It all started for John Royer while racing in high school.
The Otis native raced on tracks in LaCrosse and Jetmore with a friend, and decided then and there that he wanted to be a part of NASCAR.
So Royer traveled to North Carolina to attend a school to train to be part of a pit crew.
“I moved to Charlotte and they trained us,” Royer said. “It was actually in Mooresville. It lasted two or three months for five off, five on training.
“After that, I worked with the ARCA and truck series. Doing my own thing.”
Royer said that he knew right away that it was what he wanted to do.
“During my younger years is when I learned that that was what I wanted to do,” Royer said. “During my senior year (of high school), I knew that I was moving to North Carolina.”
Then in 2005, Royer was hired by Darrell Waltrip Motorsports. In 2007, he started working for Richard Petty Motorsports.
“I worked in the pit crew for Kasey Kahne for awhile,” Royer said. “Now, I’m part of Joe Gibbs Racing on the pit crew for Joey Logano.”
So what drew Royer to working on a pit crew?
“It’s the adrenaline fill, I guess,” Royer said. “The feeling you get during the race. It goes fast, very fast for the work that we do.”
Along with the adrenaline, there is also the travel.
“There’s a lot of travel with Nascar,” Royer said. “We go to 36 different tracks in 36 different states from New York to California.
“A lot of time on a plane away from family.”
Royer’s job on the crew is to change the front tires.
“I’m the one with the wrench hitting the lug nuts off on the front tires,” Royer said.
This season, Logano has won one Sprint Cup Series race — Pocono 400 — and five Nationwide Series races.
On the weekends, Royer and company are competing. During the week, they’re practicing.
“During the week, we practice twice at the shop,” Royer said. “We have a mock up pit row. We practice on Tuesday and Wednesday. We race on Saturday and Sunday, and we all work full-time at the shop.
“Monday is more of a recovery day. We watch film of the race from the last weekend.”
Royer said that he loves what he does. He never really wanted to be the one behind the wheel.
“I never really wanted to race,” Royer said. “I always had more fun as a mechanic.
“I guess I’m just better at carrying a wrench than pushing the gas pedal.”