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It's lap 12 of the Coca Cola 600, and front tire carrier Dion "Rocko" Williams of the Kyle Petty pit crew looks down pit road and observes race car 45 rushing in. His adrenaline levels rise, and everything he's learned and practiced flashes through his mind as he and his teammates jump over the wall to execute a pit stop.

"That's what motivates me, excitement," said Williams, who lives in Jamestown. "Pit stops have to be fast. It affects the placement of the drivers."

Williams' road to NASCAR went through Germany, Wake Forest University and Minnesota.

Born to parents in the military, Williams lived in Germany until age 8; then his family moved to Atlanta.

"We lived 20 minutes from Atlanta Motor Speedway, and I never knew it existed," Williams said.

Before joining NASCAR, Williams said, he knew nothing about it and used to flip the channel when it came on TV. Williams wanted to play college football. He was recruited by Wake head coach Jim Caldwell, now the quarterback coach for the Indianapolis Colts.

Despite six concussions, his college football career was a success, and he became a free agent with the Minnesota Vikings. But during the preseason, Williams had his seventh concussion and became a liability.

Williams said he misses being able to play football professionally but that the sport took a toll on his body.

"If I wasn't with NASCAR and was just working using my degree, I would probably miss football," he said. "With NASCAR, we travel twice as much, and the audience is twice as big."

Soon after Williams was released from the NFL, he met Bobby Kanouse, who worked with the NASCAR-modified circuit in Winston-Salem. Williams met NASCAR pit crew recruiters when Kanouse took him to tracks in Hickory and Caraway.

NASCAR had started to experiment with recruiting athletes for pit crews, so Williams got the chance to try out for Chip Ganassi Racing. At tryouts, he had to run a 40-yard dash, bench press and perform vertical jump and flexibility tests. His numbers were impressive, and he trained for six weeks until a spot opened up on a team.

Williams said being a former football player gave him an edge joining a pit crew. Football, he said, taught him to work hard on his own, practice, work out, receive constructive criticism, watch others and be disciplined.

As a front tire carrier, Williams is responsible for the left and right side tires of the car. The tire changer unscrews the lug nuts, the tire is pulled, Williams puts the tire on and the tire changer tightens it up. Then they run to the other side of the car and do it again.

He said his job is important because the fresher the tires are, the faster the car will go. He said pit stop times have to be fast, and they try to get the tires on in one second or less.

"You can lose a lot of positions in the pits," Williams said. "That could be the difference in leaving the pits in eighth place opposed to 14th place."

He said that while the car is stopped, cars are passing, and it's hard to get the spot back.

To train for pit stops, the pit crew practices and does strength and weight training. They eat meals recommended by a nutritionist, run and practice agility and footwork. They also watch films from previous races to evaluate their performances.

Williams said the pit crew members' relationship is important. He said they have a bond and brotherhood.

"We travel city to city every weekend away from our families," Williams said. "All we have is us sometimes."

He said they're at the track at 8 a.m. for a 3 p.m. race. They stay off their feet until it's time to set up.

Initially, Williams was nervous about joining NASCAR because he didn't know anything about it.

"Now I love it. I watch NASCAR all day. I have gotten my family into watching it," he said.

Williams said many African Americans are not exposed to NASCAR.

"We grow up playing football and basketball," he said.

Growing up in NASCAR is expensive, and some households are wealthy enough to build cars for their sons to drive across the nation to tracks, he said. He said usually a driver's father or relative drives, and the secrets of racing are passed down through generations.

"People who say NASCAR is boring don't understand the concept of the sport," he said. "NASCAR fans are some of the most loyal and die-hard fans; there's a reason for that."

He said anyone who understands the sport will fall in love with it.

Williams offered pointers on what to look for during a race:

l First, pick one car to follow.

l Watch how many spots it's gaining or losing on the track.

l Watch how the car is handling.

One hour before the race, Williams isolates himself and visualizes every pit stop in his mind.

In the Coca Cola 600 endurance race, one of the longest races of the season, Kyle Petty came in third.

"That was our best finish in 10 years," Williams said.

In addition to working on a pit crew, Williams has started a successful business: Williams Pit Crew Service. He coaches four pit crew teams in the Craftsman Truck Series and is a pit crew coach for Circle Bar Racing. He also coached the pit crew for driver Rick Crawford, who came in 10th in the 2007 Craftsman Truck Series.

Williams would like to take on more teams and coach full time.

"NASCAR is growing," he said. "When I started, it was two on pit road and now it's five. The buzz is out there."

Torell Taylor lives in Greensboro and is a journalism student at N.C. A&T.

Torell Taylor