Behind the scenes, under the hood

KANSAS CITY, Kan. -- For the Enderle brothers -- Tony and Tim -- home is where the heart is, and that's never been more evident than this time of year.

Last week, the Chaffee natives came close to home when they arrived at Kansas Speedway for the NASCAR Busch Series Yellow Transportation 300. Both Tony and Tim work in the pit crew for Danny O'Quinn's No. 50 car as part of the Roush Racing team.

This weekend, since the Busch Series is idle, Tim will be home in Southeast Missouri for a friend's weeding while Tony will stay back in Mooresville, N.C., where he and Tim both live. The following week, the Enderles will get to stay in North Carolina as the Busch and Nextel Cup series heads to Lowe's Motor Speedway in Concord, just outside Charlotte.

O'Quinn finished 18th in Saturday's Busch race. He could have finished 10th had it not been for a wreck in the final six laps. With five races to go this season, O'Quinn stands in 19th place in the Busch Series standings.

Tony, 35, changes the front tires of O'Quinn's car on pit road. Tony has to act quickly, and over the 13 years in the business, he's managed to handle the pressure.

"It's probably the most mental thing that you'll ever do in your whole life," said Tony, who also is a mechanic on Jamie McMurray's Nextel Cup car. "You can have a bad stop. You can knock a lugnut off. There are so many variables that can happen at any given time. It's a stressful job. You've got to know how to keep your head.

"The biggest thing is slowing your mind down to where your hand speed picks up. You can't just focus on one lugnut. You've got to focus on all five."

Tim, 32, used to work "over the wall" until this year, when a hernia injury forced him to pit support duties for O'Quinn's crew. He does just about everything on race day, from talking to the other Roush Racing crews to packing up everything at the end of the race.

"I hardly ever get to watch any racing," Tim said. "I'm always doing something."

Normally, the Enderles fly out to a Busch Series event on race day aboard one of Roush Racing's private planes, then they fly back that same night. Tim Enderle used to go on one of the early Roush planes, usually on a Thursday. This is the first season that he's been traveling on race day.

"It seems like it's more relaxing," Tim said. "It's not like it's so hectic. [Before], you've always got to pack, and it feels like you're living out of a suitcase. It's not like a driver where they've got these million-dollar motor homes where they can go and just chill. You're in a hotel room every week.

"This fits me a little bit more."

Tony, who also spent many years traveling early, actually left early last week for Kansas to spend time with friends and family, including his brother, Tommy, Tim's twin. Tony stayed through Sunday to watch the Nextel Cup Banquet 400 at Kansas.

"It was the best thing in the world," Tony said. "It was great to come home and see them."

When they were younger, the Enderles raced cars in Southeast Missouri, but their real calling was working on cars, not driving them. Not long after high school, Tony Enderle was working at a sawmill in Kentucky when he gave his friend Jeremy Mayfield a call and asked if there were any jobs in North Carolina.

Mayfield encouraged him to come out.

So Tony and his wife, Darla, got in a car and drove to North Carolina. After spending a few nights there, they drove back to Kentucky, and a few days later, Tony got a call about an opening. The rest is history.

"I just dreamed about it every day," said Tony, who has worked with Tony Stewart and Matt Kenseth in years past. "I like working on [cars] better than I do driving."

Tim followed Tony to North Carolina a few years later. He's worked with drivers such as Ken Schrader and Joe Nemechek and works on all the Busch cars for Roush Racing.

"I always thought it was a pretty good deal," Tim said. "If you can't drive, that's probably your next best thing to be competitive. You always want to beat the team in front of you and behind you. There's no feeling in the world like coming down pit road and making up a bunch of spots on pit road. It's almost like an adrenaline rush."

Both Tim and Tony hang out with Columbia native Carl Edwards, one of the stars of Roush Racing. Tony works out with Edwards twice a week.

"Carl's a great guy," Tony said. "He's one of the nicest guys in our affiliation. He'd give you the shirt off his back if he had to."

The Enderle brothers aren't the only Southeast Missourians working in NASCAR. Mike Abner is the truck chief for Jack Sprague, and Brent Glassetter is a parts guy for Todd Bodine in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series. Both Abner and Glassetter, who also drives a modified car in North Carolina, are from Oran.

The Enderles' father, Richard, was a farmer who first thought Tony was nuts for wanting to work in a pit crew. Now Richard follows his boys every week, and once in a while he'll drive with the boys' mother, Clara, cross country to watch a race, even though they're no longer married. Clara drives a truck for son Tommy's trucking company in Perkins, west of Oran.

"They're probably better friends now than when they were married," Tony said of his parents.

Tony is enjoying family life in North Carolina. His 13-year-old son, Cody, runs junior dragsters.

"He loves it, and I love it," Tony said. "It's probably the best thing that's happened with me. It brought our relationship closer together."

As racing has with Tony and Tim, who get to see each other every morning for pit practice.

"It brings out a great, great friendship," Tony said. "Racing's our life. That's what we enjoy to do. That's what we'll always do."