit crew would be eighth man, which he would be the one facilitating the water bottle duties to the driver.
So basically, the water boy.
Where'd you-- where'd you start in NASCAR? I was just released from football, and, uh, I didn't even know what a wrench was, and NASCAR was pushing the drive for diversity.
Being that there was only about two or three African-Americans in the sport at the time.
You know, none of my family watched it, none of my friends watched it.
I told 'em what I was doing, they Kind of laughed at first.
Like, what is NASCAR, you know? You know, even with Hendrick Motorsports, I believe I was the first African-American to ever wear a Jeff Gordon fire suit over the wall.
And now we have about two or three.
You know, just in the past two years, you know? Pit crew members like myself, you know, just being seen by other minorities.
And, um, they began to take interest.
Dion is an ambassador for NASCAR.
We obviously want to make our sport more diverse.
We want to look like America.
And right now, we're-- uh, we're not where we want to be.
So your friends and family's now watching a lot? Yeah, they're definitely fans.
All my friends.
I go home, it's kind of I feel rock star-ish, you know? I'm competing with my NFL buddies, you know? Because, you know, there's a genuine interest in it.
I know that this is only, uh, you can do this, then your body gives up.
I mean, I have a wife.
I have two kids.
And, um, I have one due in September.
You got guys, little young guys, waiting for you to mess up, you know, so they can jump in your spot.
The teams run a business, and they need to be as successful as they can in running that business.
And that has to do with speed.
Ultimately, he's gonna lose his job, and that's understandably a very real concern for him, especially with a family with a third child on the way.
Great to be a fan, come out and get a chance to do this.
We enjoyed you, man.
I felt, actually, a connection with--with Dion.
Appreciate you working hard and, you know, taking it seriously.
I learned a lot.
I learned about his job.
I learned about, more importantly, about him.
He's got a great personality, he's fun.
He tries to make those around him feel at ease.
And if guys like him are worried that they have no future here, then that's definitely something I need to take a closer look at.
Announcer: Coming up We're not gonna make any mistakes.
Announcer: Steve paints NASCAR's most hallowed ground.
Put too much paint on it, it starts to drip.
Stay in the lines.
I went into the black.
What are you doing? Announcer: Later Hey, how are you? Hi! Announcer: NASCAR's marketing guru has trouble selling.
Hey, guys.
How are you? Anything to drink? Come on, let's go, hustle! Announcer: Steve Phelps, the Chief Marketing Officer of NASCAR, is a boss undercover in his own company.
His journey continues in Daytona Beach, Florida.
I'm here at Daytona International Speedway, our most iconic track.
We've got well over that are gonna come here on Saturday night to see the best racing in the world.
And, to gain the full fan experience, I'll be staying in an RV in the infield, the way the average NASCAR fan would.
Today, I'm gonna be working in facility operations.
I'm trying to get a sense for what happens to prep for a race.
- Glen.
- Yes? Got a gentleman to introduce you with.
Good morning.
All right.
- This is Kevin Thomas.
- Hi.
- Came to work with you today.
- Nice to meet you.
Nice to meet you as well.
We're trying to give Kevin the full race preparation from the view of Daytona's main sign guys.
So Wow.
You got something you got going this morning? Sure.
Are you a race fan? Huge race fan.
That's, uh, that's why I'm here.
Good, we'll show you Daytona like you've never seen it before.
I'm in your hands, your capable hands.
Let's go.
This is it.
This is the start/finish line, partner.
This is where it all begins and ends.
We're gonna paint the white and the yellow.
Okay.
What I'll do is I'll just paint the perimeter and fill it in.
I see.
We're not gonna make any mistakes.
All right.
Have at it.
I'm in.
All right.
Stay in the lines.
[Chuckles.]
I'll try.
Nice and dry out here today.
You don't sweat as much, but, boy, it's gonna get hot.
Paint-by-numbers here.
Yeah, this I not as complex as a lot of the other signs that he does.
But, uh, I wanna do a good job.
More pressure when you're watching me.
Well, imagine how it is with a bunch of people in the stands.
Oh, boy.
