Via Tampa Bay Times
March 28, 2014

ST. PETERSBURG — A race engineer for an IndyCar series team has to have great mechanical skills, knowledge of the latest technology and the willingness to work long hours.

So engineering is your obvious college major for that career path, and that’s all you need to worry about, right?

“Psychology,” Brad Goldberg said.

Goldberg has been the race engineer for Charlie Kimball’s No. 83 IndyCar for Chip Ganassi Racing since the driver’s 2011 arrival in the series.

“People ask, ‘What do you do as a race engineer?’ My first comment is chief psychologist,” Goldberg said. “Why? Fundamentally, the driver is telling me a feeling, what he’s feeling in the car. So I have to get in his head to understand exactly, ‘What is he saying?’ ”

“He can look at the data and see what I’m thinking, what I’m feeling,” Kimball said. “Then I understand because of our conversations all weekend, I know what he’s thinking and what he needs from me on the racetrack.”

Working on a driver’s mental state, then, is a big part of the job.

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