Vision testing gives pit crews fresh focus

CONCORD, N.C. – Twenty lugnuts, four tires and one can of fuel – and 12 seconds. 

In the sport of NASCAR Sprint Cup racing, pit crew members are given plenty of chances to ruin a pit stop, but only have seconds to make it great. 

And without clear vision, hours of practice and workouts could fall to the wayside. 

Last week, Hendrick Motorsports worked with Alcon vision care and DAILIES TOTAL1 contact lenses to put together a vision testing event for the team’s pit crew members. Led by Andy Papathanassiou – Hendrick Motorsports’ director of human performance — and Dr. Don Teig, the athletes were put through a series of tests that employed the most advanced vision technology. 

“Our high-performance vision testing uses the latest technology and training to help athletes determine how well their eyes perform, beyond the basic ability to see letters and objects clearly on a standard eye chart," Teig said in a statement. "We start by measuring each athlete’s visual acuity, eye-hand coordination, contrast depiction and reaction time to assess how well an athlete sees and then provide a game plan to address areas of improvement.” 

But these tests weren’t the typical eye exams performed in a doctor’s office; the multi-station test included interactive, sports-focused drills that required athletes to run around a race car and tap blinking lights as well as catch items wearing special googles. It also featured machines that took photos of the athletes’ eyes and measured their vision through fog.

As head of the pit crew department, Papathanassiou’s reasoning behind the event was simple; to improve the athletes’ pit-road performance by giving them the clearest vision possible.

“We’ve taken all our pit crew members – from the over-the-wall Cup guys down to the young developmental guys – and we’re putting them through sports-oriented vision testing,” Papathanassiou said. “So what this is going to do is help us determine not only their vision – how good their eyes work – but how good their eyes work in a sports application, specifically for us in a pit stop application.” 

Papathanassiou said learning about the athletes’ vision would be beneficial for the coaches when formulating their training regimens.

“Just like with anything, if we see some areas in some guys that need to be addressed, maybe that’s a way to spruce up their training, to up their game and make them better pit crew athletes,” Papathanassiou said. “We’re looking for the health of the individual – if their eyes check out healthy – and how efficient they are in pit stops.”

The strength and conditioning staff at Hendrick Motorsports also participated in the testing and agreed with Papathanassiou’s philosophy.  

“So much of our sport has hand-eye coordination and a lot of those tests are trainable tests,” said Matt Skeen, assistant strength and condition coach. “I feel like our guys could use those tests to be better with hand-eye, agility, coordination and also focus – using their eyes to focus on what their hands are doing.”

For No. 48 team tire carrier RJ Barnette, the test served as a “workout for your eyes.”

“It was kind of a neat perspective getting doctors’ opinions on how my eyes adapt to certain changes, how my vision is – whether it’s depth-perception, hand-eye coordination or which eye is dominant,” Barnette said after participating in the test. “There are so many different aspects in there that you don’t go through in a normal workout or practice routine.”

In Barnette’s experience with the No. 48 crew, he’s learned that vision is an element of racing that is important in the success of the team.

“Vision is everything in our sport, whether you’re a driver or spotter or pit crew guy,” Barnette said. “Your eyes are everything. So anything that can aid in our vision will help us over-the-wall.”

Click here for photos from the event.