I went into the black.
What are you doing? Put too much paint on it, it starts to drip.
You know, 'cause of the gravity.
No! The breeze feels nice.
This is hot.
[Laughs.]
Welcome to the South, my friend.
We don't have to do two coats on this, do we? No, sir.
Just checking.
[Laughs.]
Well, these are the high banks, Kevin.
And when you see the banking on television, you think, well, it's 31 degrees.
Yeah.
You never put it into perspective until you're up there.
Till you tumble down? I just don't want to tumble down.
Here we go.
You can't even imagine how steep it is, I mean, truly.
And I think it's, like, over two stories high.
Wow.
You can feel it Pulling against the back of your legs as you're going up there.
How are your legs? I'm sweatin' like a bull moose.
[Laughs.]
Good.
Okay, I'm gonna ask you to hold the panel while I trace it out.
You definitely have to get balanced and Have a good center before you start working.
You're gonna have to get hazard pay for this, dude.
[Laughs.]
I'm insured.
Here's a spot where somebody hit.
It's amazing when you're up here after a wreck, 'cause you can just smell the accident.
Come on, 9.
Yeah, I like that.
Come on, 9.
Whoa! There goes biffle! Caution's out.
Caution's out.
You can smell the-- the rubber on the wall.
And you can smell the-- the metal on metal.
It's fabulous.
Let's go get the paint.
is a lot of banking.
My knees are creaking going up and down there.
[Laughs.]
What, just follow that line? Yeah, just follow the line across.
How's your finger that I just painted? Fine.
I was wondering what that finger would look like green.
All right, now I just made a mistake.
Here, let me see.
Here we go.
Nice job.
All right.
Well, let's move this over here.
Oh, no.
No! That's all right.
Let's put all the stuff back in there.
You came down alone? Yeah.
Left your family up there? I did, yeah.
I've got, uh, a wife and four kids.
All right, good for you.
Do you have kids? I got two boys.
What are your boys' names? Daniel and Christopher.
Daniel was diagnosed with leukemia.
Yeah, he was 11.
I'm sorry to hear that.
But, um, he's gaining weight.
He's in school.
He missed all of sixth grade.
God bless.
Yeah, it's been a rough two years, but the, uh, support I got from the people who are at the tracks has been amazing.
Boy, that's a tough deal for an 11-year-old.
And, I'm sure, hard on you and your wife.
You know, Glen's story's a lot different than my own.
I've had kids who Broken arms and bumps and bruises.
This is, uh, this is the real deal.
He'sCleared and just all healthy now? No.
No, we go-- he gets chemo every two weeks.
How's the treatment on him? Good moments and bad moments.
It's a situation where you go over For a treatment, and his counts come up wrong, and we wind up spending two or three days in the hospital.
Having spent the morning with you, you just seem so positive about your job and positive about-- you know, just a good energy.
How do you-- how do you do that with all the stuff that goes on at home? I was at a point in my life where I knew I could either hate life or be a leader.
You just gotta be strong for your kids.
That's great.
But it's something that's just a burden, that's always in the back of our minds.
When we get another bill, "oh, how are we gonna do this?" [Door creaks.]
Glen Is going through something that is emotionally very difficult.
Being a dad, ahem, I can't imagine one of my children having leukemia.
I'm sure I'd be devastated.
Um, I certainly would seek the best care I could for any of my children.
And, uh, probably do a lot of praying as well.
Since the recession, not only are ticket sales down, but concessions are down too.
These people that are working concessions-- they don't work for NASCAR, but they essentially are the face of NASCAR, because they're interacting with all these fans that are coming here who are hungry and thirsty.
And I'm a salesman, so this job should be a lot easier then what I've been doing.
Foot-long corn dogs! Chicken tenders with fries! Hey, how are you? Hi! I'm Kevin.
Hi, Kevin! Are you our new worker? I am your new worker.
Oh, boy, am I ready for you.
Hi, I'm Kevin.
Hi, Kevin, I'm Rachel.
I'm the mom.
How are you? Hello, mom.
And this is Tom.
I'm Tom.
