On Friday, I had a chance to experience the Grand Prix in a way that’s generally only possible for drivers, crew members and team members – I had “Pit Access.” Viewed up-close like this, I discovered, even the practice races are more rich and complicated than they appear.

At 8:00 am, on a soon-to-be-steamy Baltimore day, the paddock was already feeling the heat of the upcoming practice.

The place was a riot of colored tents plastered with sponsor emblems and the loopy-lettered names of teams from the American Le Mans Series (ALM) and IndyCar Series. Crew members wearing slacks and signatured polos were already in the tents working on the cars.

Mechanics, engineers, “data aquisitioners,” tire changers, drivers, fuelers and even some chiropractors were there too. (Looking at data from simulation studies and past races helps members, the data acquisitioners adjust parts of the car to the idiosyncrasies of Baltimore’s racetrack.)

“If we know a track is very bumpy, then changes have to be made to the tires,” said Matt Huth, a tire changer for the Conquest Endurance Team. “The fact that this track is asphalt can change up a lot of things.”

The fact that it crossed over city’s light-rail tracks didn’t help either.

On Friday, at least one car flew nearly three feet into the air when it hit the tracks at Howard and Pratt streets during a practice run. Smoothing over the spot delayed the day’s schedule, irritating many fans, but for drivers, it was a serious safety issue.

Though the teams were not sharing any information with each other, each preparing their cars for a two-hour high-speed competition and gearing up to win, members of different teams were constantly laughing, shaking hands, patting backs and even hugging.

“Oh yeah,” agreed mechanic John Slater from Extreme Speed Motorsports. “Everyone is buddies, and everyone is friends.” One reason for that, Slater explained, is that many of the mechanics and engineers switch from team to team throughout their careers.

The high turnover rate is actually good and important to the sport, said Dan Passe, public media professional of Core Autosport. “If a member of a team is unhappy, we can’t keep him because people’s lives are at stake,” he explained.

“It’s impossible not to be close when we are spending 8 to 14 hours a day together,” said Bob Carroll, a mechanic for the Dempsey Racing team.

The Chemistry and Physics of Tire Choice

Three tire manufacturers (Michelin, Yokohama Motorsports, and Falken) were camped out on the paddock. Unique to the ALM series, these companies openly compete with each other to supply tires to the teams. (On the other hand, Firestone is the sole tire supplier for the IndySeries).

Once a team chooses a certain manufacturer, an engineer from the tire company is embedded within the racing team. He communicates from team to manufacturer for the entire season. Just as the car is tweaked for each race, tires are changed depending on the surface, the car, and the length of race.

“There is a mechanical and chemical grip that occurs between the tire and the surface of the track,” said a Michelin engineer. “It’s like rocket science.”

He explained that since the tires are so integral to the race, the tire engineers constantly feel the pressure, making the races, for him, “like torture chambers.”

“Nothing can be left to chance, he said, “and nothing can go wrong. Nothing.”

Start Your Engines

While the members of the teams are up bright and early for the practice round, racers tend to arrive later. Slater said the crews don’t mind being behind-the-scenes, while the drivers pose for pictures, sign autographs and see their names on billboards.

“Oh, no, we are a team and all need each other,” he said. Racers share in this familial feeling. “They are my boyfriends,” said Corvette driver Tommy Milner, laughing. “I hang out with them the most before every race.”

Milner, followed by other racers, walked to the pits, while the crews remained with the cars on standby. Then, around 10:50 a.m., engines started to roar.

Cars, which the crews had previously lined up for practice, drove to the starting line at 11:00 a.m. Crew-members rushed off to the pits, while fans watched.

There is constant communication between the racing team and their drivers while the car is speeding around the track. Multiple monitor screens within the pit also update the crew with what’s happening on the track.

Each car is listed in placing order, along with the what class (type), lap number, best lap time, last lap time, and time behind the leader.

This information and the conversation between crew and racer are not private. In a building located at the corner of Howard and Camden streets, public media professionals of the teams are listening and looking at the same information but on a different screen. Susan Pollack Facebooked, Tweeted, and emailed away updates about the Extreme Speed Motorsports drivers.

“Silence is usually a good thing,” she told me. “Unless the driver is a chatty guy, it means that everything is going well.”