on the chase vehicles to ensure
they're capable of surveying the
terrain and carrying equipment
for repairs. "We had three pre-
runners doing recon all over the
course for the two weeks prior to
the race," says Langley. "So in total,
we really had five vehicles to prep
for this 1000. I would say six, but
the Class-10 car was being built by
Jimco. They did an excellent job
getting it done in our time frame."
With three main drivers,
mechanics, chase/pit crew and
other support staff, it would seem
like a logistical nightmare to try
and organize everyone at once.
But the COPS team has done
this several times and has a lot of
this figured out. "We really have a
hybrid approach," explains Langley.
"There is also
a "fog of war"
element to
this type of
race so the
more info
exchange the
better"
CLICK VIDEO PLAYER TO
WATCH JOHN LANGLEY
DISCUSS TEAM STRATEGY.
"There is a game plan for each
race car but as best as possible,
we try to create a logistically
efficient overall strategy. For this
race we had hard-pits where a
crew would stay and wait for all
the cars to get through as well
as having dedicated chase cars
for each race car. Additionally
we had floater/chase cars that
had no particular assignment
but could be quarterbacked as
the race progressed. I think that
the chase and pits being able to
adapt on the fly is really important.
It's pretty rare for everything to
work out exactly as planned in
this long of a race, especially
running three race cars."
A major part of the team's
ability to stick to the plan and
061
SCORE JOURNAL
