Lisa Smokstad

Growing up, Lisa Smokstad never considered herself a tomboy.

"I would go in the garage when my dad and brother were in there, and I would try to impress my dad with what I could do," she said. "But I really didn't think much about it back then."

Little did she know that those trips to the garage were the building blocks to a future career.

Smokstad became involved in auto racing and served as a tire specialist for Hendrick Motorsports in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series and Busch Series ranks.

"I never thought this would be a full-time career, absolutely not," Smokstad said. "I received a degree in psychology from the University of Minnesota. I thought I would be doing something in that field."

Actually, Smokstad first started working in auto racing while she was attending Minnesota.

"My brother-in-law used to race Late Models at Raceway Park [in Shakopee, Minn.] and at Elko [Minn.] Speedway," Smokstad said. "I used to go to the races and one day they were shorthanded with their crew, so they asked me to help out with the tires. It was a lot of trial and error back then, but luckily my brother-in-law was very patient."

Smokstad continued to work with cars on the weekends while going to college.

By 1992, she had a psychology degree in hand, and she began working in the field.

Yet, she never lost her love for racing.

In 1996, Smokstad moved up to be a tire specialist for her brother-in-law's American Speed Association car. Around that same time, her husband Craig was hired to work with Ken Schrader's ASA team.

Lisa's work kept turning heads and in 1999 she joined Hendrick Motorsports and its former driver Jack Sprague.

As for Craig, he also worked at Hendrick as the car chief on Ricky Hendrick's No. 5 Chevrolet in the Busch Series.

"When we are at the track, we don't hang out or anything like that," said Lisa, who met Craig in 1989. "We are both there to do jobs and we are completely business."

Lisa's job duties with Sprague's team included ordering tires, checking out the quality of the tires, putting them in sets and monitoring everything they did in practice and in the race.

"Winning is the major goal with this team," Lisa said. "But there are 34 races in the Busch season and I know we can't win them all. So I just want to know at the end of every weekend that I did my job and didn't forget anything. If I can put all the pieces together and we win that is even better."

Lisa had nothing but praise for the tire Goodyear has given her to work with in the Busch Series.

"We are using the same compound as the Winston Cup cars and we have had a stellar tire this year," Lisa said. "Goodyear keeps getting better and better each year they are involved with NASCAR and they have a durable compound now, that also is a lot safer."

If working as a tire specialist in the Busch Series wasn't enough, she also coached for the Cabarrus County Gymnastics Club in Concord, N.C.

"This is the best gymnastic club I have ever worked for," said Lisa, who started gymnastics when she was 6 and coached in the sport off and on from age 16. "I get to coach their competitive team on Monday and Tuesdays. It is a lot of fun."