By Summer Bedgood, Managing Editor
It is said that everyone has a story. Family, circumstances and where we grew up all shape who we are and paint a picture of how we got to where we are now.
The same is true in NASCAR — and one might argue that the stories are more extraordinary, unlikely, and fascinating.
Most of the stories we hear about are those of the likely stars — crew chiefs, car owners and, of course, drivers.
However, underneath the surface, there are hundreds — if not thousands — more stories. Pit crew members, engineers, track employees, communications personnel — they all have their own personal story of what got them here.
Sadly, many of them go untold.
Meet TJ Semke. Former Kansas University football player turned NASCAR jackman, he currently works on the No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports team with driver Chase Elliott and recognizes the crucial role he plays each and every raceday.
“In football you make a mistake and it might get lost in the course of a game, but you make a mistake on pit road and you’re definitely gonna pay for it,” he said before Saturday night’s KC Masterpiece 400 at Kansas Speedway. “…We can definitely help a driver, but you can also really hurt a driver as well. One mistake on pit road, a penalty, you’re in the back of the field and you end up down a lap just like that. Things can happen really quick. Like I said, you can help your driver out and gain him some spots. They love getting three spots out on pit road but you can also hurt them pretty badly.”
Towards the end of his football career at KU, when Semke was looking towards the future with a possible career in professional football, another career path began to take shape.
“Some of the KU football coaches are actually going to be out here today at this race,” Semke said on pit-road pre-race. “They made a connection with a coach at Hendrick Motorsports and kinda asked, “Do you got a guy that would fit this mold?” And they’re like, ‘We got a perfect guy for you.’ They put us in touch and from then on I started learning about the sport, got involved in it, and really happy to be at Hendrick.”
In September of 2016, Semke signed with Hendrick Motorsports, and has been with them ever since.
Semke played high school at Lee’s Summit North High School in Lees Summit, Missouri, which is just less than 40 miles away from Kansas Speedway. The University of Kansas is less than 30 miles from the track. Geographically speaking, this makes Kansas Speedway a home track, adding just one more element to Semke’s desire to make it to Victory Lane.
“It would be huge,” said Semke. “I talked to my mom about that after the Dover race and she’s like, ‘I’m kinda glad Chase didn’t get his first win at Dover. I kinda want him to get it at Kansas.’ It would be Chase’s first win, it would be Hendrick Motorsports’ 250th win, it would just be huge to have it back at home with the family behind the wall.”
Semke’s family joined him along with the KU football coaches at the track.
His journey to get here was anything but standard. While playing at Lees Summit North High School, Semke suffered what could have been a career-ending injury.
“My junior year in high school, I fractured a vertebra and had a lot going on,” said Semke. “Really, what they told me, is you should just give up this football thing. It won’t take you anywhere, it’s not worth it. You don’t want to have surgery when you’re 25. Just give up on it, relax, you had a good little run.
“That didn’t sit right with me, so I just kept working, kept working, and kept working and I made huge gains from my junior to my senior year and I ended up playing football my senior year,” he continued. “I still felt that injury, and that’s why I decided not to play my first couple years of college. I ended up saying, ‘You know what, this isn’t how I wanna go out. I wanna play football at the University of Kansas.’ So I walked on and Charlie Weis gave me a scholarship my junior year at KU and that’s kinda how I got into this sport. Luckily for me, I stuck with it, didn’t give up, and didn’t let that injury hold me back.”
So what did he do in the first two years of college when he wasn’t playing football?
It’s not the answer you might expect:
Bounty hunting.
“I didn’t [just] try, I succeeded actually,” Semke told reporters. “It started when I was 18 years old. My mom’s boyfriend (Mike Ippolito) was a bail bondsman. I always begged him, ‘Please take me with you on a bounty hunt.’ I watched it on TV, I watched Dog the Bounty Hunter and I’m like, ‘Man I really want to get out and do that, that looks cool.’ Finally I twisted his arm long enough. One night at 2AM he took me out with him. Next thing you know, I was kickin’ down a front door and arrested a bad guy.”
Semke has already had to adapt his football skill set to the NASCAR world. Then he was thrown a curveball when the rules changed and only allowed five crew members were allowed over the wall for 2018, down from the traditional five.
“That was definitely a unique change…” said Semke. “We’re all athletes and we love to compete. It really made us adapt. You go from six guys to five, you’ve been training doing six men, and everything is out the window now. The whole choreography changes. You’re obviously down a guy so you’re being asked to do a lot more. It was a unique challenge and it was fun. I still think people are still trying to figure out the five-man pitstop. We’re still learning a lot and you see people change every week. It’s a fun change. With the five men, it allows you to use your athletic ability more and the best athletes are starting to rise to the top and it’s pretty cool.”
Semke’s driver Elliott starts 17th in today’s race. The team finished fourth when the series was last here in October and finished 12th last weekend in Dover.
To keep up with Semke and how the No. 9 team performs in tonight’s race, you can watch on FS1 at 7PM ET. Radio broadcasts can be heard on MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio (Channel 90).