The paddock of a racetrack during an SCCA® road racing weekend is a dynamic place. First and foremost, you get to haggle with your friends and competitors over the best paddock space and then unload your gear. There’s always car preparation to be done, practice sessions to get through, qualifying to be completed, and then the all-important final preparations for the race. New tires need to be mounted, the windshield cleaned, radio batteries charged, fuel added, and weight adjusted so you’re just a few ounces above minimum weight at the end of the race. Yet none of this accounts for the insanity that ensues when something unexpected happens to your competition car. For that, there’s a trick that can turn this stressful inevitability into something quite manageable – and that trick is as simple as a box.

Problems during a road racing weekend are almost guaranteed. Some are small, simple problems (like there’s rain in the forecast and you need to run to the auto parts store for wiper blades), and others are quite large (perhaps the left front corner of your car has been…err…unexpectedly adjusted). The secret to being successful during a busy racing weekend is your ability to solve these problems quickly and effectively, getting you back on track and ready to race while remaining relatively unfrazzled.

Being well prepared for these problems before they happen (and we all know problems are coming) has helped me to have much more successful road racing weekends. Being prepared means having spare parts, the correct tools to install those parts, and the know-how and assistance in the paddock to get everything done before your car needs to be on grid. I’ve compartmentalized these solutions in boxes with easy-to-read labels on them. I have a specific box for brake fluid bleeding. I have a box for spotter radio charging. I have a box to rebuild a CV joint. I have a bag for doing alignments.

In short, organization is your friend.

Brake Bleed Bucket

With the extreme heat incurred by vehicle braking systems, it’s very common to need to bleed brakes during a road racing weekend. Knowing that this is going to be recurring at-event maintenance, I assembled a brake bleeding bucket that holds everything needed to get a quick brake bleed done.

All the tools I need are in one handy spot in the trailer (inside the bucket labeled “Brake Bleed Bucket”). The bucket contains a bottle of brake fluid, the exact wrench needed for cracking the bleeders, a bleeder bottle with tubing to catch the fluid, and a knife to cut the seal on a new bottle of brake fluid.

Brake fluid is corrosive stuff, so I like to keep all of the tools and gear inside the bucket so fluid doesn’t contaminate everything inside my racing trailer.

The best part: The bucket can be used to sit on while bleeding the brakes.

Axle Swap Box

I spent a decade road racing a 1990 Acura Integra, and if you know anything about competing in vintage front-wheel-drive Honda products then you know they like to go through axles like a great white shark goes through teeth. As such, I always carried with me spare axles and CV rebuild kits.

Doing an axle swap or replacing a CV boot wasn’t a difficult or time-consuming job, but finding all of the correct tools in the trailer would eat up crucial time at an event. To resolve this issue, I built a specific box for replacing a CV joint which included spare boots, grease, bands, and the tools needed to clasp the CV joint boot bands. Additionally, I had laminated step-by-step instructions that indicated the exact size wrenches, torque specifications, and helpful hints to swap an axle as quickly as possible. These instructions weren’t just for me (who has done this job more times than he would like to admit), but for anybody who would be kind enough to step up and help. They could use the instructions to help me solve the problem without any direction from me.

Alignment Kit Bag

I’ve always looked at vehicle alignment as “free speed.” You can align your car based on track conditions to make it faster – and it doesn’t cost you anything to do it. But alignment adjustments are also needed after a big off, too many whacks to the inside curbing, or after car-to-car contact.

I bring an entire DIY alignment kit to the track from Smart Racing Products. Their Smart Strings allow me to dial in toe settings to get things perfect. I keep all of my alignment gear inside a bag that includes a steering wheel lock, measuring tools, specific wrenches for my car’s tie rods, and note cards stating which direction to turn each tie rod.

Radio Box

Spotter radios are a serious game changer in the world of amateur racing. But with technology comes more complications during a race weekend. Radios need to be charged, and you must be able to find the headset that gets plugged into the radio. Spare radios are a must, too, as these things will only become finicky at the worst time possible.

Often, radios turn into a jumble of wires inside a race trailer that resemble Christmas lights you can’t untangle. To battle this, I built – you guessed it – a box. This one is a toolbox that stores all my radios and headsets, and is equipped with a power strip.

All of my radio equipment that needs to be charged gets plugged in inside the box, then the single power strip in the box gets plugged into the wall. My radio setup can be found in one organized spot, and they’re always charging when stored.

Bonus: Label Everything

My absolute favorite tool is my Brother P-Touch label maker.

I meticulously label my toolbox in my trailer and all of my handy, problem-solving boxes. When the panicking starts to happen (and it will), people need to know where to find stuff as fast as possible. If I’m under my car trying to adjust an inner tie rod to repair the front toe setting, I don’t have time to show people where things are inside my toolbox. Instead, the labels do that for me.

When I ask, “Can you hand me a 17mm end wrench?” Anyone can quickly find that tool and hand it to me, thanks to my Brother P-Touch label maker. I also like to keep a smaller rolling tool cart with the most commonly used tools (ratcheting end-wrenches, impact gun, torque wrench, check-off lists, etc.) handy in the paddock and in the grid to help solve problems quickly.

None of us want problems during a road racing weekend, but we can all agree that they’re often (and sometimes quite literally) just around the corner. When difficulties arise, having the solution inside a box (clearly labeled, with tools inside, ready to go) will get you back on track to chase that checkered flag.

(About the author: Rob Krider is a national champion racer, the author of the novel Cadet Blues, and is the host of the Stories and Cocktails podcast.)

Photos by Rob Krider