Each person on a racing pit crew has a specific task

F1 pit crews change tires in less than 3 seconds

Roughly 16 people cooperate in a highly coordinated sequence of events to swap tires mid-race without losing the driver any time. Watch a slowed-down explanation of each person's job in the crucial pit lane moment.

NASCAR's latest car design brings back its 'stock' roots

In 2022, NASCAR unveiled its Next Gen car, and the changes were some of the most significant in decades. Teams no longer design each car part, but purchase them from a single source, bringing greater parity.

Explore NASCAR’s dozens of tracks across the US and Mexico

See detailed information on every track used for NASCAR’s top three divisions. Tracks vary in shape, length, and seating capacity.

The death of Dale Earnhardt Sr. at the 2001 Daytona 500 is credited with sparking a safety revolution in NASCAR

NASCAR shifted to a safety-first culture and in 2002 opened a research and development center to focus on safety innovation. No driver has died in NASCAR’s top three series since Earnhardt’s death.

Over 120 cameras are used to film a single F1 race

Watching a Formula 1 race today is an immersive experience: Every car has onboard cameras; there are helicopter, drone, and lift shots; nearly every corner has a camera to document drivers jockeying for position; and over 120 cameras are used to film a single race.

What it takes to become a professional jockey

This short documentary follows a young, amateur jockey through early mornings and exhaustive gym sessions, where she rides a simulator made to look like real horses. It's a peek into a highly specialized (and highly unusual) athletic pursuit.

Principals are important pieces of F1 teams

In the Big Four American sports, teams have a head coach to lead the team and a general manager to run the business side. In Formula 1, they have a team principal, who speaks publicly on behalf of the team, manages the team's personnel, and engages with F1's governing body.

A Netflix docuseries turned the sport into a national obsession

Throughout much of its history, Formula 1 racing was a European sport that failed to ever find a major audience in the US. That changed with the “Drive to Survive,” the Netflix docuseries that premiered in 2019. This analysis from two communications professors unpacks how the series has successfully presented the sport for an American audience and cultivated a dedicated fanbase in the process.

How fighter jet ejections work

One of the most complex pieces of equipment in a fighter jet is the pilot's ejection apparatus, and the process of ejecting is far more challenging and violent than its depicted in film. This six-minute video breaks down the protocol step-by-step.

Wrestling terms you need to know

Wrestling may be scripted, but it’s built on its own vocabulary. From "babyfaces" and "heels" to "kayfabe" and "finishers," this explainer breaks down the key terms that shape what fans see in the ring—and what’s really going on behind the scenes.

Colored paint lines on new tires mark different types in the factory

Each stripe helps warehouse workers and distributors identify tire types at a quick glance. This innovation became important a century ago as manufacturers scaled operations and developed distinct product lines.

How fighting wildfires works

Firefighters use sophisticated strategies to control wildfires that sometimes cover thousands of acres. This video breaks down how teams set up fire lines to isolate the fires by cutting down brush and trees around the existing fire, among other...

The commander of the Challenger mission began his career as a mechanic in the Air Force

Lt. Col. Dick Scobee began his career as an Air Force aircraft mechanic, later becoming a Vietnam combat pilot, test pilot at Edwards Air Force Base, and ultimately the commander of Challenger's STS-51L mission.

Every MLB baseball needs to be rubbed with mud

When baseballs are done being hand-sewn and shipped to an MLB ballpark, they don't go straight to the field. Every ball that is put in play–an average of 100 per game–has to be rubbed with mud to give the ball a better grip. This video introduces the only family licensed to sell mud to MLB and shows what's special about this particular mud.

Permanent staff at NPS dropped nearly a quarter in 2025

Despite record-level visitation in recent years, NPS staffing reductions have affected maintenance, scientific research, and search-and-rescue operations most acutely, functions visitors don't typically see. According to the NPCA, some visitor centers have reduced hours, lifeguard positions have gone unfilled, and rangers report covering multiple roles simultaneously.

Hustle culture is what happens when the belief that working extremely hard will put people on the path to success becomes the norm in a workplace or other group

From pulling all-nighters at the office to never taking a weekend off, hustle culture has been known to lead to employee burnout. The Worklife with Adam Grant podcast explains hustle culture and its effects in depth in this episode.

The man behind the Preakness' iconic weathervane, which features every winner's name

Since 1988, Lawrence Jones has climbed into Pimlico's cherry picker to paint the Preakness winners' silks on its iconic weathervane—a tradition born in 1909. This America's Best Racing profiles Jones, a retired graphic artist, and how he has to meticulously paint the weathervane—even under challenging conditions. Learn the rich history of the event, and what happened to the weathervane after the 1966 fire.

A guide to crude oil and natural gas extraction, from rig site preparation to land restoration

Requirements for traffic plans, access roads, and noise barriers vary by state and local laws, but once the rig site is prepared, the rig is assembled and digs a well that is then encased in steel and cement to protect groundwater reservoirs. After drilling and testing the extraction pipe, fracking fluid is injected into the rock to create cracks where crude oil resides, allowing it to be pumped out.

Soaps often air every day, leading to frantic production schedules

Unlike more typical primetime or streaming shows, soap operas often air every weekday. That means writers and actors often work every day to complete a new episode, making for a grueling schedule. It also explains why some of the dialogue and performances might seem a bit off-the-cuff.

