Wednesday, April 27, 2016

BG LB Paul Swan on NASCAR Pit Crew

This is an interesting one.  So I read in the recent BGSU Alumni magazine about Paul Swan, a starting LB at BG who know is on a NASCAR pit crew.  Swan is an interesting guy.  When he committed under Brandon from WI, he was kind of unheralded.  He stayed on when Brandon left and came to BG.  He really made himself into a contributor, for which he gets a lot of credit, as well as Mike Elko, who I think was a terrific football coach.  Swan went on to make 38 starts and be a two-time captain and a prominent member of oppressive defense of the 2013 MAC Title team.  I thought he was an all-MAC performer that year, but he was not selected.

Anyway, he was interning with Wake Forest when NASCAR called.  According to this, they like college football players because the work is demanding, physical and requires athleticism.  In particular, LBs, FBs and TEs.

Here's  a great quote:

“I knew nothing about NASCAR — zero,” the Wisconsin native said. “But the notion of getting involved on one of the pit crews really intrigued me. What they were saying was that you can’t take a mechanic and teach him how to be an athlete, but you can take an athlete and teach him how to work on the pit crew. These racing teams realized that football players could be a great addition to their crews.”

He's with Richard Childress Racing, for NASCAR fans.

Good luck, Paul!

4 comments :

Anonymous said...

He is with Brendan gaughan in xfinity racing. One step below from the main show of Sprint cup

Orange said...

Excellent, thanks for the update and thanks for reading.

Anonymous said...

Just a follow up on my post: his team is only 36 points out of first place. Following NASCAR, a team isn't that successful without a strong pit crew.

Anonymous said...

It now looks like Paul is now rear tire changer for ty Dillon. Grandson of Richard childress owner of Richard childress racing. Still in Xfinity series