Offseason Playbook, Part 2: Dialing In Your Trucks, Tools, and Gear

When something goes wrong on track, your crew only has two things to work with: the skills they’ve built and the equipment they brought. Part 1 of this series focused on sharpening your crew’s skills. Now it’s time to look at the other half of the equation—making sure your trucks, tools, and gear are ready to back those skills up.

Before we go any further, let’s be clear: offseason work is not a substitute for regular inspections and maintenance. You still need weekly (or event-by-event) checks to catch problems before each race night. The offseason is where you step back, go deeper, and fix the bigger issues that don’t fit into a quick pre-race walkaround.

The goal isn’t to have the fanciest truck in the pits. The goal is to have equipment that works every time and a crew that knows exactly where everything is.

Why Gear Work Belongs in the Offseason

On a busy race night, you’re usually just trying to keep up. You might notice a soft tire, a weak battery, or a sticky nozzle, but you don’t always have time to fix it the right way. Those “we’ll get to it later” items pile up fast.

The offseason is “later.”

This is when you can slow down, pull everything apart, and ask three simple questions:

• Does it work?

• Is it set up the way we actually use it?

• Can any crew member walk up and run it under pressure?

If the answer isn’t “yes” to all three, now is the time to fix it.

Full Vehicle Inspections: Start With the Rigs

Your trucks, UTVs, and support vehicles are the backbone of your response. If they don’t move, nothing else matters.

Use the offseason to do a full, deep inspection on every vehicle you use at the track:

• Mechanical basics: fluids, belts, hoses, tires, brakes, steering, and suspension

• Electrical: batteries, charging systems, lights, warning beacons, work lights

• Drive systems: 4x4 engagement, low range, winches, tow points, hitches

• Safety: seat belts, mirrors, backup alarms (if you have them), fire extinguishers on the rig

Document what you find and what you fix. You don’t need a fancy system—an organized notebook or shared spreadsheet is enough—but you should be able to look back and see when each vehicle was last checked.

The goal is simple: when you turn the key on opening night, the rig starts, moves, and does what you expect it to do.

Fire Suppression: Agents, Extinguishers, and Delivery

Fire is one of the fastest-moving problems you’ll deal with at the track, and it’s one of the few where seconds really are the difference between “close call” and “bad outcome.” Your fire equipment has to be ready.

Offseason is the time to:

• Inspect every extinguisher

  • Check gauges, pins, hoses, and nozzles

  • Look for corrosion, damage, or signs of leakage

  • Make sure every unit is properly labeled and easy to reach

• Service or replace what’s due

  • Follow manufacturer and local requirements for inspection and hydrostatic testing

  • Rotate out anything that’s out of date, questionable, or has been abused

• Test your larger systems

  • If you run a water tank, skid unit, or “silver bullet”-style setup, flow test it

  • Verify pumps prime quickly and nozzles pattern correctly

  • Make sure your crew knows which lines and agents to grab for which type of fire

Just as important as the hardware is the layout. Your crew should know, without thinking, where the closest extinguisher is and which truck carries which agent. If people are guessing on race night, the layout needs work.

Tool and PPE Audit: What You Have vs. What You Need

Tools and personal protective equipment tend to drift over a season. Things get borrowed, broken, or tossed in the wrong compartment “just for now.”

Use the offseason to do a full audit:

• Hand tools and rescue tools

  • Sawzalls, blades, glass tools, pry bars, cribbing, and hand lights

  • Check that everything works, batteries hold a charge, and blades are sharp

• Medical and trauma gear

  • Basic supplies you’re responsible for: bandages, splints, burn dressings, etc.

  • Check expiration dates and restock what’s been used or opened

• PPE for the crew

  • Helmets, fire-resistant suits, gloves, boots, eye,

    and hearing protection

  • Make sure everything fits, is in good condition, and meets your minimum standard

As you go, make two lists:

• Items to repair or service

• Items to replace or add before the season starts

This is also a good time to decide what “standard issue” looks like for your team. If everyone is supposed to have certain PPE or carry certain tools, write that down and check against it.

Standardizing Layouts: Every Truck, Same Logic

One of the biggest upgrades you can make in the offseason doesn’t cost anything: standardizing how your trucks are laid out.

The idea is simple: if a crew member can run Truck A, they shouldn’t be lost on Truck B.

A few principles that help:

• Same categories in the same places

  • Fire equipment together, rescue tools together, medical gear together

  • Keep layouts consistent from rig to rig as much as your space allows

• High-frequency items in the easiest spots

  • Extinguishers, cribbing, window egress tools, and basic hand tools should be quick to grab

  • Don’t bury the things you use every night behind the things you use once a season

• Clear labeling

  • Simple labels on compartments and shelves save time, especially for newer members

  • If you have a lot of gear, consider a basic compartment map for each rig

Once you’ve set the layout, walk the crew through it. Have each person find and put hands on key items: extinguishers, cribbing, glass tools, medical bag, radios. The more familiar they are now, the less they’ll hesitate later.

Checklists: Simple Systems That Save You on Busy Nights

Even the best crews miss things when they’re tired, rushed, or coming off a long week at their day jobs. Checklists are how you protect against that.

Use the offseason to build:

• Pre-race checklists

  • Fuel levels, radios charged, extinguishers in place, tools accounted for

  • Quick visual inspection of tires, lights, and key equipment

• Post-race checklists

  • Refuel, restock, recharge batteries, wipe down gear

  • Note anything that needs repair before the next event

Keep your checklists short and realistic. It’s better to have a simple list that gets used every week than a perfect list that no one has time to complete.

Bringing It All Together

You don’t need brand-new trucks or the latest high-dollar tools to be effective. You need equipment that works, a layout that makes sense, and a crew that knows where everything is and how to use it.

If you can use the offseason to:

• Give every vehicle a real inspection

• Service and organize your fire suppression equipment

• Audit and standardize your tools and PPE

• Make your truck layouts consistent and easy to learn

• Build simple pre-race and post-race checklists

…you’ll roll into opening night with fewer surprises and more confidence.

In Part 3 of the Offseason Playbook, we’ll shift from hardware to how you run it—tightening up your protocols, communication, and playbooks so your whole operation runs smoother when the green flag drops and the unexpected happens.