Brockton’s Lisa Jacobs has gone from

auto racing novice to pit crew worker

By Dan Goldman, Enterprise staff writer

BROCKTON-When Lisa Jacobs first made the trip down to Thompson Speedway last April, her only intention was to help her mother, Dolly Abbott, with her camera equipment.

Jacobs, a Brockton resident and medical assistant, had never been to an auto race before and thought they looked boring on TV.  However, things changed for Jacobs that day at the Connecticut speedway.  While her mother photographed the Abundant Life Church’s No. 28 car, which races for the Braintree church to raise money for overseas missionaries, Jacobs became involved with the race team.

“They were short (several) guys on the pit crew and needed help, so they asked me to be a part of the team,” Jacobs recalled.  Heading into the day, Jacobs only had limited experience in working with cars, watching her husband, Eric, build Jacobs’ first car, a 1975 Oldsmobile Cutlass.

“That first day, I went down there I said, “I’ve seen it done, I can do this”  So I just jumped in,”  Jacobs said.  Now Jacobs absorbs all the car knowledge she can from her fellow pit crew workers and helps with several key tasks in the car’s maintenance.  “The guys were so willing to teach me,” Jacobs said.  “I have to check the size of the tires, check hot and cold temperatures to check the expansion and measure how far down the shocks have come each time he brings the car back in.”  Jacobs also sets up the team’s radio system, so driver Greg Nanigian can communicate with his pit team and spotter.  The only aspect she has not joined in on is working on the engine directly.

Likewise, Jacobs’ mother is not afraid to get her hands dirty when she is not photographing races.  “She has jumped in a few times,” Jacobs said.  “She is almost 60 years old, but she will push that car where it needs to go and she’ll change a tire if they need her to, though we try not to let her.”

The racing team started a year ago, led by Nanigian, a Braintree resident who began racing 10 years ago at Thompson Speedway independently.  He quit racing for a year and a half, because of the time commitment required of his hobby.  “They (church members) encouraged me to get back into it and they wanted to crew with me,” Nanigian said.  “I thought about it and I prayed on it.  “If I was going to get back into it, I had to have a bigger purpose than me trying to go out there and win every time.  This is how I came up with the process of racing for charity.”

All of the sponsorship money and winnings the car brings in go toward the church’s mission program with the team raising $6,000 last year.  So far this year, the team has raised almost $7,000.  To keep the proceeds going toward the church, all of the expenses needed to operate the car is fronted by Nanigian.  He estimates that he has spent roughly $44,000 this year on the car’s maintenance and upkeep.

In recent years, the Abundant Life Church has sent missionaries to St. Petersburg, Russia, along with Kampala, Uganda, and Chennai India to help orphans.  In September, another group will head to Chaing Mai, Thailand.

Church pastor Ron Ray joined the group that made the trip to Uganda last year.  “We spent almost three weeks in Uganda last summer,” Ray said.  “Twenty-one of us went and we worked with child care ministries and built two classrooms, distributed 120 first aid kits and provided medical care.”

The pit crew is composed mostly of church members from 17 to 60 years old, who volunteer their time on race days to get the Chevy Monte Carlo ready to race.

The car has a 460-horsepower engine, slightly less than NASCAR’s Nextel Cup cars which have nearly 600 horsepower.  Cars at AThompson can reach top speeds of 136 miles per hour with races usually between 30 and 75 laps, so the car does not need to pit unless Nanigian feels the car needs an adjustment.

Just having a car with the church’s name has caught some eyes around the track.  “People spot it and want to know what it’s about,” Ray said.  “Sponsors are usually all kinds of things, seeing (the church’s name) on the side of the car kind of peaks some interest.”  Support for the team also comes from the church members who cannot make the trip on race days.

“We had the car in the church parking lot and prayed by the car for a safe season,”Ray said.  “We kind of dedicated the car to see what we could have happen with the missions.”

Although helping with the race team is a considerable commitment, Jacobs plans to continue making the trip down to Thompson for every race, where her crew’s car will next race on September 13 in the TNTT 6 NWAAS Division.

“I like it because it’s for a worthy cause,” Jacobs said, “just the excitement of being there and seeing the driver out there.  Seeing a car you helped put out there.  It is not like watching on TV, it is somebody you actually know out there.”

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-Gallery, May 10, 2007-     -Gallery, May 22, 2007-     -Gallery, June 28, 2007-     -Gallery, July 19, 2007-

-Gallery, August 16, 2007 The Track-     -Gallery, August 16, 2007 The Crew-    -Gallery, August 16, 2007 Miscellaneous

-Gallery, September  13, 2007 The Track-     -Gallery, September 13, 2007 The Crew-     -Gallery, September 13, 2007 Miscellaneous

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