O-1 visas for Motorsports Professionals – Crew Chief Kaz Townsend
Australia and New Zealand have some of the most knowledgeable dirt track professionals in the world. We have enjoyed tremendous success in obtaining work authorization visas for both drivers and race professionals in P-1A and O-1A categories. Most recently, we overcame a request for evidence to obtain approval for crew chief Kaz Townsend from New Zealand. Kaz Townsend is not only a tremendous crew chief, but he is also known around the world for his fabrication skills on race cars.
We began our response to the request for evidence by explaining to USCIS the importance of a crew chief
A crew chief is the most important member of any motorsports team along with the driver. It takes a special individual with a unique understanding of racing, engineering, logistics, team building, and nerves of steel in difficult situations. This is all confirmed with both independent evidence to establish the importance of a crew chief, and solicited information to explain how the beneficiary is exceptional as a crew chief. This is true for all motorsports from midget car racing to NASCAR.
Motorsports races are often decided by thousandths of a second, and the competition is so fierce that accomplished race teams can go years between victories. Crew chief’s jobs and duties include coordination of the entire organization, car preparation for all cars in the fleet, race-day strategies, and overseeing engineering for the vehicles as well. The crew chief typically also chooses and evaluates the talents of all the skill specialists on the team including drivers, tire specialists, and engineers.
Typical responsibilities of a crew chief include the following:
setting up a shop and establishing a crew
safety systems
stringing the race car
understanding and maximizing the effectiveness of camber, caster, and kingpin angle; tuning with springs, shocks, and sway bars
understanding and maximizing the effectiveness of wheelbase, track, toe, and ackerman
understanding and maximizing the effectiveness of ride height, weight, and cross weight; chassis geometry
understanding and maximizing the effectiveness of the right setup and preparing your car for the track, brakes, aerodynamics, gears and gear selection, and testing
qualifying, developing race strategies, and diagnosing and solving a myriad of problems during a race, particularly those of handling
providing recommendations for post-race checks and efficient weekly maintenance
The crew chief is the person who calls the shots. They are the ones who get the race car set up for the driver to have success. They are the ones with the unenviable task of making late-race pit strategy decisions.
O-1A extraordinary visa beneficiary – Kaz Townsend
Kaz Townsend performs all of the duties of a crew chief and on top of this is one of the most accomplished and skilled motorsports craftsmen in the world. His craftsmanship has not only made a difference in world championship races, but he has also contributed directly to the improvement of motorsports as a whole. The crowning achievement of this is his Radbul 4 car, which is one of the most popular draft racing cars ever built. In fact, there is an entire TV show about a car he built, which is the most famous dirt drag car in the world (Radbul). His facility Townsend Brotherz Racing is also known worldwide and featured for their original updates to racing cars.
Supporting evidence on the significance and contributions of a crew chief include the following:
Drag Illustrated article on what makes a great crew chief
How Stuff Works article on how the different positions of a race team work together
Bleacher Report article on the importance of crew chiefs
AN ESSENTIAL OR CRITICAL CAPACITY FOR ORGANIZATIONS OR ESTABLISHMENTS THAT HAVE A DISTINGUISHED REPUTATION
As one of the most essential positions in motorsports, a crew chief serves in a critical capacity for a race team and organization. As such, Mr. Townsend has performed in an essential role for distinguished organizations as a crew chief and race engineer for several distinguished racing teams, drivers, and motor sports organizations (as substantiated by a lot of the evidence that USCIS acknowledges it previously received and more evidence included with this petition). Note that Kaz has also contributed outside of the normal responsibilities of a motorsports crew chief by manually performing fabrication on the race cars, inventing parts, and building race cars. Specific examples and independent corroborating evidence is included with this petition.
