Aaron's 499 - Dodge Saturday Quotes

DALE CAGLE (Spotter No. 19 Dodge Dealers/UAW Dodge Charger)

NOTE: Cagle is a veteran Cup spotter in his 12th season up on the roof. He currently spots for Jeremy Mayfield, but he’s also worked for Ricky Rudd, David Green and Dale Earnhardt Jr. during his rookie Cup season. Cagle discusses spotting at Talladega, the toughest track on the circuit for a spotter, according to Cagle.

“The cars are about three wide just about all day. Daytona is a little bit better than here because Daytona is a little bit more of a handling track, so they get spread out a little better. At Talladega, they’re all just jammed together and there’s no getting away from it. You’ll see a line moving and you work your driver into that line. Your crew chief is hollering for you to get him in the line that’s moving and there’s a wall of cars coming. You can’t just move him up. By the time you key the mike to move him up, sometimes the hole is already closed. It closes that quick. It might be a two-car length hole when the guy is easing by him and he can’t just stand on the brake and get in there.

“Like Phoenix last week. You can get him in a hole. You can see the hole materializing and you know he needs to get up because a slow car is jamming the bottom or whatever. You see a two car length hole behind the guy and you say, ‘OK, the 40 car is going by. As soon as he goes by get up in that hole.’ You can get him in there quick. The other guy might have to check up a little bit, but you can get him in. Here you can’t do that because everybody is in the gas and nobody is checking up. It’s real hard to get them in holes here.”

ARE YOU ON THE MIKE THE ENTIRE RACE WITH JEREMY? “All the time. You wear out a thumb keying the mike. I’ll have no tread on the end of my thumb at the end of the day.”

DO YOU USE JUST ONE SPOTTER HERE? “For years I’ve always just used one spotter. Every once in awhile we’ll put someone on the backstretch. The only thing the backstretch guy can really help you with is coming off turn four. He really can’t help with crashes on the back that much because where they put them they can’t see how they’re wrecking and where everybody is going, so they really can’t help back there unless it’s right in front of them. Off of four is the worst place. They’re coming at you and if you’re on the bottom it’s hard to read with the angle they’re coming at you. If I’m trying to get him up and I know it’s going to be tight I’ll tell him to squeeze it high. If he starts moving and the guy is going to cut him a break, I’ll say clear. If the guy isn’t cutting him a break I’ll tell him to hold his line because the train is coming.”

COMPARE SPOTTING AT TALLADEGA TO A FAST SHORT TRACK LIKE BRISTOL “Everything happens so quick at Bristol, and everybody is jammed together. You can still drive that track and spot that track because you can see that whole track and the faster car can get around a guy that’s not that good. At Talladega you ride until you get a break or until you get help at the right time. You’ve got to understand the drivers here. They’ve got to keep that run going. It’s a decision they’ve got to make. Do I need to check up and kill this run or can I just keep it going?”

DO YOU HAVE TO KNOW THE DRIVERS WHO WILL GIVE YOUR DRIVER A BREAK AND THOSE WHO WON’T? “We know some of the drivers that won’t or some of the drivers that are trying to be heroes or whatever. We know some of the drivers you won’t put your driver around or clear him. Maybe they’re just starting out, proving they should be here or whatever. I’m not picking on the young guys because a couple of guys have been here long enough to know better and they still do it that way. You know the ones you can do that with and those you can’t.”

WHO DO YOU GET TO BE A SPOTTER? “I just got thrown in. I had to swim. When I went to work for Ricky Rudd in 1994 when he started his team, we went to Daytona and I was the team manager. We were trying to get everybody situated for the weekend. A couple of days before the race I told Ricky we didn’t have a spotter. He said to ask Elton Sawyer and see if he would stick around after the Busch race and spot for him. Elton couldn’t do it, so Ricky told me to go up there and do it and just tell me where the wrecks are. So here I am at the Daytona 500, right out of the box, scared to death. I know the look on my face had to be that way. We got through that race and the biggest help I had that day was Randy Dorton. I knew Randy back in the Hendrick days because Randy spotted for Ricky back then. I learned a lot from Randy just listening to him. Listening and doing it is two different things. It’s not like a jackman or tire changer. Those guys can go out and practice. How does a spotter practice? You’ve got to go out and do it. You can spot in practice, but you’ve got to do it in the heat of battle to really know what to do. The biggest thing is you want to give him information and you want the communication to be concise and to the point and you want to be calm. The drivers are already jacked up. You don’t need to jack ‘em up more. You’ve got to be the calming voice. The wrecks happen and you can’t start screaming. I guess that’s my demeanor. I get mad, but it takes awhile. I think that’s helped me be calm. That first day at Daytona, Randy Dorton walked over to me and said he’d help me out. Randy was working for Hendrick, and I was working for Ricky Rudd and he came over and told me things to tell Ricky and those pointers really helped. I think Randy was coaching the other Hendrick spotters that day.”

WHY WOULD ANYONE WANT SUCH A HIGH-PRESSURE JOB? “I enjoy it. I’m Jeremy’s business manager through the week, but I only come to the track to spot. I wouldn’t be here today if Jeremy wasn’t running the Busch race. Spotting is like my fun time. We’ve got a job to do and this is what we’re doing today. Nothing else is going on. I guess it’s about competition, too. I used to race motorcycles, so I guess this is my little competition. I guess I’m doing a pretty good job. I’ve been doing it for 12 years. You feel the pressure sometimes, but if you think about it very long it will get to you. You just relax and do all you can do. If you’re in a wreck, you’re in a wreck and there’s nothing you can do about it. My biggest fear has always been not to drive them into somebody who has been sitting there awhile. You don’t get a big separation like you used to because the cars are so close right now. Used to you could get strung out pretty good. Now, you’re trying to get him through traffic and watch ahead and make sure there are no wrecks. It’s almost like you’ve got to split your eyes, but you can’t. You’re always looking ahead and scanning back. Some tracks it’s harder to find him when you scan back, and this is one of those tracks. Everybody is jammed together here anyway, so you don’t have to look too far ahead. You could be running 30th and still see the front of the pack.”

WHERE DO SPOTTERS COME FROM? “Some are former pit crew members. I have a lot of guys I’ve known through the years. People will call me sometimes and ask for me to help find them somebody. A lot of times you’ll get a Busch team that needs a spotter and I can hook ‘em up with a Cup spotter that’s already here for the weekend. He may not have a Saturday job, so I’ll hook ‘em up. If you get a qualified Cup spotter to spot the Busch race, it’ll cost about $400. I’d say $600-$900 is the range for an experienced Cup spotter in a Cup race. A lot of guys get paid to spot practice, too. Jackmen, gas guys, tire changers get that, too. Everybody’s job is important. The pit crew members do a stop and then get ready for the next one. A spotter never quits. You get a little break when a caution is out, but you’ve always got to be paying attention.”

DOES A SPOTTER GET A PIT STOP DURING THE RACE? “No, you’ve got to hold it. We always go right before the race starts. You don’t drink a ton of water during the race. I’ve never had to have a sub. I’ve missed two races in 12 years. One was when my grandmother died and the other was when my son was born.”