I'm the youngest son.
And that is my sister.
She's the boss.
Well, Kevin, come on over and let me tell you a little bit about us.
We're volunteers, and we're doing it for our local high school.
I have three daughters that are cheerleaders.
And for some reason, the local school system doesn't consider cheerleading a sport.
So we do fundraisers like this to make money for our cheerleaders, so that's what we're here for.
Um, they set us up with a stand and all this, and they give us a percentage of the proceeds.
What percentage do you get to keep? of the proceeds helps fund our cheerleading for the year.
So we've got to hustle.
Got it.
While we're waiting on some people to walk by, why don't we go cook some stuff? Let's do it.
Chicken nuggets are in here.
Tear it open and stick it in one of these baskets.
Grab the handle, into the grease.
Now three minutes, and those will be ready to eat.
So let's grab the tongs.
Take one of those.
You're gonna put it right here.
Then we're gonna roll it up, put it in the case.
This way? Yep.
Rolly, rolly, rolly.
Um You gotta pick it up quick.
You always gotta be ahead.
No chance to stop.
Flip in the ends.
We make a nickel on that.
So you gotta sell a lot of 'em to make good money.
Okay.
Stick 'er in there.
Let met get these wrapped up real quick.
You know what? He just can't stand to watch my slowness.
We need some ice put in these tubs here to keep our beverages nice and cold.
So we're out of fries and we're out of chicken nuggets.
Now, the french fries gotta be cooked over here.
Oh, they got away.
That's all right, don't worry.
Don't worry about it.
They'll be fine.
Down in the grease we go.
There you go.
Throw the bag in the trash can.
SoNow we can just take a breath for a second.
Whoo! Yeah, "caution: Hot.
" Yeah.
Oh, yeah, it says, "hot surface.
" That's--that's a six-foot "gotcha.
" Us short people don't lean on stuff like that.
Hey! [laughter.]
Are you guys race fans? I am.
Are you like me? Yeah, I'm a huge-- he's a huge race fan.
I'm a--I'm a cheer mom.
You're very focused on the cheering.
Yeah, that's right.
That's right.
All righty, so that's the cooking.
You kind of got-- you got the hang of this? I guess.
The only thing you haven't done is you haven't sold a dime yet.
So we can stand back here all night and cook, but until you get out there and hustle All right.
Hey, guys.
How are you? You hungry? Anything to drink? No.
You hungry? You thirsty? Nah, we got everything.
Thanks.
Okay.
Enjoy the race.
Sometimes, it's a hard sell, isn't it, Kevin? You gotta get out there and hustle 'em.
You--you hungry? You hungry? You want something? We got some drink.
It's hot out here.
No? We've got--we've got chicken tenders, foot-long corn dogs, cold beverage.
Are you hot? You look a little parched.
Look at you.
You need something to drink! Let's go over here and get you something to drink.
Tom and Cindy, they're like cheerleaders themselves.
Thanks for helping us out.
What's your name? James.
Hey, James.
Thanks for doing that.
I appreciate it.
Three people have walked by.
Come on, let's go.
Hustle! Hey, how's it going? All right.
Hey, we got another customer! What do you like, buddy? Come on, Kevin, let's go! Come on, come on.
Hurry.
You guys thirsty? You hungry? Come on up.
Don't be shy.
Great attitude.
Just a can-do spirit.
It's infectious.
There you.
Ice cold.
Hey, thanks a lot, guys.
It's great to see.
Announcer: Coming up, our boss gets an all-access pass, but he might not like what he finds out.
You've probably seen a lot of changes in 15 years.
Yeah, some of 'em good, some of 'em bad.
Announcer: And later We're underway, racing at Daytona! Announcer: The race is on.
Oh! And here's a big one.
Seven, eight, nine cars involved, many of which were running inside the top ten.
Oh, my, Mark Martin's car is on fire right there.
Steve Phelps, the Chief Marketing Officer of NASCAR, is a boss undercover in his own company.
He just can't stand to watch my slowness.
The employees think he's won a fan contest to try out different jobs in NASCAR.
