Power. Agility. Speed.
That is what the Vikings loved about 6-2, 250-pound linebacker and Wake Forest product Dion "Rocko Slaw" Williams.
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It is also the athleticism NASCAR race teams are looking for when putting together a pit crew.
So when Williams suffered an NFL career-ending seventh concussion three games into his pro career, during the 2004 preseason with the Vikings, his agent reached out to a NASCAR recruiter hoping to keep Williams’ athletic career going.
Williams met Chip Ganassi’s pit crew development specialist, Phil Horton, later in 2004, and he got the tires rolling from there, although Williams had no idea what he was getting into.
NASCAR?
“I never knew NASCAR existed,” Williams said. “I even lived 25 minutes from Atlanta Motor Speedway (growing up) and never knew it existed. Never watched it at all.”
Much like in his football-playing days, Williams had to compete in a combine-like tryout for Chip Ganassi Racing, which measured his vertical jump, bench press, jump rope, speed and agility.
“They like the guy that is girthy that can move. They like the fact that I have great hand-eye coordination because I need to get the tire on in under a second,” Williams said. “I did very well and that’s how they decided who they were going to bring back.”
Williams. 32, was paid a stipend for four days a week to learn how to do pit stops. What started as an experiment has now turned out to be an 11-year career for the front-tire carrier.
Now in his seventh year with Hendrick Motorsports, Williams is the front-tire carrier on Jeff Gordon’s pit crew. Although Gordon is competing in his final season, Williams, who is under contract through next season, will join Chase Elliott’s crew in 2016. He is also contracted through Team Hendrick with JR Motorsports for the No. 88 Xfinity Series team, a car that Kevin Harvick, Kasey Kahne and Dale Earnhardt Jr. share along with Ben Rhodes.
“I am so glad that I am in NASCAR (over the NFL). I look at it as America’s best-kept secret," Williams said. “The average career in the NFL is short-lived and very taxing on the body.
“NASCAR is more taxing on your brain, mental, and stress level. Your body stays pretty much intact.”
Until you get hit by a racecar.
That’s what happened to Williams on Saturday during the Xfinity Series Hisense 300 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Pitting for Harvick in the No. 88, Williams was clipped by the No. 51 car driven by Jeremy Clements during a stop.
After picking up the changed right-front tire, Williams tried to move across the nose of Harvick’s car but was hit from behind by Clements, who was trying to enter the pit stall in front of Harvick’s.
“Luckily he didn’t hit me too hard, the tire got most of the impact," Williams said. “That is part of the excitement when something like that happens — having to think fast and save as much damage as possible.”
While Hendrick Motorsports couldn’t prepare Williams to get knocked down by a racecar, the training he endures does remind him of his hours during football practice.
During the day at Hendrick, crew members watch film of their previous practices and races searching for ways to get better down to the last inch. They put their film work into action with a weightlifting session before finishing with an hourlong practice.
“Somebody is with you every step of the workout, writing your numbers down. They’ll put you in position to be successful and have a long career in it,” Williams said. “It was a blessing to me just to get involved and being able to do it for 11 years competitively and foresee myself doing it for another 11 years — I love it.”
But like the NFL, Williams knows that NASCAR is an ever-changing business and the new athlete-driven characteristic of pit crew members has teams looking for the strongest and fastest members.
Williams will be back in action Saturday and Sunday at Dover International Speedway. The No. 88 team will be competing in the Xfinity Series Buckle Up 200 presented by Click It or Ticket, while Gordon's No. 24 team will compete in the FedEx 400 Benefiting Autism Speaks.
“I am at the point of my career that I do have options but being at Hendrick so long, it is one of the best race teams that I have ever worked for,” Williams said. “Idealistically, I would like to remain with them for 25 years.”