Indy 500 pit crew members are elite athletes, too. 'It takes strength'

INDIANAPOLIS -- Michael Trimmer is a two-time Indy 500-winning pit crew member for Andretti Autosport, a 53-year-old fueler who, on race days, hoists up a monstrous hose, attaches it to the tank and drains gallons of fuel within seven seconds. That takes strength.

Keith Gummer is a 30-year-old inside rear tire changer for Andretti driver Colton Herta. As the car pulls into the pit, Gummer takes a tire gun to remove the wheel nut, then removes the tire by hand, puts a new tire on and secures it finishing within 5.5 seconds. That takes agility.

As Trimmer gases up the car during pit stops and Gummer swaps a tire, there is a pit crew jack operator who takes a pneumatic air jack and applies intense pressure to lift the car four inches off the ground so the tires can be changed. That takes core power.

Six crew members jump over the wall as an Indy 500 driver approaches the pit box. They wear fireproof suits and a helmet, just like their driver.

And the work they have to do within seconds is tough, like an elite athlete in a game wearing "three or four pairs of long underwear or a snow suit," said Trimmer, who works on Kyle Kirkwood's team. "It's intense."

The pit crew members of IndyCar teams rarely, if ever, get the glory. They are side characters to their stars, their drivers who are racing on the world's biggest stage.

And yet they work, train and prepare for races just like any elite athlete.

For Trimmer and Gummer that preparation takes place inside a gym at Andretti Autosport headquarters on Zionsville Road five days a week when they aren't at a track.

Two days of strength training, two days of cardio and then, on Fridays, yoga or Pilates, a recovery day of stretching.

Trimmer said the workouts are critical to being able to make it through a day that sometimes starts at 6 a.m. and doesn't end until 8 p.m. and is filled with heat, sweat and a need for endurance.

"You can see the guys who didn't put in the effort start to drop off," said Trimmer, who won back-to-back Indy 500s with Alexander Rossi in 2016 and Takuma Sato in 2017. "I put in the effort because I know that it pays off."

The pit crew workouts at Andretti Autosport are run like any other professional sports team, with designated practice and workout times, said Ryan Galloy, the team's certified athletic trainer and strength and conditioning specialist with Ascension St. Vincent Sports Performance.

Herta's team at 9:30 a.m., Kirkwood's team next, followed by Romain Grosjean and then Devlin DeFrancesco's team. The crew members show up, they toil on rowing machines and they pump iron.

"It is pretty basic strength and conditioning, maybe 30 minutes cardio. We aren't in there doing Olympic weightlifting, screaming and yelling with guys pushing 1,000 pounds around," said Galloy, who joined Andretti in 2021. "But you are in there busting your hump."

The goal, Galloy said, is "more of wellness, just trying to have guys in the best shape possible." After all in IndyCar, many pit crew members are working other jobs, driving motor homes, sitting at a computer as an engineer or working as a mechanic in the shop. They do a lot of bending and squatting and pushing.

"In our profession of athletic training, we call them the industrial athletes," Galloy said. Pit crew members are similar to factory workers who do repetitive work and need to prevent injury. And they need stamina just like, or maybe more than, their drivers.

"Unlike basketball with two- or three-hour games which is high intensity, short duration," Galloy said, "these guys might be at the garages at 6 a.m. for a practice day and might be there until 6 or 7 at night constantly on their feet, constantly working with hands. There are back problems, shoulder, neck-type stuff.

"It's low intensity but long duration which is super unique."

Which means the workout regimens Galloy creates are broad and varied. Pit crew members typically range in age from their early 20s to late 50s. And each has a different need.

Galloy has a lot of experience training athletes. For more than 14 years, he was the director of sports medicine at Butler University, responsible for managing the health care of 500 athletes in 20 sports, including nine men's basketball NCAA tournament appearances in eleven years from 2008 to 2018.

"All the things I did for the Gordon Haywards, Shelvin Macks and Matt Howards," Galloy said, "I'm doing now for the racing team members."

Galloy is an athletic trainer but a big part of what he does goes beyond workouts. He is also the on-site health care provider for Andretti Autosport.

"I'm doing dry needling on guys, cupping, stretching," he said. And rehabbing.

Trimmer had shoulder surgery in October. "Ryan took care of me like a Division I athlete, getting me back on the track before I ever thought it would be possible."

"We get beat up from the middle of February until the end of September," Trimmer said. "We're bent over the cars, we're always crouched down, you have to have a strong core. You can tell who and who doesn't take care of themselves."

Inside the team's garages at IMS on pit row, Galloy sets up tables for immediate injuries that arise. "I'm in there working on somebody's back," Galloy said, "right next to a 700 horsepower engine."

And not just pit crew members, anyone on the team, including drivers, are welcome to come to Galloy for help.

A mechanic might get up from working underneath the car and say his back has tightened up. Galloy does soft tissue work, tapes up ankles and wrists and does maintenance. "It's just like a basketball or football team," he said.

At one IndyCar race this season, a member laid on his back on pit lane and Galloy did hip mobilization work. This week, Gummer had Galloy work on his tweaked back at IMS where, in addition to being a pit crew member, he works in the garages.

"It wasn't too bad, just tightness in my upper back. We do a lot of bending over," Gummer said. "He got my back all squared away. He's gotten me out of some bad spots."

When it comes to a healthy body and being in shape, that is critical for pit crew members, Gummer said.

"You don't need to be super strong to do it, but the strength helps along the way," he said. "In the heat of the day if you're in shape and used to all the cardio then those hot days don't seem as bad. It helps you to have a clearer mindset."

At 53, Trimmer said he can run circles around the younger pit crew members who don't work out.

Trimmer, who drives a truck, sets up equipment in the pits and in garages then, during the race, heads out for his second job as a fueler, said he feels more confident knowing he is in shape. Through the years, those pit stops have gotten more and more intense, he said.

"These days, the tire changes are getting so much faster, but the whole pit stop is based around the fueler," he said. As he hears the guns and the tires coming off then the new tire going on, he knows his time is limited to finish up the fueling. "It's hard to explain the rush," he said.

Gummer said it's an exhilarating five to seven seconds and he is always working to do that job better.

"It's just cool to be athletic with it, the competition side of it, trying to constantly get better, be better, be the best," he said. "You kind of have a big part in what's happening."

Even if most of the glory goes to the drivers.

Follow IndyStar sports reporter Dana Benbow on Twitter: @DanaBenbow. Reach her via email: [email protected].