2005–2010 BREKA Race Cars – Seamount Racing NZ
2007 Michael Pickens NZ midget title
2008–2010 multiple NZ wins – Seamount racing
2008 Speedcar super series champ – crew
2010–2012 BSL Racing NZ
NZ midget car title – Shaun Insley
2010 Brad Kuhn – World midget car series
2012 Paul Vazey Olly Brown Memorial – crew chief
2012 Vendetta chassis wins NZ title – crew chief
2012–2015 Townsend Brotherz Racing NZ
2012–2015 multiple NZ Drift series wins MadMike/Nico Reid – crew chief
2012/13 2 x NZ TQ title champion (in TBR-built car) Grand Prix, North Island and South Island – champ crew chief
2014 NAC drift series championship
2015 Motorhead Joe Kukutai champion – crew chief
2015 Youth Mentoring – attended high schools for speaking engagements
2016–2018 NZ/Australia
2016 – Paramatta, Australia – Speedcar feature wins x 6
2016 WTAK champion – Sydney, Australia
2018–2020 Seamount Racing – Crew Chief
2018 NZ Grand Prix champion Brad Mosen
2018 2NZ midget car title
2018 Multiple Western Springs midget feature winner Brad Mosen
2018 Best presented team
2018 Parramatta Speedway – Scotty Farmer – 4th
2019 Brad Mosen 3rd place Western Springs Speedway
2020 Zeb Wise 3rd NZ midget car title
2020 Zeb Wise 1st CTRA midget champion
EVIDENCE OF ORIGINAL SIGNIFICANT CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE INDUSTRY
After years of working for top NZ-based race workshops such as Breka & BSL Racing, which are some of the most prestigious brands in midget racing, Kaz Townsend and his brother started their own shop to produce original parts and cars that are renown around the world of midget racing, drag racing, and more.
Townsend Brotherz Racing
Explanation on the significance of the Townsend Brother’s contributions to the industry of motorsports is explained in third-party evidence on WORKSHOP WEDNESDAYS: Townsend Brotherz Racing https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O4GLCIXkUD4 For our second #workshopwednesday feature, we took a trip south to snoop around the famous Townsend Brotherz Racing compound (TBR for short).
Original vehicles made by Kaz Townsend with his brother at TBR are included below:
RD1 AWRCS Coal Hollow 2016 UTV
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jsJWlkvB3EU
2016 GNCC Ironman
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zXsisud9cE0
2016 GNCC Ironman utv lites
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Rq6tMe1Rf0
Radbul Project – Served as lead engineer and a fabricator on the world-renown Radbul, which is one of the most famous drift race cars ever made. The project was made in conjunction with Red Bull media, which is one of the largest and most recognized publishers of extreme sports content in the world.
Details on how Kaz was picked for this position:
From the Radbul Team:
Kaz comes from a speedway background, and before he launched TBR he spent the better part of a decade building championship-winning midget and sprint cars for local and international teams. Over the past two years, he’s applied a lot of that setup know-how to Mike’s other cars, and the results pretty much speak for themselves. You can have the best parts money can buy, but if they’re not working in unison at their maximum potential, there’s little point, right?
Contributions to the Radbul car included but are not limited to the following:
decision single turbo three-rotor 20B engine package, to a custom four-rotor 26B with two turbos burning octane-rich E8
completing chassis and loading the complete chassis on a trailer and pointing it in the direction of pulse performance race engineering (PPRE)
These contributions were very important to one of the most prestigious drag racing cars in the world because they are critical to suspension and steering. Four figures of horsepower is not helpful if the small and light NC Mazda MX-5 with a 90.2-inch wheelbase cannot handle the power.
Rebound adjustment through the piston rod tops, and both bump/compression adjustment and high and low-speed valving adjustment through the separate reservoir canisters. In practice, this means the ability to fine-tune the setup depending on the track type and surface. On a high-speed course, for instance, upping the compression and rebound will increase stability.
Custom-made adjustable A-arms for greater suspension.
Modified FD3S RX-7 collapsable inner steering shaft housed within a TBR outer to improve the steering system.
Custom made knuckles of course – calculated on the required geometry, then designed in-house by Kaz using CAD software. Many of RADBUL’s parts have been fashioned this way, which goes to show the extent of this build to improve overall performance. The design also includes a 45mm drop, which essentially lifts the wheel and tire higher up into the bodywork, effectively lowering the chassis by the same amount. So the car will sit low – a non-negotiable prerequisite from Mike – but still maintain the correct suspension geometry.
