auto blogs jurex'car designs: {alltv} NASCAR's marketing boss goes under cover

He was "Kevin Thomas from Vermont," the owner of a water purification business and winner of a fan contest allowing him to take a temporary job in NASCAR to be filmed for a documentary.

At least that was the cover story believed by NASCAR industry employees preparing for the Coke Zero 400 at Daytona International Speedway in July.

In reality, there was no contest. And mild-mannered Kevin Thomas was actually Steve Phelps, NASCAR's chief marketing officer, filming an episode of the hit show Undercover Boss, airing at 9 p.m. ET Sunday on CBS.

Through its Los Angeles office, which places the sport in mainstream entertainment ranging from Carl Edwards introducing the grand showcase on The Price is Right to Talladega Nights, NASCAR had been discussing a slot on Undercover Boss with CBS for several years.

Too many fans would instantly recognize NASCAR chairman and CEO Brian France or president Mike Helton. Phelps proved to be the missing ingredient.

"Steve is a humble, low-key guy not interested in a lot of publicity for himself," said Zane Stoddard, NASCAR's managing director, entertainment marketing and business development. "He's usually under the radar and the perfect NASCAR executive to go under cover."

Going outside his comfort zone, unfiltered, on national TV would be a giant undertaking, entailing some personal risk. It was something Phelps thought long and hard about before committing.

"Undercover Boss is obviously a popular, well-done show, and I realized it would be good for the sport -- to showcase NASCAR to potential new fans, and maybe learn a thing or two to make NASCAR an even more attractive place to work," Phelps said.

Phelps' marketing job takes him to the track nearly 20 weekends a season. Yet in ditching his blazer to truly "work the race" -- painting the start/finish line prior to the Coke Zero 400, cooking at a track concession stand, training with a pit crew, monitoring tires on pit road, and loading a car onto the hauler -- the former NFL executive got a radically different view of the sport he's grown to love.

Undercover Boss can play out like Candid Camera "gotcha" moments of cringe-inducing behavior, like the Hooters store manager forcing his female staff to play belittling "reindeer games."

The show is unscripted and raw; what you see is what you get. While NASCAR has not viewed the show prior to its debut, there was no trumped-up drama, crocodile tears, or phony camaraderie arranged for the cameras.

Thoroughly impressed with his new co-workers, Phelps called the experience "transformational."

"I was struck with how much of our sport centers on a large group of people spending an enormous amount of time away from their families because they have a genuine love and passion for NASCAR. There is such enthusiasm and dedication among so many individuals who are the best ambassadors we could have.

"Each person is an important part of the whole. I knew that, abstractly. This experience reinforced it in a way I will never forget. As a boss, you want to get to a place of understanding the needs of employees, allowing them the chance to speak their minds, and truly be excellent. We'll look at new ways to do that."

Phelps happens to be one of the sport's employees making sacrifices. Each week, he commutes to Daytona Beach, Fla., from western Connecticut, where he resides with his wife and four children.

The Undercover Boss stint meant new sacrifices, none greater than joining the over-the-wall crew for the Mark Martin's No. 5 Chevrolet with Hendrick Motorsports.

"I was heat training in the sticky 95-degree Charlotte weather with fine-tuned professional athletes in their 20s. I'm not that young or a professional athlete. They had oxygen there. They said it was for everyone, but I suspect they were considering only one person."

Phelps didn't pass out, throw up, or use the oxygen, which is a considerable feat since he was paired with Dion "Rocko" Williams, the No. 5 car's larger-than-life rear-tire carrier.

Williams, an inside linebacker at Wake Forrest who signed with the Minnesota Vikings but left football for Chip Ganassi Racing after his seventh head concussion, heard his understudy, the water purification installer-slash-lucky fan, was from Vermont. Williams began calling NASCAR's CMO "Ben and Jerry's."

And during practice, when he wanted Phelps to move quicker while carrying the 75-pound tire, he called the Vermont native "Maple Syrup."

