With so much at stake with each race, how does Klausmeier keep himself cool? The answer: When you’re under pressure, remember your training and rely on your plan.

Step 1: DEVELOP A PLAN.

About one month before any given competition, Klausmeier and his team begin drafting a rough plan for the race, including logistics and strategies. Between then and race day, the plan undergoes many edits and changes. “Every track is different,” he says, explaining that it is important to pay attention to details when developing scenarios. “Different race cars go to different tracks. Different tracks require different things. We race at tracks where the handling is most important so we emphasize the shocks, springs, and increasing the aerodynamic downforce on the car. Other tracks require the least amount of aerodynamic drag, so we focus on streamlining the body and engine horsepower.”

One week before the race, Klausmeier and his team meet with each of the departments to get briefed on the latest developments for the upcoming event. Klausmeier, a crew chief at Stewart-Haas, is in charge of bringing each element of the race together and putting the best car on the racetrack.

“I’m basically like the head coach in football — bringing all of the hard work of the team together and making sure we’re putting the best product on the track in order to win races and championships,” he says.

Step 2: PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE.

Klausmeier explains that the team spends Tuesday and Wednesday of race week “populating a play book,” which outlines scenarios that the driver and team may encounter during the race. During the practice phase, each specialty department, such as fabrication, aerodynamics, and engine, runs through the demands of the race from their perspective, and the team interfaces with the driver to make sure their need in the race car are met.

There are many hours of practicing pit stops at the Stewart-Haas pit training facility. This is a practice area that mimics the pit stall layout at the track. The team performs mock pit stop scenarios four days a week prior to the event giving the pit crew repetitions to execute tire changes in seconds.

The team typically travels to the race location the Thursday before race day and completes qualifying sessions on Friday. Saturday is primarily reserved for practice sessions and preparing for the competition the following day. The practice sessions give Klausmeier and his team the opportunity to run through the race strategy, compare notes with the driver, and address any challenges that came up during the practice sessions.

Step 3: STAY FLEXIBLE ON RACE DAY.

On race day, Klausmeier can be found on the “pit box,” which sits behind the pit wall. His team works through race strategies, makes adjustments, and coordinates what will be modified during pit stops. “After two days of practice, the morning before the race you are bolting in what you think is the ultimate set up,” he explains. “You present the car for the final race inspection and that’s when we’ll start the race. That’s where all of the strategy planning and the handling adjustments take over to keep the driver in position to win.”

Race cars do not have fuel gauges, which means that the race engineers perform the calculations by hand to determine how much fuel the car has left and how many more laps can be completed on that amount of fuel. “When winning the race comes down to a few ounces of fuel, it definitely adds another element of excitement,” says Klausmeier. “It’s definitely an adrenaline rush because every decision that you make affects so many things.”

Step 4: LEARN FROM YOUR MISTAKES.

Klausmeier and his team are responsible for preventing and addressing mistakes during the race. They rely on checks and balances to make sure that mistakes are not a frequent occurrence on the racetrack. “Sometimes there’s going to be a parts failure, there’s going to be an engine failure or something that you can’t control. So, you really have to make a lot of on-the-fly decisions depending on what happens to get the best possible outcome,” he explains.

The day after the race, the entire team meets to discuss and debrief with the driver. Klausmeier says that the team reviews a lengthy checklist of items and addresses any issues that came up during the race. “There are a lot of things that go into it. But at the end, obviously, the goal is to win races and championships,” he says. “When it’s all said and done, we are going for the best aerodynamics, the best horsepower, the fastest pit crews, and that’s what wins races with a good driver.”

— Megan Hanks

Photos courtesy of Stewart-Haas

Six finalists pitched creative business ideas to a panel of judges during UMBC’s fifth annual Cangialosi Business Innovation Competition (CBIC), held on April 25, 2018 in the new UMBC Event Center. The business ideas ranged from online tools and apps to products with medical applications.

The Cangialosi Business Innovation Competition is for undergraduate and graduate students who are serious about starting a business, explains Vivian Armor ’73, American studies, director of the Alex. Brown Center for Entrepreneurship at UMBC. Throughout the course of the competition, each team is paired with an industry mentor who provides guidance and professional advice ahead of a final Shark Tank-style event. The structure of the event and its focus on mentorship are inspired by the vision of entrepreneur Greg Cangialosi ‘96, English, reflecting on his own undergraduate days at UMBC and what he has learned in the years since then about moving from an idea to a successful company.

Second place was awarded to Matrix Cast, an idea presented by Flo De Sande ‘18, mechanical engineering. Matrix Cast is a plastic cast that is produced using a 3D printer, and can be altered to fit all arm shapes and sizes. De Sande explained that Matrix Cast offers a low-cost cast option for physicians working in remote or low-resource locations, such as communities served through Doctors Without Borders or military installations in conflict zones. The cast is a “pressure vessel” type design, which, while made from plastic, is very sturdy, explained De Sande during her business pitch.

GermoSense, a rapid sepsis-detection test developed by Mustafa Al-Adhami, M.S. ‘15, mechanical engineering, Ph.D. ‘19, mechanical engineering, received first place in the competition. Sepsis is a life-threatening blood infection that, if not treated promptly, can lead to serious complications and even death in mere days. Currently, the test that medical professionals rely on to diagnose sepsis can take several days to yield results. Because of this challenge, physicians often start patients who they suspect have sepsis on broadband antibiotics, which can help if the patient has sepsis but might be unnecessary and ineffective for people facing other medical conditions that are presenting similarly to sepsis.

Al-Adhami explained that GermoSense is able to determine whether a patient has sepsis within one hour, which can lead to shorter hospital stays, help prevent antibiotic resistance by avoiding unnecessary antibiotic use, and reduce medical costs. GermoSense costs approximately $100 to use, compared to comparable tests that can cost $170 or more. At last year’s CBIC, Al-Adhami presented GermoSense, then at an earlier stage of development, and took third place in the competition.

For Cangialosi, the event was not just about identifying top projects, but, more broadly, about helping young entrepreneurs move toward success one step at a time. Taking in the creativity and energy of the event, he reflected, “This room is filled with dreams and entrepreneurial spirit.”

All photos by Marlayna Demond ’11 for UMBC. 

• 9th place finish overall at Baja SAE Maryland
• 14th place overall at Baja SAE Kansas (including 3rd place in Maneuverability and 2nd place overall in dynamic events)
• 6th place overall at Baja SAE Oregon (including a 4th place finish in the Endurance race and 6th place in Design)