I never paid much attention to NASCAR's pit boxes until a crew chief recently told me his cost more than my first home!

"What? Are you kidding me, $120,000? American? Come on," I said.

Sure the proverbial pit box is a huge high-tech toolbox on wheels, it has a few chairs and some televisions, but my condo in Uptown Charlotte had a kitchen, a bathroom and one bedroom.

“

Have you ever heard of Radio Flyer, yeah, every team had one and they came right from the toy stores.

”

-- GARY NELSON

The only shelter a pit box provides is a canopy made of canvas.

But to learn just how far these so-called "war wagons" have evolved since the sport's inception is impressive and almost unbelievable.

Back in the day, grown men actually hauled their tools from the garage to pit road in little red wagons.

"Have you ever heard of Radio Flyer, yeah, every team had one and they came right from the toy stores," said Gary Nelson, one of NASCAR's most innovative figures and the man responsible for developing the earliest forms of the pit box teams are familiar with today.

Nelson's entry into the sport began as a crew chief in 1969, and soon thereafter he developed a custom-made toolbox style wagon the size of an average desktop that held more tools in order to eliminate time-consuming trips to the garage.

"I came up with the idea when we were in Talladega where we lost the drive shaft during a pit stop and a crew member had to run a mile to get another one out of the hauler. A two minute job ended up taking 10 minutes," Nelson said. "It got me thinking, we ought to have more stuff out here on pit road."

From the 1970s to the early 1980s, Nelson had improved his original design and showed up to the Daytona 500 one year with a larger pit box sporting chromed out wheels and precision steering.

"Teams were laughing at us rolling through the garage," Nelson recalled. "One comment was made, 'Hey what kind of dumb mule will you find to pull that thing?' and I remember who said it but I'm not going to tell you."

That original design still comprises the basic principles used in today's elaborate pit boxes.

Then Nelson, in an attempt to better his view of the track, thought to fasten boat chairs to the tops.

"I thought, 'This is a lot better, now I don't have to stand on a stack of tires and I can sit down,'" said Nelson, who in his tenure won two Daytona 500 races, one with Bobby Alison in 1982 and the other with Geoff Bodine in 1986.

And right around the time Nelson thought to manufacture his invention, Vic Irvan, father of Ernie Irvan, beat him to the punch.

"Vic came to my shop one day and asked if he could measure our pit cart and I said yeah sure and he went off and started a business making those things. That's how Irvan-Smith Inc. began in Concord, N.C.," Nelson said. "Story of my life I guess." (Continued)