Greg Honeychuck, athletic director for SHR “Teams have former college football players, baseball players and wrestlers. The way the sport’s going, it’s all about speed.” “I think the reason that pit crew teams are so attracted to athletes is because we’re used to high-pressure situations,” said Sampere, whose college career included a 22-for-27 performance and a program-record 18 ground balls in High Point’s thrilling 15-14 win over Southern Conference rival Richmond in 2019. Nowadays, they recruit elite athletes from other sports to perform the task of jacking up a 3,500-pound race car, changing all four tires and refueling in 12 to 15 seconds.

“The amount of fans that were there - I know lacrosse is still growing, but it trumps any game that I’ve ever played in,” Sampere said.įor decades, NASCAR pit crews typically were made up of mechanics. 53 Chevrolet Camaro driven by Garrett Smithley.ĭavis Sampere- Face off guy in the Spring….

22 in Michigan and this past Sunday in Daytona as a hired hand for Rick Ware Racing’s No. A rookie tire carrier in the developmental pit crew for Stewart-Haas Racing, Sampere was called up to the NASCAR Cup Series on Aug. Sampere, a three-year captain and starting faceoff specialist at High Point who graduated with an MBA this spring, has discovered another use for his quick hands, firm grip and ability to exit scrums in a matter of seconds. “They’re like, ‘Well, you play lacrosse and when you go to the marketing department, you wear slacks.’ So they all call me Slax.” “They gave me the nickname of Slacks, but S-L-A-X,” said Sampere, who also works in the front office doing partnership outreach. He arrived at practice one day this summer to find the sobriquet scrawled on a piece of tape attached to his helmet. It didn’t take long to create a moniker for Davis Sampere. Not just decorated drivers like Kevin “Happy” Harvick or “The Cuban Missile” Aric Almirola, but also pit crew members. In NASCAR, nicknames are as ubiquitous as burnt rubber and exotic paint schemes.Īt Stewart-Haas Racing, everyone gets a handle.

Nascar 15 mechanix wears paint schemes