Life as a crew member with a World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series team is far from glamorous.

Sure, it’s a job many would love to have, but that doesn’t make the late nights and early mornings easy. Parking lot maintenance all through the summer, and often far from home. Quarter car wash trips beyond midnight. Long trips from track to track. It may be an occupation many aspire to have, but it doesn’t mean they’re all cut out for it. It’s easy to get worn down by the grind.

But Bill Rose Racing’s Jimmy Fitzwater refuses to have a bad day on the road. You won’t ever find him upset at the track. You’ll find a man who is always happy to be doing what he loves as he helps Kasey Jedrzejek navigate his first season on tour.

A military family meant Fitzwater moved often in his youth. He wound up in Georgia, and southern dirt tracks initially attracted him to Late Models. Eventually, Ohio became home and introduced him to Sprint Cars. The look. The sound. The racing. Fitzwater fell in love.

“I’d always wanted to work on them, always had a fascination with them. They’re the meanest machines on dirt,” Fitzwater said. “Seeing the big wing on top as a kid, I was like, ‘Wow.’”

Fitzwater got his shot to work on one when one of the “Buckeye State’s” most famed families needed a hand.

“In 2014, Lee Jacobs reached out to me over Facebook and said, ‘Hey, who wants to work on Sprint Cars?’” Fitzwater recalled. “And then ever since then it’s been full send.”

That stint even allowed Fitzwater to work with Cody Jacobs, who now turns the wrenches on the Big Game Motorsports No. 2 that David Gravel has driven to two consecutive championships.

Fitzwater moved around to various local teams over the next several seasons, soaking up as much knowledge as he could. One of those stops was Bryan Grove’s No. 28 with Tim Shaffer behind the wheel. Shaffer’s friendship with Jason Sides got Fitzwater acquainted with the 2003 Kevin Gobrecht Rookie of the Year presented by Five Star Bodies and opened the door for him to hit the road.

“Tim Shaffer and Jason Sides are pretty good friends,” Fitzwater said. “They asked me if I wanted to go to Florida, and I said yes. I got to work with Jason for the first time in 2021.”

That audition led to Fitzwater joining the Sides Motorsports crew full-time in 2022 and spending a few seasons with them as Sides stepped back from driving to operate as the crew chief on the No. 7S. Fitzwater worked with Robbie Price, Landon Crawley, and Chris Windom in his time with the team. Different drivers and different personalities, but Fitzwater enjoyed his time with each equally.

“Each driver has their unique characteristics and little quirks they do,” Fitzwater said. “I’ve never had a bad time with any driver I’ve worked with. Chris always said I was like Mr. Positive and never had a bad day.”

During the stretch with Sides, Fitzwater’s attitude was recognized with the Jason Johnson Sportsmanship Award in 2024.

Fitzwater’s career path brought him to Bill Rose’s operation for 2026 as they hired Kasey Jedrzejek to make a rookie run with The Greatest Show on Dirt. It hasn’t taken long for Fitzwater’s positivity to make an impact on the entire group.

“That means a lot because you’ve got to have fun doing this crap,” Rose said of Fitzwater’s personality. “I’ve told everybody, even Kasey getting into this deal, we got to have fun. If you’re not having fun, you got to do something different. He (Fitzwater) brings that to it. He likes to have a good time, and everybody knows that’s part of it… He does what he does, and he’s been doing really well.”

“It’s been a lot of fun working with Jimmy,” Jedrzejek echoed. “He’s never down or anything. He’s always there to have a good time, and I think he does a really good job at keeping everybody going if we’re having a bad day or something is just not going right. It just doesn’t affect Jimmy. He’s still having a good time and moving forward with the rest of the day.”

Fitzwater himself is enjoying this year just like all the others. Jedrzejek is showing promise with a pair of top 10s already this season, competing against the world’s best Sprint Car drivers every night. But whether they run up front, struggle, or the race rains out, Fitzwater’s disposition remains the same. You can catch him enjoying every moment of the ride in the pit area each week. And if Mother Nature permits a little playtime, you might even find him wowing patrons of a local beverage establishment with his unparalleled dance moves.

“If you’re having a bad time, I’m always down to crack a joke or make you smile a little bit and make the day a little better,” Fitzwater said. “I mean, we’re all out here for a long period of time. It gets hot and sticky and smelly and greasy. If I can make you smile a little bit, I feel like I did my job for the day.”

Jedrzejek, Fitzwater, and the Bill Rose Racing team continue the 2026 World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car season next week in Pennsylvania at Lincoln Speedway on Tuesday, May 5 and Williams Grove Speedway on Friday-Saturday, May 8-9. For tickets, CLICK HERE.

Where can you watch every World of Outlaws race? Live on DIRTVision.

Where can you see the World of Outlaws in 2026? Click to see the full schedule.

This article was republished with the permission of the World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series. Original article can be found here: https://worldofoutlaws.com/sprintcars/smile-a-little-bit-meet-one-of-the-pit-areas-most-positive-personalities-jimmy-fitzwater/

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