"We're intense when working out, on normal days," Williams said. "At the time, we weren't running well; it was pretty serious. We definitely didn't take it easy. But 'Ben and Jerry's' was in pretty good shape."

Phelps thoroughly enjoyed the rough treatment and good-natured ribbing.

"Hard-working, gifted people like Dion, and everyone I met and worked with, if they're the heart of this sport, well, then we're in pretty good shape," he said.

NASCAR's top marketing executive came away with a fond appreciation for the feats routinely performed by teams' over-the-wall gangs.

"Changing four Goodyear tires and putting in a canister of Sunoco fuel in 14 seconds is a crazy, aggressive ballet where every move is choreographed. I wasn't very good at it. But the car didn't fall on me, and I didn't get hurt," Phelps said.

More taxing than sets of push-ups on burning-hot tires in the July sun during long days of shooting was the mental toll associated with going under cover to fill a new job without much training while the cameras missed nothing.

"It was emotionally draining," Phelps said. "You realize there's no edit control for you personally or your brand. You don't know what's going to happen or will wind up on TV. For hours on end, you don't want to make a mistake. And you're not even sure what a mistake is. Except in the concession stand, when I burned the chicken fingers. That mistake was pretty obvious, especially to the boy who bought them."

To help remain undetected, "Kevin" went unshaven, prompting Tony Stewart, one of the few drivers in the know, to compliment his "Tony Stewart starter kit."

Still, there were close calls.

Seeing Phelps working a blow torch on pit road as an assistant tire specialist for the No. 00 Aaron's Dream Machine Toyota, Cal Wells openly asked, "Why is Steve Phelps dressed up in Aaron's?"

The jig nearly ended when Nationwide Series official Bill Whelan showed Kevin the ropes at the spotter's stand high over the track. Whelan, 71, a retired Navy Lt. Colonel and Purple Heart recipient who helps officiate the races simply because he loves the sport, noticed a team owner.

"You gotta meet Roger Penske!" Whelan said.

Phelps knows Penske well. He pretended not to hear.

"Kevin, there's Roger Penske! Let's go meet him."

"Ah, no, that's OK," Phelps said.

He stopped and tied his shoes two times.

The stall tactics failed. Phelps looked up, and there was Penske, an arm's length away. He pulled his cap low over his eyes.

Whelan made the introductions, and Penske said, "You look awfully familiar, Kevin."

"Oh, I get that a lot," Phelps said.

Penske's eyebrows bowed, a quizzical expression somewhere between Linda Evangelista and the Gateway Arch in St. Louis.

Phelps held his ground. Soon the encounter was over.

Despite these humorous situations, the week-long ruse was a struggle. Phelps wouldn't make a very convincing member of the witness protection program.

"I'm not used to being untruthful about my identity. At the end of the week, it got easier to say, 'Hi, I'm Kevin Thomas.' But I never once felt good about lying," he said.

Of course, during the "reveal" at the show's end, each Undercover Boss gets the chance to banish the lie and come clean.

Following the Coke Zero 400, Rocko Williams was called to a meeting in the office of Steve Phelps at NASCAR's new headquarters in Daytona Beach.

"'Ben and Jerry's' comes walking in, clean shaven, wearing a suit," Williams recalled. "I thought we were going to do some role playing. He says, 'I'm NASCAR's chief marketing officer; we were doing Undercover Boss.' Uh-oh, I remembered telling 'Maple Syrup' he'd only be good as our water boy. The whole time I'm waiting for Ashton Kutcher to jump out and yell, 'You're Punk'd!' "

After the CBS crew packed their gear and moved to the next boss, Phelps shared his biggest takeaway, one reflecting his trademark self-deprecating honesty.

"What did I learn most in being an Undercover Boss? Well, I shouldn't be doing any job but the one I have now. And, more importantly, that I'm the big winner here. I came out of this experience better than when I started."