Sporting News’ 60 Most Beautiful People: No. 53, T.J. Ford
In 60 years of NASCAR racing, the sport has been filled with colorful characters. This year, Sporting News decided to craft a list of the sport's 60 Most Beautiful People.
The selections were made as a result of nominations sent in by readers and NASCAR fans to the Sporting News' publications and Web sites.
The list was finalized and published in a special edition, which is now available on newsstands and at the online store at streetandsmiths.com. SceneDaily is running the list, with one person from the top 60 to be featured each day.
Today's installment features No. 53, T.J. Ford.
Although he followed NASCAR when he was younger, T.J. Ford had no experience working on a pit crew or even an idea of how race cars worked. Dirt bikes were his thing. He had been a motocross racer since the age of 10.
But with practice and extensive training, Ford caught on quickly and moved up the ranks to where he was this past season - the jackman and a team leader for Paul Menard's NASCAR Sprint Cup Series crew.
A number of injuries and concussions forced Ford to stop racing motocross in 2003, and it was at a gym where he was approached about a new career.
"A guy I worked out with, Walt Smith (a longtime NASCAR pit-crew coach), told me that they were starting up a Hooters Pro Cup racing team, and they were looking for new guys who had never worked on a pit crew before, so they didn't have to break old habits," says Ford, who also owns a landscaping company in Charlotte, N.C., whose clientele includes NASCAR drivers.
Ford made the team and catapulted himself into the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series in just one year. He credits his athleticism (Ford played football, baseball and basketball at Northside Christian Academy in Charlotte) and Smith's tutelage for the quick move.
"The way Walt trained me ... the right way how to do things, it taught me a lot," Ford says. "Training plays a big part of it. There's a lot of things to get done in 13 seconds, and a lot of it is being mentally strong. In that time, you're put in the limelight, and pit stops are where you can win or lose a race."
