The NTT INDYCAR SERIES season is a marathon that spans six months with 17 races featuring a variety of track layouts, surfaces, climates and travel. It takes consistency throughout the schedule to be in the fight for the championship by the time the season finale comes around. The season comes with physical, mental and emotional swings, and one of the keys to delivering peak performance is managing each of those components.  

Throw in the major sprint that is the Month of May and the Indianapolis 500, and you’ve got yourself quite the challenge. So, how do drivers and teams manage to not only stay afloat, but rise to the occasion and lift coveted hardware? It starts with the preparation in the offseason; once you’re in the season, the grind never slows.  

“Unlike other professionals athletes that get, say, five weeks of spring training to play themselves into shape or training camp, our drivers don't get that runway into a season,” says Ryan Harber, Head of Human Performance, Health & Wellness. “You really set yourself up for success in the offseason to build the work capacity. The same is true for the crew members. Once the season starts, you hang on for life to the strength you built over the offseason and minimize the dropoff.” 

Drivers notably focus on building strength in their neck muscles to withstand the G-forces of turns, as well as building up cardiovascular endurance as their heart rates throughout a race sit around 150-170 beats per minute for a two-hour race. For the over-the-wall crew members, they spend time in the gym focusing on exercises that improve their core strength and stability. When the tire changers go out to do their job during a pit stop, they’re on their knees, meaning that they have to activate their core muscles more than if they were standing up. With a stronger core, the more efficient that tire-changing movement will be.  

The other focus area for both crew members and drivers is hand-eye coordination. That skill is crucial in a sport that can be decided by hundredths of a second. From the tire-changers to the fuelers and everything in between, these are quick movements that require precision. 

“These aren’t necessarily ‘hard’ movements, but they are very technical,” Ryan says. “The biggest thing is that they have to make those quick movements and decisions under duress.” 

In the NTT INDYCAR SERIES, the over-the-wall crew members are also the mechanics on the car, meaning that they aren’t being asked to just perform on pit stops – their job is always on all weekend long. This can naturally lead to fatigue on race day, which is something crew members throughout the series try to combat to perform at their best on the biggest day.   

“This is when they’re expected to be at their best,” Ryan says. “One thing that we’re focusing on is building more work capacity, trying to get them used to being on their feet to withstand the load they’re taking on a race weekend and the course of a season.” 

The increased time spent at the track in May forces the crew into different routines, as it almost eliminates the time to exercise, cook meals at home and get proper sleep. In the biggest month of the year when you’d think health and wellness would be prioritized, the opposite becomes true – the opportunities to get proper exercise, nourishment and sleep become limited. 

It would make sense, then, that this strain isn’t just taxing on bodies, but also takes a mental toll. Drivers face the pressure of constant focus on track trying to nail the perfect lap time after time, while crew members are always “on,” whether it’s working on the car in the shop, at track or performing in the pits on race day. That stress mounts even more in the Month of May, when the eyes of the sports world are on them.  

As mental health and wellness has come to the forefront publicly in recent years, sports fans understand now more than ever the impact that mental health has on performance. That’s why employing strategies to stay calm and cool under pressure are so important for drivers and crews in motorsports. Understanding how to manage those stress levels can make or break the month.  

“To our bodies, stress is stress. It’s physiologically the same: increased blood pressure, heart rate, breathing, increased cortisol in the bloodstream,” Ryan says. “Stress is the common denominator in the experience of life. We all face it no matter where we live, how much money we have, how old we are or our level of fitness.” 

Drivers and teams throughout the series are learning more and more about the resources available to them to build strategies for improved focus and mental performance. Whether it’s music therapy, meditation, therapy or other solutions, people throughout the sport are identifying what they need individually to put themselves in positions to succeed with the resources at hand. 

“Building resilience is the key to high-performing teams,” Ryan says. “Resilience comes from the ability to turn your stress-response system up to its maximum when you need it, and then shut it off when you don’t. The more we challenge ourselves to do hard things and to be comfortable with being uncomfortable, the more resilient we become.”

It doesn’t stop there, either. The intense heat and temperatures that teams face can lead to weight loss and dehydration, so preparing ahead of time to understand best practices for nutrition and hydration are crucial.  

“When other systems start to fall under duress, such as weight loss due to dehydration, research tells us that a one-to-two percent decrease in weight leads to a 10 percent decrease in performance, and that’s typically coming on the decision-making side,” Ryan says. “To counteract that, we’re trying to identify each person’s electrolyte needs and provide those hydrations solutions before a race weekend and at track.” 

There are other strategies team members use in May to manage the heavy workload, mostly revolving around sleep. When they get home from the track, a lot of crew members do what’s absolutely necessary at home, then head to sleep. Others find time during on-track sessions to take micro-naps while cars are on track. Time is valuable in May, so making the most of it is crucial to everyone vying for the Borg-Warner trophy. 

“That’s the hard part with how condensed the schedule is,” Ryan says. “The crew doesn’t have the opportunity to get their workouts in. So, they do what they can to hang on.” 

Ryan is focused on maximizing human performance across the board as the team pursues victory at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and in the NTT INDYCAR SERIES championship. 

“At Arrow McLaren, we’re dedicated to investing in our team’s wellness,” Ryan says. “The aim is to optimize performance, reduce stress and create a sustainable environment where everyone can perform their best both on and off the track.”