Photo courtesy of Dinah Mullins
Ladies and Gentlemen welcome to the first Q&A of this season. Usually I’d dig down deep interviewing the drivers, but in this article, I chose to go on the other side of the headset and interview spotter Brad Newman. During the Bowman Gray season Brad spots for Fletcher Whaley (Street Stock), Kyle Southern (Sportsman), Kevin Orlando (Modified), Jr Snow (Stadium Stock). Over the years he has spotted for over twenty different drivers and has
collected 11 wins.
Q: What was it that got you interested in racing, and what was it about racing that got you interested in being a spotter?
A: As a child my parents would drag me to races to go support my uncle, he was a crew member for Toby Tilley in the 90’s. In 2012 the Tilley family got back into asphalt racing and he invited me to become a part of the team at the Stadium. The following year we struggled finding a full- time spotter on a week-to-week basis, so I took over the reins for Michael. Even though I had absolutely no idea what I was doing, I taught myself and went to school on spotting and learned from guys like Charlie Brown at the local level (Andy Seuss’ spotter) and scanning Cup guys like Tony Hirschman on Sunday.
Q: I know you spot for multiple drivers… is there any difficulty knowing that each driver has a different driving style? A: Yeah for sure. Some guys I work with are very aggressive and have no problem using the bumper, so you have to fight your way out of the pits each night. While other guys love to really work their competition over until they make a mistake. It really is just a big learning process. The unique
thing about being a spotter is having the ability to kind of plug and play sometimes. There have been times where guys have been in a pinch and just need someone the night of a race and you just have to do your job and help them stay out of trouble. On the other hand you have instances where I spotted for the Kossek family at Hickory for a few months a couple years ago (at the time their son Josh was 14) and had to be more of a teacher to Josh while also still doing my best to put him in a good position. The last thing I’ve learned over time is unless someone comes to me and says, “I like a lot of chatter”, as a spotter you want to be clear and concise. Less is always more.
Q: As a spotter what is a normal day like for you to prepare for each driver you work with?
A: Usually it’s an all-day process. If it’s my first time working with someone, I’ll get my stop watches ready and watch practice of different classes before we go out, so I know track conditions and trends. I’ll try to relay as much information to our guys before we go out so we can have an effective and efficient practice and learn some things. Afterwards we will gameplan
for the race depending on what our starting position is. If it’s someone like Kyle or Kevin who I help all the time, I know where we need to be as a team each weekend at most tracks. I will try my best to help us get the car as close to that as I can and once again gameplan for the race based
on starting position.
Q: Growing up did you have a particular spotter you grew fond of and wanted to be like? A: As I stated earlier before I got into being a part of a particular crew I always scanned Andy Seuss and Charlie on the Southern Tour back in their prime in the late 2000’s to early 2010’s. To this day I actually still use his method of calculating car lengths of competitors behind you.
Q: You worked with many different drivers, who would you say is the easiest to work with and spot for?
A: I’ve got an unbelievable group of drivers that I have spotted for the last year or so with Kyle Southern, Kevin Orlando, Jr Snow, Zach Brewer and Fletcher Whaley. From the moment I started spotting for Kyle and Kevin I automatically noticed how well we meshed together. They’re both fantastic listeners on the radio and give good feedback in the pit area to help us as a
team get better throughout the day. Jr and Fletcher are (in their own way) very low maintenance and put themselves in good positions throughout the race which makes my job pretty easy on Saturdays.
Q: Would you say there is more pressure being a spotter since you’re pretty much the one who can see everything and tell the driver what line to take and etc?
A: I know drivers don’t see it that way. But, I think I can speak for most of my spotter friends in saying I do feel a very large responsibility in making sure our car comes into the pit area the same way it left, or as close as I can get to that at the stadium. Unfortunately, there are instances where you don’t have anywhere to go in wrecks and that’s just a part of it. If you put your driver in a bad position and end up losing some spots on a restart or worst case scenario getting them involved in a wreck you can’t dwell on it. Best thing to do is make sure you’re on the same page as your driver and move forward as a team to the next week.
Q: What would you say motivates you to be a better spotter?
A: I guess there’s still that large part of me that considers this a dream I want to chase. I think I am just as good if not better than anyone else that puts a headset on, and I think my drivers I’ve worked with would agree with me.
Q: If you could spot for anyone past or present in Cup, BGS or anywhere who would that driver be?
A: Man, that is tough…. I’d have to probably break it down between a couple guys for different reasons. Clint Bowyer is absolutely second to none when it comes to racing.
Q: You’re also known for your photography page Brad Newman Photography; what do you say you enjoy more taking pictures or spotting for drivers?
A: The satisfaction of winning or putting together a solid race as a spotter cannot be replicated. Although I have a knack for taking pictures, I would always pick up the headset first if it came down to it.
Q: What would you say, makes a good spotter?
A: What makes a good spotter is a huge combination of things. I don’t think there’s a such thing as a “bad spotter” that does it for a living as I do, I just think there are spotters that are better than others. First thing is obviously communication. As a spotter you have to be clear, confident, concise and precise with your words and feedback to your driver. A lot of guys tend to overdo it with chatter because they let the heat of the moment get to them, that can’t happen. It doesn’t matter if you’re four wide for the lead or four laps down the guys on Sunday’s are emotionally and verbally consistent. Having the perfect mix of being a teacher and spotter is important. Your
driver needs to know what’s going on in practice or in the race? Why is that going on? What line is fast? who is fast, what are they doing? What do we do as a team to put ourselves in a better position than we’re in? Studying wrecks and being able to predict where a car is and isn’t going to be on track during an incident is an art that takes years to comprehend. Luckily since I’m usually at the same handful of tracks I know how cars tend to roll and whatnot during a wreck so I can kind of predict where we need to be. As always you can’t predict everything, and things will ultimately happen that are out of your control. Being thick-skinned in situations like this are important. There will be a time guys or crews will say things to you as constructive criticism or just criticism in general and you cannot let that affect your performance, your driver counts on that. At the end of the day your guy wants you up there for a reason, that’s all that matters.
Second to last thing I’ll touch on it is always be prepared (cannot stress this enough) if you’re equipment goes out on you or you didn’t bring what you needed for the night, I promise you won’t get another chance with most guys. The least you can do is come prepared especially since we’re all getting paid to do this. Lastly, no matter where you’re at or where you’re going bring your bag with you. Bet on yourself and take chances, you never know when you may get the call and saying no isn’t an option for me.
I want to take this time to thank Brad Newman for taking the time and doing an interview with me! Brad hopes to be a spotter at a couple of one-off deals in the Xfinity and or Truck series races in the future. I want to wish him along with his drivers best wishes for this upcoming season along with his hopes of spotting in Xfinity and Trucks.
Be sure you’re at the Madhouse Saturday April 18th for the season premiere of the 72nd season as it’ll be the Hayes Jewelers 200, 40 lap Sportsman race, along with Street Stock and Stadium Stock.
Cody Heacox is a regular contributor to Bowman Gray Racing Coverage for SportsCarolina Monthly.
