SplendidStorySample-EmployeeFeature

A large organization offers endless options for SplendidStory connections. Occasional human interest features  find their way into employee newsletters and stakeholder publications, and developing more of these types of feature stories on company websites is a terrific way to forge stronger and more personal connections with customers and clients.  This SplendidStory ran as an employee profile in a large company’s internal stakeholder publication.  (Note: Names were changed and omitted for proprietary reasons.)

 PEDAL TO THE METAL
XYZ’s Nick Smith enjoys life in the fast lane

Many auto fanatics connect an early fondness for tiny matchbox-sized toys to a full grown, adult-sized appreciation of the sleek machines parked in their driveways. To a devoted dirt driver like XYZ’s Nick Smith, however, plush amenities and smooth rides are child’s play, and being “into cars” is a far-more-physical, time-intensive and hands-on endeavor.

As a lease operator in XYZ’s Sidney, Montana location, 36-year-old Smith is a “mechanical person” with a passion for racing that requires a pedal-to-the-metal, up-to-your-elbows in grease and built-with-your-bare-hands level of commitment. What he does with automobiles makes the word “enthusiast” sound frivolous, as he spends endless amounts of time and countless dollars building, rebuilding, repairing and refining a completely homemade and painstakingly-customized modified stockcar, and then speeding it around in circles, zig-zagging in the dirt, repeatedly testing its metal and his mettle.

“It gets pretty crazy out there,” Smith explains. “We’re all popping wheelies, spewing dirt and going 80-85 miles per hour. We wear fire suits, helmets and neck restraints. It’s messy work and can get dangerous, but it’s a lot of fun.”

Like anyone with a hobby that has become a lifestyle, Smith doesn’t perceive his life as a motorsport racer with the International Motor Contest Association as particularly special; racing is just something he has ALWAYS wanted to do, so it feels like it was simply meant to be.

“Anything that had wheels on it, I played with it,” he recalls. “My dad had racecars and spent a lot of time restoring a ’55 Chevy. When I was a little kid, I wanted my mom and dad to buy me a go-cart so I could race. Those are really expensive and it wasn’t in the cards back then, but I always wanted to do this. … It just took me awhile.”

As part of the journey, Smith attended the School of Automotive Machinists (SAM) in Houston, Texas, and became a whiz kid at rebuilding high-performance engines — honing mechanical skills along the way that stand him in good stead with XYZ. Smith explains that a love of the road also fits well with his role as a lease operator because he travels to 20 well sites a day, conducting “maintenance and housekeeping checks,” monitoring equipment, fluids and gasses, making sure the “plumbing” is working properly, measuring tanks for production, checking for leaks and collecting data.

“When you want to know how much oil a well is producing, we’re the guys who get all the numbers,” he says. “I drive around in blizzards and every kind of weather, day in and day out, being the eyes and ears of the oil field. … It’s a great job because I get to be out and about all the time instead of staying in an office. There’s a lot of freedom, but also, a lot of responsibility.”

When he’s off the clock, Smith spends his time rebuilding engines for other racers. Most weeknights find him working in his garage with friends, covered in motor oil and goo; while weekends put him on local motorsport speedways in nearby Williston and Dickinson, North Dakota, careening around dirt tracks at high speeds, competing against other racers for prize monies and top honors.

Family support is also high on Smith’s list, and he says his father works the pit crew and his mother owns a “hot shot trucking company,” which helps when it comes to towing his racecar out to the track.

And the vehicle that takes up all his time? It’s a blue  “driving billboard,” bearing the names of 8-10 corporate sponsors and retaining just the front frame rails of its original chassis, a ‘70s Chevelle — what Smith describes as “an old muscle car.” For his signature, Smith chose #55, a number that appeared on his high school and college football jerseys.
It’s his “lucky number,” of course.
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