National Hot Rod Association

The bottom-end guy is the mechanic who lies beneath the car and pushes out the "rack" – the piston/rod assemblies – and bolts up a new set. The clutch technician has one of the most technical positions on the team and is responsible for not only removing and installing the complicated clutch, but also for its setup.

Richard Crampton and Nate Archambault have held both jobs. Crampton, the clutch technician on Morgan Lucas' Toyota-supported GEICO Top Fuel dragster, also spent years beneath fuel cars doing the bottom end. Archambault, the bottom-end specialist for the Al-Anabi Racing Toyota Funny Car driven by Del Worsham, also has years of experience as a clutch assistant.

"The clutch is a pretty dirty job, but bottom end is definitely the messiest," says Crampton, an Australian who has been working on fuel cars in the U.S. since 2004. "When you're laying under there, oil is always dripping on you, but nitro is even worse. Sometimes when they're taking off the heads, the fuel rail will dump nitro all over you. It burns even more than oil does – especially when it gets in your ears and your eyes. You can't get really get in there to rinse it out, so you have to just wait for the pain to go away. I've had it my eyes to the point that I had to get up and wipe it out and just stop for a second, but it's all part of the job."

The most physically demanding aspect of the job is laying on your side trying to torque the mains to 160 or 180 pounds. "You can rotate the motor to get the connecting rods in a good position, but even those can be tough because of the angle they're at," Crampton says.

"You're constantly getting nitro and oil dumped on you, but I like being in my own world down there," says Archambault, a Florida native now in his third year on the job. "What I like about it is that you're not just bolting stuff on like you are in some other jobs. If there's anything wrong with the crank, you have to put in a whole new engine, so everything starts with you."

For that reason, the bottom-end guy's first order of business is to drop the main caps, inspect the bearings, and make sure the crankshaft hasn't been "blackened." When everything checks out, he gives the go-ahead to the right- and left-side guys, who by then have the cylinder heads removed, to receive the rod-and-piston assemblies, which he gently taps out.

By then, the clutch will have been removed, and a new clutch pack, which was prepared well in advance, is already going in.

"When you're under the car, you're getting oil and fuel dropped on you, but you still get all the clutch dust, too, because the clutch is right on the other side of the motorplate," Archambault says. "If the wind is blowing from the back of the car toward the front – and it seems like it always is – the clutch dust mixes in with the oil. I probably like doing the clutch better that doing the bottom end – just about everybody does – but I wanted to do this because I really wanted to be on the Al-Anabi team and, because it's a position I hadn't had before, I wanted to learn another part of the car."

Most clutch guys have an assistant who builds the packs and grinds the discs. Crampton's assistant, Andrew Polk, performs those tasks and helps Crampton get the clutch in and out of the car between runs. Just four minutes after the car has returned to the pits following another 1,000-foot blast, the bellhousing and reverser have been removed and the clutch is completely out of the car. The only thing left bolted to the back of the crankshaft is the flywheel itself.

Working from above on the massive five-disc clutch, nothing drips on clutch technicians, of course. But stooping over all day creates its own joys, chief among them back pain. Then there are the burns that go with working on parts that are 900 degrees Fahrenheit immediately after a run.

Some clutch guys wear special heat-resistant sleeves to protect their arms, but in the heat of summer competition, it's almost worth forgoing those sleeves and risking a burn. Crampton usually goes without the sleeves – and has the burns to prove it. Gloves are a must, and special ones that are almost like oven mitts are used for the hottest job of all: taking the clutch pack out just minutes after a run.

"You couldn't get by without them," Crampton says. "Even though the clutch has had a few minutes to cool on the way back to the pits, red embers are still falling off the discs as you're taking take them out."

The clutch is such an important part of the car that the clutch man is one of the keys to the success of the team. "It's a constant struggle just to keep on top of disc inventory," Crampton says. "Plus, there are so many adjustments you can make to the clutch, so many intricate little things. You're more involved in what's going on than you are in most jobs – you have to be to make the adjustments you're making. It's the job that's probably the easiest one to make an error that can cost your team a run."

But at least you're not lying in a puddle of oil, getting more dropped on you by the minute. "The worst part of being a bottom-end guy is when you get back from the pits after you've blown up an engine and you take off the diaper and it's full of oil and broken parts," Crampton says. "Then you have to lay in it. The best part is putting the oil pan back up because that means the job's done."