His journey continues in Daytona Beach, Florida.
It's race day today, and all the teams are loading into the track.
I'm gonna be working with the tire specialist for the double zero.
I'm gonna run tires or do whatever a tire specialist does.
I want to make sure I do the best job I can.
All right, man.
Hey, Scott.
Scott Swift, meet Kevin Thomas.
Hey, Kevin, nice to meet you.
How are you, Scott? He's the tire man for David Reutimann.
Awesome.
Kevin's gonna be working with you today.
Okay.
The most important thing that happens between a driver and his race car are the tires.
You're gonna need to show him just how How critical it is to do that job.
Okay.
So, uh, good luck.
Thanks.
I know you'll do well.
And, uh, if not, he's gonna send me a report.
Nice meeting you.
All right, you too.
Take care.
Well, I'm in your hands, Scott.
Okay, we'll go over here in front of Goodyear and grab the tires and start taking them to the truck.
All right, hang on.
Watch this.
Okay.
They look easy.
All right, go ahead and pull that back.
Whoa, sorry.
Least I got somebody helping me move.
I normally have to move them one at a time, by myself.
How's life on the road? It's--it's okay.
Yeah, I'm home, basically, two days a week.
But I only have one day a week off.
The other two days, I'm at the shop working.
So, uh, it kind of sucks, like, being away from your family and everything.
And then, you know, everybody else is spending Fourth of July with their family going to the beach and stuff, and, you know, we're here at the racetrack, but Yep.
I don't know, it's the life we chose, and I guess family gets used to it, so Yeah.
All the NASCAR folks are out there for 38 weeks a year.
And it's a long, long season that they're out there and away from their families and doing their job and That's difficult.
I certainly miss my family.
And it's something that I personally deal with it every week as well.
It's just great for me to be here in the garage.
It's very cool.
Yeah, it is kind of neat.
You know, you can get closer than you can in, say, like baseball or football or On the playing field, if you will.
Right.
All right, we'll take these and put them behind the truck.
So now the fun stuff begins.
All right.
When we get these tires, they're in no order.
We have to go through and physically put 'em in sets.
Okay.
We try to keep these bar code numbers as close together as we can.
Okay.
Because, chances are, they come out of the same mold, same batch of rubber.
Just try to keep everything As consistent as possible.
Yeah.
Tire specialist is a pretty complex job.
What I'm doing here is I'm measuring the tire tread depth.
Yep.
The measurement Scott is taking now will be cross referenced with the information he gathers in tonight's race.
And then that way, I can tell how the tire wears.
It's, um, it's a process.
[Beeping.]
Stack 'em four high.
Put the sticker number facing out, just like that.
Gettin' steamy.
Yeah, gettin' a little warm her.
Here, that's upside down, bud.
Sorry.
I mean, there is some science to it.
But it's not rocket science, so I'm gonna pick up the pace here a little bit.
[Beep beep beep.]
Okay.
Stack that on the right side.
I've been hauling tires that are about 70, 75 pounds a piece.
The weight workout, you can see by my frame that's, uh, that's not my strong suit.
[Grunts.]
[Laughs.]
So you probably seen a lot of changes in 15 years.
Yeah.
Changes in technology.
Some of 'em good, some of 'em bad.
[Beeping.]
So if you were, uh-- if you were Brian France or Mike Helton for a day Ooh.
What would-- what would you change? The sport's more commercial and corporate-driven now than it is family-oriented, and, you know, it's kind of hard to get family into the racetrack.
There is opportunities to take 'em, but even if you've got your family member's name on the list, and, you know, at the last minute, XYZ Corporation comes up and wants to get in as a potential sponsor, then your family doesn't get to get in.
Hearing Scott talking about the commercialization of the sport, it really dawned on me that that's exactly what I do.
Certainly turned into a big business.
Yeah, pretty much.
I mean, you know, it's like $20 million plus to run one of these teams for a year.
I mean, hell, my tire bill for one week for just my car is anywhere between $24,000 and $27,000 For one weekend.
Wow.
So you multiply that by 36 weeks, you know? That's a lot of money.
