Motorsports has adopted advanced 21st-century tech as much as any other sports realm. Possibly more, in fact. The cars, the communication, the safety standards, and every other subset of championships like NASCAR are bolstered by state-of-the-art engineering. Needless to say, the best engineers in the world work tirelessly to make things run smoothly at any given event. However, it seems the teams are unwilling to pay the minimum industry standard salary for the personnel who run the tech.
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When IMSA pit crew member and racing mechanic, Bozi Tatarevic, put out a post talking about the “highly variable” salary of engineers across NASCAR, many fans expressed shock at the disparity.
One fan wrote, “Most of those salaries are quite a bit lower than I would have guessed.” Another added, “Seems to be about 10% -20% lower than standard engineer pay rates (depending on industry).”
One more said, “Those wages are generally not great, even by Midwestern auto industry standards.”
Forming a workers’ collective was the solution one follower gave: “They need a union. Sheesh.”
That's the problem with NASCAR…….too many book educated yuppies with no common sense
— Mr El HefeBeehave (@AZPrepper) December 17, 2024
The sanctioning body had come down hard on drivers previously for attempting to form unions. An engineers’ union is the last thing they would encourage.
However, forming one could potentially uplift the salaries and job security of the engineers. But the deeper financial issues in the sport also need to be addressed.
Teams are already embroiled in issues with NASCAR citing that they aren’t making enough profits to keep themselves afloat. Higher pay for the employees would increase the burden on them. This could end up into a financial spiral unless the sport figures out a way to bring in more revenue; or a way to share more of the current revenue with the teams.
How much are NASCAR engineers paid?
Mechanic Tatarevic revealed in his post on X that an engineer with a minimum of five years of experience earns at least $71,000 a year in NASCAR. The higher limit stretches to $150,000.
The exact figure depends on the team, its needs, and the employee’s qualifications. For those with one to five years of experience, the range starts from $51,000. Again, the pay varies based on the position and role.
Full-time employees with less than a year of experience earn anywhere between $30,000 and $50,000 annually. While these numbers are standard across racing series, they are below the norm outside motorsports. Average pay for engineers in the US is reportedly $107,282 a year, with higher packages for those with experience.
This disparity forces engineers to move outside of the sport, taking a 20-30% increase in pay. Those who stay back are the ones who have a deep passion for speed, which sadly doesn’t get rewarded with a decent compensation.
