INDIANAPOLIS (WRTV) -- Devin Mockobee is taking on a new challenge, as a mechanic at ECR.
"My eyes have been very big since I walked in the door," Mockobee said. "I can say that much."
Mockobee started the new job with the IndyCar team just a couple of weeks ago.
"I grew up in a drag racing family," Mockobee said. "I've been surrounded by cars my entire life. And having the opportunity to kind of get my first job out of college in the motorsports industry has been... if it wasn't football, this is my next dream up."
Mockobee referenced football becuase he played college football as a student-athlete at Purdue University. In fact, he's likely to go down as one of the best running backs in program history, finishing his collegiate career with 2,983 rushing yards. He played for the Boilers from 2021-25.
He earned a mechanical engineering techology degree in the process.
"I went through that whole process of the (NFL) draft process and nothing came out of it," Mockobee said. "And then I started talking with the guys down here."
Mockobee is not the only Boilermaker who works at ECR. For instance, team chairman and owner Ted Gelov is a Purdue graduate, just like team manager Derek Davidson.
"They were walking him through doing interviews and I recognized him straight away," Davidson said. "I'm like, 'Man... That's Devin Mockobee.' My wife and I are both Purdue alums, so we go to football games probably twice, three times a year. And always enjoyed watching him play ball. So, it's actually pretty cool to have him here."
Although working for an IndyCar team is different from playing football, Mockobee does feel there are similarities.
"The similaries and familiarity between all of it, it's actually really cool with the whole travel process," Mockobee said. "Especailly with the whole pit crew stuff, you have your ones, your backups, kind of a roster set with that. That's why coming into motorsports, it felt kind of natural a little bit, because it felt very similar to going and playing football."
It also requires work ethic, something Purdue fans definitely know Mockobee has.
ECR fields two-full time entires in the NTT IndyCar Series. The No. 20 car is driven by Alexander Rossi, while the No. 21 car is driven by Christian Rasmussen.
The next IndyCar race is set for this Sunday at Nashville Superspeedway.
