Battling Biffle
Find out what happens when a writer challenges a professional racer to compete at the NASCAR hall of fame in Charlotte. Drivers, start your engines!
FAST COMPANY Professional driver Greg Biffle (left) and writer Mark Yost get ready for some competition at the NASCAR Hall of Fame in Charlotte.
FOR MOST NASCAR drivers, Wednesday is a day of rest. It’s the day when they turn off their cell phones, don’t schedule any appearances and have a few peaceful hours to themselves.
I’m sure driver Greg Biffle was expecting that kind of day when he walked into the NASCAR Hall of Fame in Charlotte. Little did he know that he would need every ounce of his well-honed driving skills to keep his good name.
That was the fantasy that went through my head, anyway. Biffle, the 40-year-old driver of the Ford Fusion for Roush Fenway Racing, was coming to the Hall of Fame to compete against me on the interactive exhibits and see who—for this day, at least—was the real NASCAR champion.
OUR FIRST STOP, AS IT is for most visitors, was a kiosk where you can get a “Hard Card,” a memory card that is inserted into competitive interactive displays throughout the museum to keep track of the points earned as you take quizzes, tweak your car’s setup for an upcoming race, pump the jack and eventually, compete in a simulated race.
The first contest—a simple-enough quiz—took place in the atrium, which features a curving ramp that ranges from 0 to 33 degrees like NASCAR’s short tracks and super-speedways. As we stood in front of the interactive screen, surrounded by cars from each era—from Red Byron’s 1939 Ford Coupe that he drove to the first-ever NASCAR championship in 1948 to the Chevrolet Impala that four-time defending champion Jimmie Johnson drives today—the nerves started to set in. Did I really just challenge a professional driver to put his NASCAR skills to the test?
But there was no time to turn back—the first question was before us: “How hot does it get inside a NASCAR racecar?” Biffle was surprised that I knew the answer: 130 degrees. Score one for me.
Unfortunately, my response that Bill France invented the NASCAR Rookie Stripe was incorrect. Biffle knew better. (The answer is Wilbur Shaw.) Advantage Biffle.
We both got the next two questions right, so the last question was my only chance to take the lead: “Who made his 1976 Winston Cup debut driv- ing a car for his father?” I guessed Kyle Petty. Wrong again. Biffle knew it was Sterling Marlin, who drove for his father, NASCAR legend Coo Coo Marlin.
The first round went to Biffle, but I was determined to get the best of him. Unfortunately, “determination” and “success” are not the same thing.
THE MAIN INTERACTIVE AREA IS ON THE SECOND floor and features exhibits that allow visitors to set tire pressures, choose shocks and pretend they’re in the broadcast booth calling a race. First mission: Set up the car. Sitting down at the crew chief ’s console, the screen took us through a quick tutorial on shocks, tire pressure and changes in weather. My confidence was growing: “Hey, this guy’s a driver. What does he know about setting up a car?” The answer, it turns out, is plenty.
After presenting us with tire pressures from a previous race, the screen indicated that it was now cloudy and about 10 degrees cooler. Should we raise, lower or keep the tire pressure the same? And for which tires? I guessed right that tire pressure had to go up in order to maintain the same performance on a cooler track. Where I stumbled was where to raise the pressure the most. I went with right rear. Biffle, snickering “Rookie” under his breath, knew the correct answer was right front.
Up next: the Pit Crew Challenge, where we had to jack up a car, change the rear tire, fill the gas and then lower the jack. Piece of cake. It’s just like on TV (or so I thought). A good time in NASCAR is about 14 seconds, and as we waited our turn, some visitors took as long as 38 seconds to complete the challenge. A team of three did it in a little more than the NASCAR-approved time, but Biffle and I were on our own. (Of course, real pit crews have seven people.)
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