A Legendary NASCAR Coach’s Secrets of Team Performance

Andy Papathanassiou became NASCAR’s first “pit crew coach,” and an original member of Jeff Gordon’s race team in 1992. His philosophy and views as an outsider ultimately shifted the paradigm of how pit crews train their members. Andy employed an athletic mindset which centered on practice and repetition, coaching and review, innovation and process improvement. Collectively, he calls this philosophy, Over the Wall. Andy holds a Bachelor’s in economics and Master’s degree in Sociology, from Stanford University, starting four years on the football team. This athletic career formed the foundation of his disruptive history in professional motorsports.