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“Okay. Come and get me when you’re ready. I’ll plug in the new specs and requirements for this year based on the new racing package.”
She smiles. “Sounds good. Elle and I have a few things to discuss then I’m going to throw in a workout, so maybe after two?”
“Sounds good. I’ll be in my office,” I inform her as she walks out of the conference room with Elle. I grab my clipboard and head off to my office.
A knock on my door pulls my attention away from the slew of emails I have. I turn to see Mac at the door. “What’s up?”
“Nothing. Bud’s touring the floor with that new crew chief. Thought you’d like to know.”
I nod. “Thanks. Just keep an eye on them. Thankfully, we haven’t started to personalize any setup yet.”
“Do you really think he messed with the car yesterday?” Mac questions.
I shrug. “I would hate to have that be true, but there’s no other explanation as we were all together and none of us touched it.”
“That’s just bullshit. Doesn’t he realize that it hurts the team and him if she fails?”
“I don’t think he cares that much about the consequences as long as she is not a driver, if that makes sense,” I offer back as my only thought of explanation.
“It’s bullshit, Saint. She’s a nice person. Well, what we know of her. Dude, she brought us coffee and snacks as a thank you for the weekend.”
“Did she?” I ask as I smile.
“She did. And she was sincere about it all.” He holds up his hands and shrugs. “Pretty cool, if you ask me.”
“That was genuinely nice of her. I’ll make sure to tell her thank you when I see her. Now, go find something to do. Maybe pull the pit crew to do mock stops. We need to shed a few seconds off the pit stops.”
“Got it, Saint,” he replies as he heads back into the shop. I stand and head to my door to peek out on the floor. As said, Bud was with the new guy, Drake, and they were hanging around our area of the shop.
Their newly formed friendship has me concerned. Bud didn’t like the idea of Haisley driving in the series. Hell, he feels no woman should, but I really did think he’d be more professional about everything. I haven’t gotten that feeling yet.
“Saint, just the man we were looking for,” Bud says spotting me.
“What can I do for you?” I reply stepping out of my office and taking a couple of steps towards them.
“Just showing Drake around,” Bud replies.
“Shouldn’t you already know the shop? I mean you’ve been here for about two weeks now, no?” I wonder.
The cocky bastard smiles and shrugs. “Just seeing how Bud here keeps his team in check.” He didn’t just say that, did he?
“Oh, really? Well, Bud is an invaluable source of information and experience,” I deflect from the other comment. “If you two don’t mind, I do have some work to do.”
“Do we have the specs from the woman yet?” Bud questions as I turn to head to the machine room.
“Nope. I’ll let you know when we do. Don’t worry, we’ve just installed the engine into the frame this morning. Still, lots of time to tweak it. Race isn’t for three weeks.” I head towards the machine shop, where Neil tends to hang out. He and his crew are responsible for building the cars. We always have a primary and a backup. We also start building cars for future races, especially later in the season when the race schedule is more hectic.
“Tell me all the good things,” I say as I round the bay he’s in.
“All good so far. Engines are installed in the primary and backup. Crew is currently working on fitting the rest of the components,” he replies as I nod.
“Okay, and the engines and specs make sense, right? I know we’ve been looking at the specs for this race for weeks, just want to make sure we don’t have any issues.”
“So far, we’re good. Not much has been done with the cars yet, Saint. So, we have time if you want to triple and quadruple check the requirements,” he states.
“I just might. I hate the feeling that there’s something going on that I’m not sure about. I’ve never doubted him or this race team before, but how he’s been acting…” I trail off not wanting to say much more. In all honesty, there’s a part of me that is paranoid that something is going on behind our backs.
“We’ve got your back, Saint. I can stall him if needed. No worries. Go work on the setups, okay?”