A tube-and-diaphragm system tells gas pumps when to stop providing fuel

As long as air passes freely through a small hole at the end of the nozzle, the diaphragm is inflated, and fuel flows normally. Once fluid reaches the hole, the change in pressure from the difference in air and fluid densities collapses the diaphragm, which cuts the flow of gas.

See how the presidential motorcade protects the president on the move

This video breaks down how the motorcade—anchored by the armored limousine known as "the Beast"—operates as a mobile security network. An animated simulation shows how agents and vehicles respond to potential attacks to keep the president safe in transit.

Watch the cumbersome, but necessary, precautions healthcare workers must take to care for and protect themselves while caring for Ebola patients

Treating someone with Ebola involves a painstaking process of suiting up (donning) and peeling off (doffing) protective gear. Doctors follow detailed CDC guidelines. Properly suiting up is key to protecting against fluids that transmit Ebola, and correctly removing a suit that could be contaminated with the virus is also critical.

Watch the cumbersome, but necessary, precautions healthcare workers must take to care for and protect themselves while caring for Ebola patients.

Michelin judges act as anonymous restaurant inspectors

Go behind the scenes with Gwendal Poullennec, international director of The Michelin Guide and the man who oversees all those anonymous inspectors. This short video dives into who the inspectors are, the training process, and what they look for in a meal.

Cleaning a glass bridge 4,000 feet in the air

Dangling 4,000 feet above the Grand Canyon, these cleaners risk it all to scrub a glass bridge. With a custom-built trolley and nerves of steel, they tackle one of the scariest jobs in America.

You can bet on the color of the Gatorade dumped on the winning coach for the Super Bowl

Many sports books offer additional prop bets reserved only for the Super Bowl, including the Gatorade color, the length of the national anthem, and more. In 2026, the betting favorite for the Gatorade color is orange.

When you complete a CAPTCHA on a website to prove you are human, you may be unknowingly training algorithms for self-driving cars, whose systems require training data to help identify crosswalks, bicycles, and other outdoor objects.

In 1984, Operation Smash Hit intentionally crashed a 239-ton train into a nuclear waste canister at 100 miles per hour to prove the canister's safety, which remained completely intact and lost just 0.29 of its 100 pounds of pressure.

Netflix profits when you're not watching, and its movies are designed that way—read a detail-rich critical essay exposing lesser-known Netflix takes

Domino's Pizza's 30-minute delivery guarantee was responsible for the chain's 1980s surge, but it was discontinued after the company was found liable for delivery driver accidents.

The price of gas is a composite made up of several different factors, with the federal gas tax making up less than 20% of what drivers pay at the pump.

Brandi Chastain, the star of the 1999 US victory over China in the 1999 Women's World Cup, was a last-second choice to take the penalty kick that sealed the victory.

See how Budweiser's famous Clydesdales spend their days at Warm Springs Ranch, where roughly 70 to 80 of the beer brand's giant horses can be found at any given time.

Astronauts have repaired genetic damage in space using CRISPR—a molecular tool that can make precise changes to DNA and is used in single-celled organisms to attack invasive viruses.

Children are now three times more likely to say they want to be a YouTuber when they grow up than an astronaut, with some even attending 'YouTube camps' that teach kids how to create content for the platform.

Dorothy's famous entrance into Oz in 'The Wizard of Oz' relied on analog tricks, including a body double and sepia-toned paint, as much as it did on technology

See how fireworks are made and learn how metals like magnesium and copper are responsible for different colors.

Long before Major League Baseball began allowing instant replay for balls and strikes, an umpire reluctantly used the technology to determine whether a hit was a home run, a move that inadvertently ushered in a new era for the sport.

Hurricanes, which rely on air consistently spinning in the same direction, cannot cross the equator because air curves in opposite directions north and south of it.

Gerrymandering works through two techniques: cracking opposing voters across districts to dilute their power, and packing them into a few to waste their votes in lopsided majorities.

Use this tool to calculate the dollar value of your parental mental load, from meal planning to coordinating after-school care, then see resources that help generate solutions.

Prince's sexually explicit 1984 track 'Darling Nikki' attracted the ire of the Parents Music Resource Center, an advocacy group that inspired the Parental Advisory sticker, even though the song ends with a Christian message.

To reduce wrinkles in clothing, research recommends gentle wash cycles with more water and tumble drying with smaller loads and longer times.

The syncytiotrophoblast is the outer layer of the placenta and the largest human cell, spanning an area about twice that of a king-sized bedsheet.

Louisiana's 'Cancer Alley' is infamous for having some of the highest industrial pollution, toxic air emissions, and cancer risks in the US.

An initial public offering or 'IPO' is the process of a private company becoming public by putting shares of the company on the stock market for purchase.

Double world record holder Hunter Ewen helped conquer his fear of balloons, called globophobia, by training to win Guinness World Record titles for balloon inflation.

The first steps to rebuilding your credit score include getting to know exactly what's on your credit report and figuring out how far you are from the '700 club,' or 'good score' range.

Take a 3D tour of the Hajj, Islam's annual pilgrimage to Mecca, undertaken by over 1.5 million Muslims.

Some coin denominations have ridges etched on their sides, partly to prevent counterfeiting, in a practice called 'reeding.'