Drivers get most of the glory in competitive racing, but pit crews are just as important. In addition to keeping the cars functioning at their highest level -- both prior to and during races -- pit crews also help set the sport's culture with their extensive history of pranks.
Pit crews and pranks are so deeply linked that even the Pixar movie "Cars" featured a prankster named Mater on Lightning McQueen's pit crew. With the Indy 500 coming up on May 28, let's look back at some of the best pit crew pranks of all time from the IndyCar Series, NASCAR, and more.
IndyCar Pranks
The drivers themselves got their hands dirty in the prank wars leading up to last year's Indy 500, as a rainy May left them with plenty of time on their hands. The highlights included Conor Daly's hot tub being filled with Orbeez, which are like little jelly beans that expand to 100 times their size in water, as well as Romain Grosjean's scooter being placed atop the Indianapolis Motor Speedway pagoda.
The antics at the 2022 Indy 500 were the latest in a long line of pranks on the IndyCar circuit. In 2021, rookie Scott McLaughlin was greeted by an assortment of balloon sheep around his golf cart, truck, and motorhome. The previous year, the tires from Alexander Rossi's golf cart were removed and placed atop his motorhome, while his golf cart was left sitting on cinder blocks. Pit crews likely played a role in that prank given their expertise in tire removal.
While you can't bet on who will pull off the next great pit crew prank, you can place racing bets on the drivers at the 2023 Indianapolis 500 on the best sports betting sites in the U.S.
NASCAR Pit Crew Pranks
While NASCAR isn't quite at the level of IndyCar when it comes to pranks, these pit crews have performed their fair share of hijinks over the years. Jimmie Johnson and his crew once pranked Martin Truex Jr. and crew chief Cole Pearn by filling the Truex team's hauler with little pink bicycles.
Danny Myers, who served as Dale Earnhardt Sr.'s fueler for six championship seasons with Richard Childress Racing, once locked Richard Petty's crew chief Dale Inman inside a porta-potty using a bungee cord. Inman didn't take too kindly to that prank, and he had a similar reaction when stuntman and NASCAR team owner Hal Needham pranked the whole garage in Charlotte one year by hiring an actor to dress up as a voodoo doctor and walk around placing curses on cars.
Fake Pit Crew, Real Prank
This next pit crew prank bears mentioning even though its perpetrators are far from a professional pit crew.
Last June, an unsuspecting driver stopped at a red light on Princes Street in Edinburgh, Scotland, and was treated to a surprise pit stop. Five unidentified men in Ferrari pit crew attire, and a sixth dressed as Mario from Nintendo, approached the car waving around inflatable wheels and a green race car card. They did some imaginary work on the car, then jumped out of the way and waved the vehicle on as soon as the light turned green.
A passerby captured the prank on video and uploaded it to TikTok, where the impromptu pit stop got nearly 100,000 views within 24 hours.
These pit crew pranks, whether on the track or on a random road in Scotland, are among the best of the best.