2007 BMW M3 E91 Touring Car for D1NZ Drift Racing – included in proposal for Mobil 1 Sponsorship
Evidence of original contributions from the workshop - Townsend Brotherz Racing
Ernest Workshop Feature
building, prepping, and maintaining some of the world’s best race cars
mentions Breka & BSL as the top racing workshops in New Zealand (this is where he worked as a lead fabricator)
mentions the Radbul being built from scratch in the TBR facility
custom shock treatment roomm which is unique to TBR because it localizes functions that are typically outsourced to other places
in-house shock tuning allows for corner weighting and CAD work to happen as an everyday occurrence
Kaz’s vast knowledge & experience have led to him having worked on almost every type of race car with some of the biggest names on the planet
Wayne Hemi – Vendetta Superstock Car
Specially built race car for multi-time national champion and multiple national teams’ title winner Wayne Hemi. The car was built by the Teams Champs, which is responsible for six titles. WE included an article on this that says that the car was built at BSL with Kaz Townsend. He chose Townsend for this special task because the renown midget car builder knows midgets, which are the best handling speedway cars around.
It is also important for most O-1 petitions for coaches to make an argument for comparable evidence because USCIS may try not to count the accomplishments of his teams for the petition. When making an argument for comparable evidence, the regulations require the petitioner to explain why the existing O-1 eligibility requirements do not apply. Our argument was, well, if you do not apply the evidence to the category that we desire, that is proof in itself that the category did not apply in these circumstances.
COMPARABLE EVIDENCE – EVIDENCE OF THE DISPLAY OF MR. TOWNSEND’S WORK AT MOTORSPORTS EXHIBITIONS AND SHOWCASES
We would like to note, as stated above, it is appropriate for evidence to be
considered in multiple categories. For the profession of coaching, there are internal references for adjudication officers that specifically express that comparable evidence is appropriate when the coach contributes to the accomplishments of the team/individual that win prestigious awards.
The regulations and internal USCIS memos provide the following guidance for evaluating comparable evidence:
Determine if the evidence submitted is comparable to the evidence required in 8 CFR 204.35(h)(3). This regulatory provision provides petitioners the opportunity to submit comparable evidence to establish the alien beneficiary’s eligibility, if it is determined that the standards described in 8 CFR 204.5(h)(3) do not readily apply to the alien’s occupation. When evaluating such “comparable” evidence, consider whether the 8 CFR 204.5(h)(3) criteria are readily applicable to the alien’s occupation and, if not, whether the evidence provided is truly comparable to the criteria listed in that regulation.
General assertions that the ten objective criteria described in 8 CFR 204.5(h)(3) do not readily apply to the alien’s occupation are not probative and should be discounted. Similarly, claims that USCIS should accept witness letters as comparable evidence are not persuasive. The petitioner should explain clearly why it has not submitted evidence that would satisfy at least three of the criteria set forth in 8 CFR 204.5(h)(3) as well as why the evidence it has submitted is “comparable” to that required under 8 CFR 204.5(h)(3). On the other hand, the following are examples of where 8 CFR 204.5(h)(4) might apply.
(1) An alien beneficiary who is an Olympic coach whose athlete wins an Olympic medal while under the alien’s principal tutelage would likely constitute evidence comparable to that in 8 CFR 204.5(h)(3)(v).
(2) Election to a national all-star or Olympic team might serve as comparable evidence for memberships in 8 CFR 204.5(h)(3)(ii).
We argue that the beneficiary’s contributions as a crew chief and fabricator to the teams, individuals, and productions and the championships, broadcasts, and world championships appearance they earned should be considered as comparable evidence to lesser national/international awards and memberships in prestigious organizations. IF USCIS FINDS THAT THE EVIDENCE PRESENTED IN EITHER OF THESE CATEGORIES DOES NOT COMPLY TO THE EXTENT THEY ARE FOUND TO BE INSUFFICIENT, we argue that the standards for the criteria do not readily apply to the alien’s occupation because USCIS determined that the evidence presented did not readily apply to the alien’s occupation, and internal instructions concerning the comparable evidence show that the alien’s occupation does apply for the accomplishments of a coach’s team or athlete.
The accomplishments of his teams, drivers, and organizations are listed above and corroborated with independent evidence. These are similar to an Olympic coach whose athlete wins an Olympic medal
He was the crew chief for team New Zealand in the Super Series, which is similar to an election to the all-star or Olympic team for memberships.
For more information on obtaining O-1A visas for motorsports professionals, please do not hesitate to contact our office at 704-243-8178 for a consultation.