But on the flip side of that is, you know, it is kind of nice to be able to take your wife to one of the races and, you know, spend some time with 'em.
I understand Scott's concerns, but, you know, it's a two-edged sword.
The commercialism pays for all the jobs that you see here, and there are tens of thousands of jobs that are part of NASCAR.
So it's a-- it's a tough one.
[Cheers and applause.]
This is the big race of the weekend for us.
Gentlemen, start your engines.
[Engines revving.]
[Indistinct.]
And I'm incredibly proud to be able to put on this uniform and hopefully help this team in some way.
This is the only job I'll have that can impact the outcome of the race.
So I'll go out and do the best job I can.
All right, man, you ready? It's the big race.
It's go time.
Come on.
I did notice Dion, the rear tire carrier, and his crew working Mark Martin's stall.
This is the moment they've all been training for.
The green flag in the air, and we are underway, racing at Daytona.
[Rock music, cars zooming.]
Mark Martin has raced here 50 times.
Still never won.
Maybe he can break it tonight.
David Reutimann has been solid here this evening.
What these guys do, the pressure's immense.
If you have bad pit stops, you can't win the race.
If you have good pit stops, it gives you the opportunity to win the race.
Two right-side tires.
Okay? Cool.
The job that Scott gave me tonight during the race is one of a tire scraper.
He needs me to clear a smooth piece of the tread, to take another measurement and compare it with the earlier readings to determine how the tire is wearing on the track.
Got this whole crew trying to get their driver up front, get him to win.
The tire wear looks really good.
I mean, he's wearing a little bit on the right rear.
But that's good.
It means the car is freed up a little bit.
Okay.
So every--right now, everything looks pretty good.
So hopefully, it'll stay that way.
It's a very sensory experience at the racetrack.
Boy, you can really feel the heat coming off the tires.
Yeah, it gets hot.
Yeah.
The sound's incredible.
You can smell the tires and the oil and the gas.
It's amazing.
Oh! Up top.
Oh, hang on.
And here's a big one.
There it is.
Seven, eight, nine cars involved.
Many which were running inside the top ten.
That's the whole field.
That's the whole field.
Wow.
That was wicked.
Mark Martin got a piece of the action.
It's a heck of a wreck right there, boys.
Mark Martin's car is on fire right there.
It's a fireball out there.
Can see Mark climbing out right there.
The Lowe's guys come over and get him out.
That's pretty cool right there, man.
I feel bad for Dion, who I work with, and that whole five crew who- just a bunch of nice guys out there.
And it's part of racing, and they understand that.
But I'm sure they're incredibly disappointed.
Gettin' ready to roll.
We've got eight laps to get it done, and it begins right now! Hey, you doing all right? I'm all right, man.
Yeah.
Just [Engines roaring.]
Appreciate it, man.
All right, buddy.
I'll see you.
Take care.
All right, now.
David Reutimann's been good tonight.
He's in tenth, trying to maintain that position.
Not gonna do it.
Kevin Harvick, the race leader, Harvick wins at Daytona! Oh, yeah! Great job, driver.
Great job, buddy.
You know, David got caught in the back, and looks like he finished You know, kind of got trapped back there.
Couldn't move forward and, um You know, it's unfortunate.
He was running so well all night.
And that's part of racing.
Hey, man, really appreciate the opportunity.
You guys were awesome.
Everyone on the double zero and Cool, man, glad you saw it.
I'm glad you, uh-- glad you got a chance to be a part of it, so No, I--thanks-- you done-- you done good yourself, man.
I appreciate it.
Thanks, pal.
Thanks for the help, and Well, I'll tell you what.
I-I am a different kind of fan tonight, 'cause Unfortunately, most fans can't do what I just did, and, uh, I sure wish there was a way that we could have every fan do what I did.
Great, great experiences that I had here.
It's something I will never forget for the rest of my life.
It was awesome.
It really was.
Coming up, Steve summons the employees to NASCAR's corporate headquarters.
All the years I've been in racing, I've never seen the inside of NASCAR's corporate headquarters.
My journey is almost over.
