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If you passed by Lehigh University’s Iacocca Hall this week, you might have seen something you don’t see every day: people changing the tires of a NASCAR-style car in the middle of the parking lot.

The visiting Mandela Washington Fellows and other members of the Lehigh community participated in the Pit Crew Challenge this, during which they were challenged to quickly use mechanical equipment to change four tires on an actual retired NASCAR vehicle.

For races in which the margin between winner and loser is milliseconds, speed and efficiency are critical for NASCAR pit crews. The Pit Crew Challenge is a unique experiential learning activity that applies that metaphor to teach the concepts of high-performing cultures. 

“The NASCAR pit stop is one of the most efficient elements in all of sports,” said Bob Parker, owner of the Pit Crew Challenge and an Iacocca Institute Executive Fellow. “At the end of the day, losing one second in the pits translates to 100 feet on a racetrack, which is the difference between winning and losing a race.”

The participants are timed, received coaching, and must improve and become faster with each attempt. The experience teaches several key themes that drive high-performing cultures, Parker said, like collaboration, trust vs. risk, managing complexity, building a coaching culture, breaking down silos, and working together toward a common goal.

“We try to take the Fellows out of their comfort zones and put them into situations they likely would not be in if they hadn't come here,” said Scott Koerwer, Executive Director of the Iacocca Institute. “The Pit Crew Challenge is one such scenario that helps developing global leaders better understand complexity and social systems with competing values and processes, as well as the inevitability of episodic ambiguity and uncertainty.”

The Iacocca Institute leads innovative programs that combine immersion in an extremely diverse living community with learning experiences in entrepreneurship, leadership, and more. The Pit Crew Challenge is well aligned with the institute’s mission to create the leaders of tomorrow – global future makers.

“The three values of a pit crew are speed, safety, and quality, and you have to have all three of them or it can’t work,” Parker said. “That metaphor carries over to business and working groups, because if you neglect one, everything suffers.”

The Iacocca Institute is hosting 25 of Africa’s bright, emerging business leaders for six weeks in its capacity as an Institute Partner for the 2024 Mandela Washington Fellowship for Young African Leaders, an initiative sponsored by the U.S. Department of State.

The Pit Crew Challenge was just one of several activities planned for the Mandela Fellows during their time at Lehigh. Check global.lehigh.edu/news in upcoming weeks for additional stories specifically about the fellows and the program.

In addition to Mandela Fellows, other members of the Lehigh community participated in the Pit Crew Challenge, including representatives of the Office of Creative Inquiry and the College of Business’ undergraduate programs team.

Bill Whitney, Assistant Vice Provost for Experiential Learning Programs, said the challenge was unlike anything he or his colleagues at the Creative Inquiry had ever done before, and it was an effective framework for understanding teamwork and leadership.

“It's a great way to re-envision the whole idea of working as a team,” Whitney said. “You have to trust your teammates and trust yourself. I just think it's a really clever, really creative way to think about the whole idea of doing a task and having a project.”

Marina Odierno, Associate Director of Professional Development at Lehigh’s College of Business, said the college’s undergraduate programs team is seeking to translate the concepts from the Pit Crew Challenge to the current student population and the way they approach motivations, values, and career paths.

“It's just a great team-building experience, and it’s also great to just get out from behind our desks and laptops and do something physical like this,” she said.

Parker has been operating the Pit Crew Challenge for 24 years. It is not officially affiliated with NASCAR.