MOUNT SNOW, Vt. – Most of us have a love-hate relationship with our mechanic. Probably more hate than love.

For Todd Tupper who is competing in the SnoCross competition at Winter X Games 2001, his mechanic Jeff Griep is his best friend and lifeline when it comes to crossing the finish line in once piece.

"I never get any credit," says Griep. "It's always the mechanic who loses the race. He never wins one!"

Despite not getting the credit, Griep spends his days and nights fine-tuning, adjusting, tweaking, refitting, rewelding, and just about anything else you can do to a snowmobile. Whatever the rider wants, the rider gets.

"What we are trying to do is fine tune," Griep said. "We know where we have to be so it is just fine-tuning the motor."

Considering what goes into the creation of a snowmobile fit for racing, you would expect some kind of backup in case of disaster. Not the case in most situations.

"We just have one sled. We got here and I was going to replace some components and found out we had a bunch of cracks so we spent four hours rewelding. We had torn everything off it, completely."

Mechanic Roger Faber, who works with rider Carl Schubitzke, also deals with the constant tweaking of his riders machine.

"The driver finds out what we need to adjust and we try to give it to him, says Faber. Today we wanted to try some higher RPM and get her dialed in for some hole shots. The hole shot is a very important part. Everything has to work properly."

"We went out this morning for a test session on the hill and had to change some suspension settings. Now we are working on the practice hill trying for clutching and jetting and engine adjustments."

And it's not always the engine that needs tweaking. A mishap just weeks before the Winter X Games caused a somewhat uncomfortable adjustment for Schubitzke.

"I got hit by a ski right in the muscle in the right buttock," says Schubitzke. It seems like I can't even sit down. Whenever I get in the corners, I can't plant my weight. It is really tender."

Can we get a cushion for Mr. Schubitzke?

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