Petty crewman misses football, loves new career (cont'd)

"But I learned so much in that year and I really got interested in it. He told me, 'You hang around me, man, and people are going to notice, and with your athletic ability I think you've got a future in pit crew.'"

The man was right. Williams said that it didn't take him long to understand that there are many subtle similarities between football and racing, especially when it comes to preparation for game, er race day.

"It's really not too much difference from with football. It's a lot of training, a lot of physical training, working out three to four times a week. You've got to be flexible," he said. "There's even film study. The movements through the pit stops are based on fundamentally sound movements. To be fundamentally sound, you have to study yourself a lot.

"Strength is definitely an advantage for me, and my speed and quickness and my footwork. You're jumping over tires, feet, hoses. All of that has helped me move up in the sport a lot faster."

The 6-foot-1 Williams said that he is 15 pounds lighter now than his college playing weight of 255 pounds, but that, strangely, he is stronger. That is saying something, since he benched 455 pounds while at Wake.

After the brief stint at Bowman Gray, Williams was trying to figure out what to do with the rest of his life when he learned through the career-development folks at Wake Forest that Chip Ganassi Racing was looking to audition some athletes for possible pit-crew positions.

"Me and six other guys went down to Chip Ganassi, they introduced us to the program, we trained for about six weeks, and the rest is history," he said.

He made the switch from Ganassi to Petty Enterprises because he likes being a part of the Petty program, which is so rich in history, and because it affords him the freedom to work on the side as an "independent contractor," selling his services as a pit coach to some other truck teams on the side.

"I'm coaching now and have a lot more freedom -- not to mention that it's a smaller team. The Pettys are a great organization," Williams said. "They're good people to work for, and I enjoy working for them."

He still recalls the first time he met the King, NASCAR legend Richard Petty.

"The first time I met him, I was kind of shocked because I had heard so much about him -- and he came right up to me and took his hat off and put it on my head. And he was like, 'What's up, man?' I was like, 'This is the King?'" Williams said.

"It didn't really hit me initially. But afterward people kept coming up to me and saying, 'You know that was the King right there?' They were so excited about what he did and how he reacted to me, I really appreciated it a lot more. I was like, 'Wow. This is a living legend right here.'"

Now Williams says he would like to be a part of helping Petty Enterprises stage a resurgence in Cup racing success. The team hasn't won a race since John Andretti wheeled the No. 43 Dodge to Victory Lane in 1999.

"Even though we don't run up front all the time -- and I had a lot of other offers from other big-time Cup teams -- it's not always about the money and it's not all about the fame and the glory. It's more about liking what you're doing and liking who you work for. And being part of something. It's like when I was playing at Wake Forest and no one even knew they had a football program. We came in and went to three bowl games," Williams said.

"I look at Petty as a team on the rise. So why would I join a team that's already up there? I think Petty is going in the right direction and now I can say I'm part of the reason why they made it back to Victory Lane."

He's going to attempt to do it one second, and one tire, at a time. That's how quickly he is supposed to hoist a tire into proper position during pit stops.

"I do miss hitting people. It was my stress reliever," Williams said. "When I was mad during the week, I could get it out in a practice or a game. Now I can't really hit anybody, so I have to channel that energy into my performance on these tires. ... In a high-pressure situation, I challenge myself to be perfect. That's how I handle it."