All fired up over race

By Andrew M. Seder aseder@timesleader.comTimes Leader Staff Writer

LONG POND – Rubbing elbows with world-famous drivers, getting an up-close look at a 15-second pit stop, listening in to team strategy. Many NASCAR fans would envy the opportunities Greg and Jonathan Kray have, but the brothers say theirs is not a glamour job.

Greg Kray stands in Kurt Busch’s pit waiting for the driver to pit during the Pocono 500 race. He has never missed working as a firefighter at any Pocono races since the 1970s.

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Two Sundays each summer, including today, the Bear Creek Township men take up positions on Pocono Raceway’s pit road. They’re not there to cheer for a favorite driver or to bask in the limelight. They’re on the track’s payroll and, along with more than 140 other emergency responders, are responsible for ensuring the safety of drivers, team members and fans.

While Greg, 52, and Jonathan, 49, are race fans who have in the past bought tickets to NASCAR races while sipping cold beers and enjoying the camaraderie of the infield, their working weekends at the track are enthusiastically penciled in on their calendars as soon as the dates are set.

A visit to the track in the late 1970s led them to their current positions with the track fire crew.

The two men were firefighters with the Bear Creek Township Volunteer Fire Company.

“We came to watch the race and afterward went to the firehouse and signed up to be firefighters,” Greg said. There was no guarantee they’d be asked to serve on the crew, but Jonathan said they got a call the next year and they’ve been coming back to the track to don their red fire suits almost every year since.

Jonathan has missed two races since 1978 because of his obligations with the Air Force Reserves. Greg hasn’t missed any.

At least 28 other firefighters from Luzerne County are on the track fire crew roster. Among them are John Mazur from Harding, Ron Foy from West Pittston, Wayne Davenport and his dad, George, from Plymouth, Kevin O’Brien of Duryea, Eric Derr from Kingston and George Lehman and Damien Lendacky, both of Wilkes-Barre.

Though firefighters can be stationed at various spots in the complex, including on trucks that respond to on-track incidents, the Krays are repeatedly stationed on pit road. During the June race at Pocono, Greg was assigned to the Kurt Busch pit stall and his brother was stationed at the start-finish line, which happened to be just feet from Busch’s pit.

Each pit stall has a firefighter and relief firefighters assigned so that firefighters can take occasional breaks from the blazing sun and heat generated by race cars and acres of pavement. Though pit stops can be 30 minutes apart, firefighters must stay on guard because an accident or emergency can spring up without warning.

“They have that 30 minutes of boredom and then 15 seconds of hell breaking loose,” said O’Brien, who serves as the crew’s operations chief.

Lehman, 38, of Wilkes-Barre, has worked pit road, the debris cleanup crew and the “cut truck,” which has the tools to pry a damaged racecar open to get a driver out. He said as much fun as it is to mingle with drivers and get up-close and personal, he’s happy not to be a hero.

“We always hope things are uneventful,” said Lehman, an 18-year veteran of the Wilkes-Barre Fire Department.

Jonathan Kray said the races are work, not fun, and sometimes new crew members don’t understand that and don’t return.

For pit-road assigned workers, it’s nearly five hours of standing in a 2-square-foot, red-painted box, and while their eyes are on the track, supervisors’ eyes are on them to make sure they’re paying attention.

“You really don’t get to watch the race much. You really have to concentrate on your job,” Jonathan said.

With 33 gallons of gasoline in each pit, high speeds, heavy metal machines and concrete walls, there’s plenty of potential for problems.

“Every accident is dangerous,” O’Brien said. “You always have your head on a swivel.”

Greg Kray has not had to extinguish a fire in more than 30 races. Jonathan snuffed a small tire fire once, but that’s been it. And they’re fine with the lack of action.

O’Brien, who has been at the track for 25 years, said the job is often thankless and could get boring, but year after year the same crew members come back.

“I guess you have to enjoy racing to be able to do this,” O’Brien said.

The Krays do.

But being fans doesn’t mean the job will interest everyone.

“Some guys may get into it because it’s NASCAR, and they get excited to get this kind of access. But it’s not all that it’s cracked up to be,” Jonathan said.

Though they do get paid for their work at the track, both brothers said they’d do it for free.

“We don’t do it for the money,” Jonathan said. “If they asked us to volunteer, we would. It’s not about the money. It’s about coming up and helping out and being around the guys.”

The firefighters declined to say what they are paid for the day that starts long before the green flag drops and ends long after fans are back on their way home.

The brothers said they can watch the other 34 NASCAR races on television, but when it comes to Pocono there’s no place they’d rather be than suited up and ready to protect race teams and fans.

And the drivers appreciate the efforts.

“Over the years, they have become more specialized in what they do and they’ve gotten better direction on what we, the drivers, need and what they need to do with the cars. NASCAR has done a great job training them, and there is no doubt when there is a problem, they do a good job,” said Bobby Labonte, driver of the No. 96 ask.com Ford Taurus.

It was the specialty of working with the Jaws of Life that helps keep Lehman on the crew. Five years ago he was asked to fill in for a Hazleton firefighter who couldn’t make the race. He’s been coming back ever since, as long as his schedule with the Wilkes-Barre Fire Department permits it, such was the case at the June race, his first missed race since he started five years ago.

He and his friends attended Pocono races year after year, watching the race from the infield. He said his friends still head to the races each year, and while they might be a bit jealous of his access, he makes sure to meet up with them after each race.

Let’s Go Racing

WHAT: Pennsylvania 500

WHERE: Pocono International Raceway, Long Pond

WHEN: Today with the green flag at 2:17 p.m.