A Week In A Motorhome Driver's Life

Hi. I'm John Hayes. My friends call me "Little John."

I drive the motorhome for Tyler Jet Motorsports owners Tim and Dianne Beverley to all the races on the NASCAR Winston Cup circuit. Yeah, you guessed it. I'm not home a whole lot but it's not a bad life for a 33-year-old single guy.

Before I describe a week in my life let me stop and answer the question I get asked most often at truck stops, grocery stores, and gas stations across the country.

"How did you get your job in racing?"

Well my story is kind of different. I have a degree in business management from UNC-Wilmington and was working in the accounts payable department at a community college in Fayettville, N.C. I used to correspond with Alan Bryson over the Internet about racing. He was a NASCAR official and had gone to work as the truck driver at Tyler Jet Motorsports. He told me if he ever heard of any job openings he would give me a call, which he did last February when Tim needed a coach driver.

So that's how I got my start in racing. Not your normal story, huh?

My typical week begins on Wednesday when we drive to the racetrack. I spend Wednesday cleaning the exterior of the Fleetwood American Heritage motorhome. That means washing and waxing and making it sparkling clean. I don't know if you have ever seen the motorhomes at a racetrack but they are pretty impressive. Once the exterior is cleaned I usually head to the hotel room. By that time I'm pretty tired. After a good night sleep I go to the track on Thursday and spend most of the day cleaning the interior of the motorhome and go to a local grocery store to stock the motor home with food.

On Friday I try to get to the track early in the morning to set up the computers. We have one computer with three terminals on the Lycos hauler and one computer with three terminals on the pit cart. Once the computers are set up I go out to the rental car place to make sure Tim and Dianne's rental car is ready when they fly in.

If Tim and Dianne aren't coming to the track then I stay on the phone with Tim updating him on what is going on with our driver Johnny Benson and the team. Tim likes to know practice speeds and qualifying stuff. Sometimes I'll try to go and get the guys lunch. If Tim and Dianne are there I'll help them if they decide to cook for the team at the motorhome. If they aren't cooking then I'll go back to the hotel with the team and all of us will go to dinner somewhere.

On Saturday I try to get into the track early again to set computers up and when Tim and Dianne go to the hauler I go to the motorhome and make their beds, do their dishes, empty trash, and sweep the coach. Then I come over to the team hauler and help out as much as I can.

When Sunday comes around I set up the computers in the pit then go over to the motorhome and tidy up the coach after the Beverleys come out. I try to help any of their Sunday guests get through NASCAR registration as well as give the guests scanners, headsets, directors chairs for the race. Once the race starts I refill the gas cans after the pit stops, and do whatever the crew guys ask me to. When the race ends I help tear down the pits, load the car on the truck then go to the motorcoach where I pack away all chairs and tables, awnings, secure all the stuff inside the coach.

It's a great feeling once the race is over and all of the fans are trying to get home because that is when we relax. I take a shower, have a few drinks with coach drivers and get to bed because we leave the racetrack on Monday and the week starts all over again.

Do I enjoy? Yes. I love racing. I like working with computers and have helped our crew chief James Ince with some data acquisition stuff so that is where I would like to work on some day. It's a fun life. I have no complaints. But the best part of my job is hanging with all the other coach drivers. We spend so much time together that we all get to know each other pretty well. Right now I don't think I would trade my job for anything in the world.