CONCORD, N.C. -- More than 600 team members work at Hendrick Motorsports, and each of them has a unique role that helps contribute to success on the racetrack.
In this series, HendrickMotorsports.com will take an in-depth look at how team members execute those jobs on a daily basis, detailing their workspaces, routines and more.
Up first, vice president of competition Jeff Andrews shares "How I Work."
Computer:
Microsoft Surface Book
Current Mobile Device:
Samsung Galaxy S9
One word that best describes how you work:
Efficiently. I have essentially two different work weeks. One here at the shop, which is Monday morning through Wednesday evening, and then another one that starts by getting on an airplane shortly after lunchtime on Thursday that runs through Sunday night.
Take us through a recent workday:
Probably our busiest day is Tuesday around here. That’s where a lot of meetings, a lot of structure, a lot of planning goes on getting ready for the upcoming week. Various competition-level meetings, technical steering group meetings, engine group meetings. Those pretty much take us from 8 a.m. to an aero meeting that wraps up about 5:30 p.m., with a few 30-minute breaks in between.
Morning or evening routine:
My routine in the morning is to try to come in and spend 30 minutes on emails before the day starts and then try to spend one hour in the evening before I leave answering critical emails. Anything that isn’t something critical that can wait until the next morning, I push back to the 30 minutes the next morning.
Apps/gadgets/tools can’t you live without:
I’m pretty nerdy on that account. My weather apps on my phone! Obviously with our travel and a lot of what we do, not only from the engine side but at the track, I like to fully understand what the weather is going to do and what the conditions are at the track. I also have several classic cars, so in the evenings I’m on my eBay app looking for car parts and this and that.
Workspace setup:
I have a Microsoft laptop that I take with me wherever I go and it comes in and hooks up to my two monitors here when I come back in the office. Most all of my work is done through Microsoft OneNote or OneDrive applications. It’s where I keep everything. Meeting notes, agendas, etc. are on OneNote and my files and notes for the weekend I have in in different folders on OneDrive.
How you keep track of what you have to do:
All of my lists and tasks are in OneNote. I use that exclusively on my phone, on my laptop, on my tablet. My work list, my meeting notes, that’s pretty much what I live by.
How you got your start at Hendrick Motorsports:
I am at Hendrick Motorsports largely in part due to a good friend of mine named Rick Wetzel, also known as Champ, who I worked with in the IndyCar series in the late 1980s. Champ left that line of work came to work for Randy Dorton here at Hendrick Motorsports and then drug me down here some two or three years later after that
Best advice you ever received:
I would say some of the best advice I’ve ever received is that there are two sides to every story. My grandfather told me that there are two sides to every story and there is one version of the truth. To be not only a good person in life to be a person who treats people fairly, you must understand both sides of the story. Good people understand that both sides need to be heard and somewhere you can come to an agreement in the middle.
Mentor/influential person in your life:
I have a few of them. My father was probably truly my mentor to getting me interested in racing in general. My grandfather was someone who was extremely instrumental to me and my core values as a person. Here within the motor sports industry, Rick Wetzel is someone who looked out for me at a pretty young age in this business and kind of drug me along behind him, so to speak, so I owe him a lot for my opportunities here. Of course, (Hendrick Motorsports owner) Mr. (Rick) Hendrick for giving me the opportunity here through Randy Dorton.
Favorite thing about working at Hendrick Motorsports:
I love to compete. I love to win. I’m a very competitive person and love the thrill of going out there and being the best at the racetrack. I just thrive on it. Twenty-seven years later, it’s still what I like to do.
Who you rely on to keep things running smoothly:
There are a lot of people. It would be hard for me to name one person in particular. There are a lot of department heads and directors in this company, great leaders that manage individual departments. When I’m at the racetrack, Jim Wall with the engine group, Darian Grubb, who is overseeing the technical groups, core members of the competitions systems group and Dacy (Jones) from an admin side to kind of help me with all things related to travel or arrangements.
Something people may not know about working for a race team:
I think a lot of people have a misconception that this is a Friday through Sunday job. I think there are a lot of people that don’t understand what physically goes on back here Monday through Thursday and a lot of people don’t understand what happens between Thanksgiving and when the trucks leave for Daytona. That can actually be our busiest time of the year. The misconception that there is a so-called offseason. For us, that lasts about a week (laughing).
Who else you would like to see answer these questions:
There’s a whole group of people. I think it would be great for the company to throw all of this stuff in front of the crew chiefs. I think a lot of people would understand how they think and how they tick and the reason why they are intense the way they are. I like being in an environment of people who are intense and motivated and want to be better. Those people drive me to want to be better.