NASCAR haulers: How do these 18-wheelers transport race cars and more?
Over the years NASCAR has become a huge part of American sporting culture. Founded in 1947, it now sanctions more than 1,200 races across America, Canada, Mexico and Europe.
Getting the highly specialised race cars from one race to another presents the teams with a problem. You won’t see a race car being driven on normal roads, and since the NASCAR races are so spread out across America, they have to be transported in a specialised hauler to each race venue. These haulers do much more than simply transport the cars; they function as repair shops, restaurants, meeting rooms, viewing platforms and storage facilities.
As every racetrack on the calendar is different, each NASCAR team will alter the setup of their cars depending on the conditions. This means that every car has to return to the team’s base after each race before it can be transported to the next. Once it gets back to base, every single item on board the hauler is removed, before being either cleaned or replaced and then loaded back on. This equates to around 10,000 items – comparable to packing and unpacking a four-bedroom house every week for 38 weeks a year. Without the haulers, the drivers would have no feasible way of transporting their cars, and would likely be ill-prepared for their next race.
Inside the race shop on wheels
Inside a NASCAR hauler
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