A Question for NASCAR Crew Members

If you are a NH resident (as long as you don't live in a cave), you are familiar with the Loudon NASCAR race track. This track hosts some serious NASCAR races a few times a year. Although I, myself am not an avid fan, I am definitely outnumbered by those who are. In all fairness, however, I do usually end up watching a few laps of the Nascar race of the day on TV and am familiar with the big names and basic scope of race car driving.

I am also familiar with the traffic (which can be god-awful), the way the stores empty out during race time, the overnight campers at Walmart, and many snippets of conversation regarding the races. One of these conversations made me start laughing and also semi seriously consider the topic which I am about to describe.

NASCAR isn't just races, it the logistics of actually getting there and staying there. Two guys I know were talking about the lifestyle of the entire crew of the Nascar drivers. Guy Number One, a long time fan and knower of details, stated the drivers and their families fly in planes to the race destination. The pit crew and others(not sure exactly who "others" were, maybe a least favorite brother in-law?) had to drive.

Guy Number Two said he thought it was a rough way to live, being on the road so much. The first guy said, "Well, they (the drivers and crew) go home in November and don't start back up until the new season the following year. So they have some downtime except for trials".

"Hmmmmm!" said Guy Number Two, "I wonder who cooks for them?" He gave a minutes' pause and then said, "Oh, I know they have a barbeque guy at the tracks." But then an astonishing thought hit him. "But what about their laundry? They surely must have a LAUNDRY Guy?"

The way he said it left no doubt that he rarely did his own laundry, that chore was designated to another poor soul. This was such a serious thought for Guy Number Two I could not help but burst out laughing. He went on to say, "Somebody must have to go to the laundrymat for all those Nascar guys!" All discussion of the very important pit crew or sponsors, or even the Nascar drivers themselves was immediately pushed aside as this MORE IMPORTANT detail of the moment was pondered.

Although I thought it was quite humorous, it DID get me thinking. Is there really a Laundry Guy? How does he handle those uniforms of the drivers? All those patches and NASA type material surely needs an appreciating, careful wash. And what about the pit crew uniforms? And Barbeque Guy? Barbeque guy would need some special attention too, a knowledgeable, experienced master of all stains Laundry Guy. All that barbeque sauce, even if he was wearing an apron....

So many questions popped in my head. What about dry cleaning? How does Laundry Guy keep straight who owns what? Does he do buttons too?
Does he travel with rolls of quarters? Does Laundry Guy even exist? And if he does, how much does he get paid?

If there is indeed such a person, it seems to me they should be a well paid underdog of the entire racing team. So you won't see his face splashed across your screen with ESPN interviews, he has an important delegated task too.

Or, who knows, maybe these guys actually do their own laundry on the road.