Brienne's Job as an Engine Inspector for Nascar
To drivers, crew chiefs and owners the title NASCAR Inspector isn’t always one you want to see stenciled over someone’s shirt.
If they are the type that on occasion massage the rules or find “grey areas” in the mythical NASCAR rulebook a cold sweat breaks out as the inspector pokes and prods their Joe’s Drive-Thru Road Kill Taxidermy, Vegas Bunny Ranch, Pyramid Schemes R Us #067 Dodge.
Darrell Waltrip famously said of cheating, “If you don’t cheat, you look like an idiot; if you cheat and don’t get caught, you look like a hero; if you cheat and get caught, you look like a dope. Put me where I belong.”
I’d like you to meet Brienne Davis, her job for the last two years has been to make drivers, crew chiefs and owners look like “dopes.”
She started with an ambition to become a veterinarian. After ownership of a ‘68 Camaro, then a ‘69 version she learned “how to build the motor, did some body work and the interior,” that experience turned her life from one of dogs and cats to a mechanics life.
She attended Universal Technical Institute in Houston, graduated near the top of her class and a chance meeting with a Pennzoil executive sent her in the direction of NASCAR and Dale Earnhardt Inc.
Tony Eury Sr., director of competition for DEI, was given the heads-up by the Pennzoil exec and that landed her a job helping rebuild engines following races. After three years at DEI Davis went to work for NASCAR.
Davis travels to each Nextel Cup event as part of NASCAR’s inspection crew. On race mornings, she is responsible for inspecting carburetors and manifolds before sealing them for the race. During the race, she is stationed in the garage to oversee crews doing repair work and to make sure they pass inspection before returning to the track.
Her biggest task comes after the race when she tears downs the motors of the first- and second-place cars, along with the pole-sitter.
Like other women that have entered NASCAR with a desire to get grease under their nails vice drive a stock car she had her detractors.
“A lot of people were discouraging her, I encouraged her,” family friend Danny Merrill said. “She’s done good for herself. I’m proud of her. You don’t see many women in motorsports, but you’re seeing more.”
Davis admits she doesn’t know where she’ll be in five years as NASCAR continues to evolve with Toyota entering the NEXTEL Cup along with the introduction of the Car of Tomorrow. “Hopefully, I’ll still be involved in this business,” said Davis, “Maybe as an engine builder.”
The Louisiana natives future, at least in the short term, will remain in NASCAR making “dopes” out of highly paid crew chiefs, drivers and owners. Not bad work if you can get it.
The link to the article
http://cranialcavity.net/fullthrottle/wp/index.php/its-meet-a-nascar-inspector-day
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