My coworkers are being summoned here to headquarters.
They've been told that they are here to evaluate me.
I can't wait to tell them why they're really here.
We've been brought here to evaluate Kevin's performance the other night.
It's be great to see Kevin again.
Kevin was a pretty great guy.
Yeah, Kevin was a good worker, so it'll be good to see Kevin again.
Yeah, we like Kevin.
All the years I've been in racing, I've never seen the inside of NASCAR's corporate headquarters.
Hi.
How are you? Hello.
Hey, Kevin.
You look a little different today, Kevin.
You look like you should be on the news somewhere.
[Laughs.]
I know you probably thought you were here to evaluate my time with you.
Right.
Actually That's not why you're here.
Um, my name isn't Kevin Thomas.
My name is actually Steve Phelps.
I've gone undercover.
[Chuckling.]
And, uh Yeah, right.
You are--you are part of that undercover assignment.
[Laughing.]
I am the Chief Marketing Officer here at NASCAR.
Wonderful! DionGoing out there and trying to put that tire on, to do the right technique, which I messed up with, but you-- yeah.
You taught me.
And at least I got the wheel on.
Yeah, you did.
You did.
Dion, I was really impressed with you.
And I think you're a tremendous ambassador for our sport.
One thing that I think would be helpful, um, is to get--is to get your thoughts and ideas moving forward.
So what I've decided to do I start something called an industry council.
And you're gonna be its charter member.
And essentially share your ideas with us about what you think is working and what you think needs to be improved.
So what are your--what are your thoughts about that? I think that's a great idea, you know? I'm flooded with thoughts each week, you know? Maybe coming from my perspective with my background that maybe we haven't tapped into yet.
So, I mean Kind of excited about that idea.
That's fantastic.
So, hey, one other thing that I wanted to talk to you about.
I know you talked about having a bit of a shelf life with, uh, with the job that you're in.
Any time in the future that you want to come work here at NASCAR, you just let me know.
[Chuckles.]
Appreciate that.
And give me a shout and-- and I'll get it taken care of and we'll find a job that you want to do and a job that'll work and Uh, that you'll enjoy.
Makes me feel special.
Makes me feel good.
You know, I'm still trying to swallow everything.
[Chuckling.]
All right, my friend.
You be well.
Same here.
Thanks so much.
No problem.
I enjoyed it.
I feel privileged and honored to know I have a future in NASCAR.
I'm excited about the opportunity.
Scott, I personally appreciate all the time you spent with me.
I really appreciated you and all the folks at Michael Walter Racing.
Well, cool.
They're are a couple things that I want to do.
Okay.
For you personally.
First of all, you're on the road all the time.
Yeah.
Just really, really working hard.
And you talked about see if there was a way to get family to come and Mm-hmm.
So what I want to do is to fly your family to the race of your choice, all-expenses paid, and then credential it.
Well, cool, man.
I appreciate that.
Thanks.
That was good.
You're welcome.
The second thing that I want to do provide tickets to every member of your pit crew so they can bring their families to a race in 2011.
Awesome, man.
Thank y'all.
Thank y'all.
I appreciate that.
Means a lot.
It's good for us to be able to speak openly and be heard.
You know, and not it just be what the drivers or what the car owners or sponsors are wanting.
You know, because, ultimately, we're the ones that make the sport tick.
Appreciate you coming in this morning.
And I'll still call you Kevin.
[Both laugh.]
Cindy and Tom, I really enjoyed working with you guys.
The way you interact with our fans was just in credible.
I enjoyed getting out there and doing it with you as well.
What I wanted to do is to provide you, Cindy, with doubling, essentially, the proceeds you've made, both in the February race and in the July race to give to the-- to the girls.
Yes! All right.
Which is roughly $10,000 extra.
So hopefully, that will help out the girls.
That's excellent.
Excellent.
Yeah.
I can't believe this.
Ha ha! And, Tom, I know you're a big race fan.
Yep.
And you don't get to go to a lot of other markets.
And you're working while the races are going on.
So what we'd like to do is we'd like to send you to the championship race.
