He doesn't get behind the wheel of a race car himself, but Rick Rinaman and IndyCar racing belong together.

The 1968 Mars graduate has been crew chief for three Indianapolis 500 champions, a mechanic for six Indy Racing League points championship teams and has been a part of eight Pit Stop Challenge winners.

All of this has occurred during his 23-year career as a member of Roger Penske's race team.

"It's been a great time,"Rinaman, 55, said. "How much longer will I do it? As long as we're winning, we'll take it year to year."

He's been winning this year. Rinaman has served as crew chief for Helio Castroneves since 2000 and Castroneves leads the IRLin points so far this season.

Castroneves' pit crew also won this year's Pit Stop Challenge the weekend of the Indianapolis 500, beating out nine other teams.

The Pit Stop Challenge determines which crew can change all four tires of an Indy car the quickest. It has been an annual event for 30 years.

"Basically, you start off with your car side-by-side with another,"Rinaman said. "Both cars pull in for a pit stop and both stops are timed.

"The top six cars in terms of time move on. We were the fastest in the first round, so we drew a bye to the semifinals."

During that semifinal round, Rinaman and his crew — he changes one of the tires himself — finished the stop in 7.7365 seconds, setting a record time for the event.

The crew's time in the final round — 8.0852 seconds — marked the fastest time ever in the championship round. It beat out Rahal Letterman Racing and driver Buddy Rice's crew's runner-up time of 8.4428 seconds.

"Penske Racing has about 10 members on each crew,"Rinaman said. "There are four mechanics on each car. To win this challenge is big because of all the great teams that are out there."

Winning the Pit Stop Challenge and being crew chief for the IRLpoints leader isn't the end of Rinaman's success this season. He recently received IRL's True Grit Award for mechanical excellence.

"Some of the biggest names in this sport have won that award. It means a lot to me,"Rinaman said.

Rinaman first got involved in racing through his future brother-in-law, who built racing engines for Paul Newman in Milford, Pa. Rinaman wound up going to California and working for Dan Gurney Racing for a few years before joining Penske's team in 1983.

During his career with Penske, Rinaman has served as crew chief for Al Unser Sr., Rick Mears, Emerson Fittipaldi, Al Unser Jr. and Castroneves.

He experienced Indy 500 titles with Fittipaldi in 1993 and Castroneves in 2001 and 2002.

"Indy is the biggest race in the world,"Rinaman said. "To win that thing was a dream come true."

The Penske team won Indy again this year as Sam Hornish Jr. is the other IRLdriver on the team. Penske's NASCARdrivers are Kyle Busch and Ryan Newman.

Rinaman and his crew are not just busy on race weekends. Following last Sunday's race at Watkins Glen, N.Y., the crew worked 14 successive hours converting the car from a road course race car to an oval course car.

This weekend's IRLrace is Saturday night at the Texas Motor Speedway.

"Changing a car from road course to oval is usually three days of work,"Rinaman said. "We did it in one day so we could load it on the truck to be transported down to Texas in time for qualifying Thursday."

There are two cars prepared for each driver for each race.

"There's not much free time during the summer,"Rinaman admitted.

During the off-season, Rinaman finds time to return to Mars for visits to his three brothers, two sisters and mother.

"Mars is still my home," he said.

This off-season will be busier than most. The IRLportion of Team Penske has been based in Reading, but is moving to Charlotte, N.C., to join the NASCARportion under one roof.

"The season ends Sept. 10 and we'll start preparing to move right away,"Rinaman said. "We're hoping to be up and operating in Charlotte by the end of November, so things will be hectic.

"Once winter hits, we're in the garage getting cars ready for the season. There won't be much of a break this year."