NORFOLK, Va. – It was just another normal day at the Norfolk State Student Center last April for Brehanna Daniels, who was about to take a bite of her chicken sandwich when a tap on the shoulder from former eligibility specialist Tiffani-Dawn Sykes changed her life.

Daniels grew up playing basketball. She had just completed her senior season for the Spartans and was contemplating what she was going to do after final exams and graduation. Like so many athletes, she knew her dream of playing in the pros was a longshot. However, thanks in part to her encounter with Sykes, Daniels is now a professional athlete in a sport that is dominated by men.

Sykes informed Daniels of a unique opportunity coming to campus later that week. Sykes thought Daniels was a perfect candidate for The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR) Drive for Diversity Pit Crew Recruitment Tour combine.

"I did not know anything about cars," Daniels said. "She (Sykes) showed me a video and it was the end of basketball season and I did not really have anything to do, so I decided to give it a shot."

Daniels and several other athletes were put through a series of tests, similar to the NFL combine, evaluating their speed, agility, strength and footwork. Daniels met the standard and was chosen to attend the second combine in Charlotte, N.C. last summer, were she performed well enough to be selected to participate in the six-month training program.

"The training is crucial," Daniels said. "We started out with two practices a day, but now we are down to one practice a day. In our two-a-day sessions, we practiced for about eight hours a day Monday-Wednesday. Now, we practice on Monday for about four hours, and for about an hour and a half on Tuesday and Wednesday."

Daniels' hard work paid off. She is now a NASCAR tire changer, as an independent contractor, which means she can get a call from any team associated with NASCAR and be signed to a contract for as little as one race, or she can be signed to a full-time contract. She competed in her first action as a pit crew member at an Automobile Racing Club of America (ARCA) race in Nashville, Tenn., on April 8. According to NASCAR literature, no African American female has ever served on a pit crew at a NASCAR race.

Daniels and former Spartan linebacker Lamar Neal went through the process together, beginning with the first combine at Norfolk State last spring. After completing the six-month training program, Neal signed a contract with Richard Childress Racing (RCR), which is one of the largest teams in the sport. RCR, who the late great Dale Earnhardt raced for, signed Neal to be a tire carrier. He competed in Speedweeks at Daytona in February, which included competing in the Daytona 500 on driver D.J. Kennington's team.

Being a member of an athletic team and a member of the pit crew for a racing team have similarities. Each member of the pit crew has a role to perform every time the car makes a pit stop. When the car comes to a complete stop on pit row, the team jumps over the wall to perform maintenance on the car.

The jackman jacks up the right side of the car, while the fuelman fills the car. Simultaneously, the two tire changers (like Daniels) loosen the lugnuts and remove the old tires. The two tire carriers (like Neal) are responsible for taking the new tires from behind the wall and replacing the old ones. The tire changer tightens the lugnuts, while the tire carrier takes the old tires back across the wall and grabs new ones for the left side. The jackman and tire changers then rush to the left side and repeat the process. Good pit crews can complete a four-tire stop and fill the car with fuel in about 20 seconds.

Neal is with his team at the Richmond International Raceway preparing for races on Saturday and Sunday. However, Daniels was back at her alma mater, looking for potential trainees for this year's class. She provided motivation for four of her former classmates in addition to grading their performances in the first round of combine tests, which was held at Echols Hall. 

Norfolk State is one of six universities, including a number of historically black colleges and universities, to serve as a stop on this year's recruitment tour. The NASCAR Drive for Diversity Crew Member Development Program seeks minority male and female athletes from all sports with a general interest in motorsports, extreme sports, the auto industry and individuals who possess a strong sense of character and work ethic.

Sandy Chapman, Greg Hankerson, Gerard Johnson and Torian Henderson, who are all former members of the Spartans' football team, went through the six-event obstacle course on April 26, testing their speed, agility and strength at this year's recruitment combine. The test included jumping rope for a minute, side-stepping between three cones for a minute, five rounds of footwork through a rope ladder, 25 gut-busters using a wheel with handles, 25 push-ups and 100 sit-ups. Each ran the course in the qualifying time with Johnson finishing within approximately 20 seconds of the fastest time ever recorded in the combine. The quartet will wait to see if they advanced to the next round of tryouts.

When asked about the experience, they all had the same sentiments about keeping options open and getting out of their comfort zones. None of them ever envisioned themselves working in NASCAR, but with the success of their former teammate Neal and Daniels, it was an easy decision to make when their academic advisors suggested they give it a try.

They all may have had dreams of playing in the National Football League when they were growing up, but they all agree it is still competition and came away pleased with their performances. They all welcomed the opportunity to possibly compete in athletics at the professional level, albeit not in the sport they grew up dreaming to play professionally.

"It's just competing. With us being athletes, we all like the competition and it just gives me another opportunity to show what I can do," Johnson said. "I would have liked to have been a little faster (today). I wanted the fastest time ever, but anytime I am doing something, I am going to do it to the best of my ability."

For more information on NASCAR Drive for Diversity, visit www.NASCARDiversity.com.

About NASCAR
The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, Inc. (NASCAR) is the sanctioning body for the No. 1 form of motorsports in the United States. NASCAR consists of three national series (the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series™, NASCAR XFINITY Series™, and NASCAR Camping World Truck Series™), four regional series, one local grassroots series and three international series. The International Motor Sports Association™ (IMSA®) governs the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship™, the premier U.S. sports car series. Based in Daytona Beach, Fla., with offices in eight cities across North America, NASCAR sanctions more than 1,200 races in more than 30 U.S. states, Canada, Mexico and Europe. For more information, visit www.nascar.com and http://www.IMSA.com, and follow NASCAR on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat ('NASCAR').

About Rev Racing
Headquartered in Concord, North Carolina, Rev Racing is owned by Max Siegel and operates the NASCAR Drive for Diversity Program, which is the industry's leading developmental program for ethnic minorities, women drivers, and pit crew members. For more information about Rev Racing visit www.revracing.net and follow us on Twitter @RevRacin.