Awesome! I'd be glad to go.
All expenses paid.
Airfare, hotel.
Oh, wow.
That'd be great.
Awesome.
Awesome.
It'd be a great experience for you, I think.
I've been a NASCAR fan since as early as I can remember.
And take your sister.
You can feel free to take your sister or anyone else.
I might have somebody else to take.
[Laughter.]
It might be sis.
We'll see, we'll see.
Oh, it's great.
It's great.
It'sFor my girls.
Mmm.
I'd do anything for my girls.
I adopted three wonderful children.
I couldn't have any of my own, so They mean the world to me, pretty much.
Would you say something? [Sniffles.]
So I'll stop? I can't come up with nothing funny to say.
[Laughter.]
I'm thinking.
My brain isn't getting it.
Glen, I really enjoyed working with you.
Uh-huh.
Your work is literally backbreaking at times, what you do, and Out there working in 100-degree weather and The other thing, too.
I appreciated you-- your sharing your story with me, and I know you've had a difficult situation with your son Daniel and Right.
The leukemia that he's fighting and There's one thing I wanted to--to give to, uh, to Daniel.
Uh, this was from this past weekend.
And it's a helmet.
Uh-huh.
And it was signed by all the drivers who participated in the Coke Zero 400 this past weekend.
Really? And the drivers, uh, drivers and I thought this would be a nice thing for Daniel to be able to put in his room, uh [Laughing.]
And, obviously, um, really want to see Daniel get better.
Well, thank you so much.
You're welcome.
Hey, one other thing too.
Anything that the speedway hasn't covered from a financial standpoint, any out-of-pocket expenses that you have, NASCAR wants to pay for those until Daniel's better.
Really? Yeah.
[Choking up.]
Um Anything that's not covered-- travel expenses, any other medical things that are not covered, we will cover for you.
You serious? Yes.
Excuse me.
It's okay.
Um Wow.
UmOkay.
Really? Yes.
It's--it's more than generous.
It just overwhelms me.
And it also Reinforces the fact that, uh, I work for a great company.
Well, I'm glad I'm the one that's able to tell you this.
[Exhales.]
I can't thank you enou-- I mean, it's gonna take a while to digest this.
Steve, huh? Steve--Steve it is.
[laughing.]
[Overlapping chatter.]
I'm waiting to go on to talk to the employees.
Uh, a little bit nervous.
I feel good.
Please welcome the Chief Marketing Officer of NASCAR, Mr.
Steve Phelps! [Cheers and applause.]
Thank you, Daytona.
Thank you.
Um, as Robin said, my name is Steve Phelps.
And over the past week, I've been undercover.
[Gasps and chatter.]
When I started this journey, I really had two objectives.
The first to try to find better ways for us to connect with our fans.
And the second thing was to try to get a better sense for what goes on with various employees within in the industry.
So I had some great experiences over the past week.
Why don't we take a look at some, and you'll be able to have some fun at my expense, I'm sure.
All right, just like how I showed you.
It's there somewhere.
If that was the Sprint Cup race, you'd be fired.
[Laughter.]
And this is something that they opened up Whoo! To all of us.
That's not--that's not-- "caution: Hot.
" Yeah.
[Laughter.]
Here, that's upside down, bud.
[Laughter.]
I mean, there's-- there's some science to it.
You know, but it's not rocket science.
[Laughter.]
[Cheers and applause.]
It's been a great privilege for me to be out here undercover.
And I learned a lot.
So thanks so much.
[Cheers and applause.]
I want to introduce you to my daughters.
This is Sierra.
That's great that the-- that the higher ups will come down to-- to where the rubber meets the road.
And find out what it's all about in the trenches.
This is my son Daniel.
Hey, Daniel.
How are you? It's a pleasure meeting you.
Nice to meet you.
What I'll take from this week is knowing that I was able to affect some people's lives in a positive way, and that's something that I feel very fortunate to have done.
[Crying.]
Thank you.
You're very welcome.
What I found working with these people is that we truly have the best fans in the world.
And some of those best fans in the world are the ones that work right here at NASCAR.