drivers working races

I've cornered a fair number of races while I've been putting my car back togeather. On a race day I'm a one-man band, so I can't volunteer on those days. This does give me the chance to F&C for professional races, WC-GT at Long Beach I was yellow for T1, but also I get to keep my SA sharp too.

Part of what works for me is we have a on site housing for our home track, and unless I can drive home, I usually don't work away races.

I know that in SFR, they have a formal class structure, I can't volunteer for their events, but in the South it's pretty open.
 
There aren't many times that I agree with JJJanos, but I must say that he's basically hit the nail on the head. I spend more than $100 per weekend that I volunteer to work corners. Sometimes, I spend $300+. My time is just as valuable as anyone else's there. I have other things that I need to do as well. My wife isn't always happy for me to be gone all weekend (although, sometimes I'm sure she is!!). I do not come and spend my time, effort and money to see ____ racing against _____ in ____ run group. Yes, the racing can be entertaining at times. Working corners is much like being an airline pilot with HOURS of boredom punctuated by seconds of terror. Like Mr. Janos, the last thing that I want on my corner is someone who is inattentive, uninterested, or prone to distraction. I don't think that drivers should work corners on weekends that they race unless they have at least a half a day to give. While I am a corner worker, I am also a driver. I love to race (albeit slowly) and I've been fortunate enough to do it for the last five years. I've been working corners for six.

Before I get off of my soapbox, I'd like to say that the SCCA is a club. Just because you've paid an entry fee doesn't obligate me to drive to the race and work corners. I have to pay money to do that, too (although the Atlanta Region does pay $80 per weekend for Regional and Divisional license holders in F&C and $120 for the weekend for National license holders). Sitting in 100*+ heat in July at Road Atlanta is NOT where I want to be. Believe me, the $80-$120 we get as "payment" is a small consolation and rarely covers the expense of going to a race. However, as a club member who wants to see the club succeed and see the races happen, I am there. I couldn't care much less about "how entertaining" the race is. It's my job to watch, report, document, observe, communicate, flag, and respond. Your pass in turn one may have been the greatest move ever seen in the history of automobiles, but I'm in turn 5 and I didn't see it. Don't think that (all) corner workers come for the thrill of the race. We can't hear the track announcements due to having headphones on to talk to race control and we're too busy watching for parts falling off of the LBC or keeping an eye on the nitwit who has driven off in turn 2 for the fourth time this session.

I would like to personally thank Butch Kummer for working corners. I have had the chance to work with him and he's darned good. If anyone out there is willing and interested in working corners, we'd be glad to have you. If you haven't done it for 30 years, not much has changed. If you've never done it, you might learn a thing or two, make new friends, and maybe have a good time!

Let the flaming begin!!

Scott Franklin
F&C
ITA/7
SPU
 
One other thought. While this discussion has hit the flagging aspect often, there are lots of other ways to chip in.

And, when you screw up, it's nice to have a "friend" in the corps who knows and appreciates that you've volunteered on occasion and helps cover your ass. That can take many forms.
 
Since Scott has outted me, yes I HAVE worked corners (and just about every other job at the race track) but never when I'm driving that weekend. But then I live an hour from Road Atlanta, I have no life, my son has kids of his own, and my wife is strangely disappointed those weekends when I'm not headed to the race track. :blink:

Not only does working corners provide an opportunity to give back to the club, but it also makes me a better driver! I've written articles on this, but as a driver you get to see maybe three other cars (the ones immediately around you) take a particular corner 20-30 times over a weekend. As a corner worker you can watch the entire field take a corner (both good and bad) for two days!

One example: I was working Turn 11 (the Bridge) at Road Atlanta for the Petit one year and noticed that EFR and Butch Leitzinger were coming under the Bridge on the driver's far right (almost nailing the abutment) while most of us Clubbies (myself included) were taking a much wider line. Knowing that those guys are good, I tried their line the next time I drove and discovered the bump under the Bridge is MUCH less severe on the right than it is farther left. Not a big difference on the clock, but it DOES a big difference in keeping a relatively high horsepower car under you right there.

Another advantage is the workers pay more attention to folks they know. At Saturday night's party I'll ask "How'd I look out there today?" and many times I'll get comments on how my line compared to my fellow drivers. If I was just another helmet they might not pay attention, but them being able to put a face with a car number gives me an advantage.

YMMV...
 
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So, in general, racers would rather pay an additional $225. per event for workers?
Please let me know beacuse I'll stop worrying about where I'm going to find voluteers and start hiring workers.
Hmmmm, what's the going rate for a flagger, stewart, tech inspector, pace car driver or someone to sit in Timing and scoring all weekend?
I'm not sure $225. would cover it!
:shrug:
Jerry Rigoli NER CRB chairman
 
So the Atlanta division pays for their licensed F&C come to the track. What about the other volunteer positions?

What we as drivers are forgetting, that many times flaggers do not have the means, ability or desire to literally race, but they do enjoy being part of the "club" and enjoy the social side of the event.

Jerry - What if we put a mandatory $50 increase in the entry fee for the workers fund, that ultimately can help to pay for at least gas for the flaggers?

In New England we already do "pay" workers who do a good job by giving them TIPS, which is good for merchandise, gas cards, hotel room stays, etc... We can't forget that either.
 
I did pretty much every specialty at least once before I started driving, between '79 and '86 and, while I enjoyed most of them more than not being at the race track (old-school T&S sucked), I enjoy driving more than any of them. I don't even spectate at races much, unless it's a really cool event, it's really close, and it's not a big time/$$ production (e.g., GA at VIR when I lived in Greensboro and could go up just for the day).

I had a HUGE advantage when I started driving, since I knew how the systems work, knew the people, etc. But I'll tell you - I saw an even GREATER lack of understanding when I started my "second" racing career and did my school to get re-licensed in 2004. I talked to two other students who'd never even been at the track on a race weekend. They knew what HPDE-type events looked like, but had no idea about the SCCA, specialties, processes, etc.

(The caliber of DRIVING was much better this time around however, with the huge growth in track day opportunities. When I did my first school, most of the students knew the Club but had NEVER driving on-track.)

THAT SAID, I think it would be a great idea for Novice license programs to require that new drivers spend a couple of days out on the corners. It gives one an entirely different perspective on the relationship between flagger and driver, to be the piece of meat out there among the high-speed metal boxes.

K
 
In response to the comment about T-shirts counting as payment for F&C, my wife will happily clean out all of my dresser drawers and send you the plethora of white T-shirts that I have. It's come to the point that I don't even take them anymore.
If it's an especially cool shirt or a cool event (like working the Petit), I'll take one, but otherwise they stay at the track.
 
I'll preface this by saying I sincerely appreciate what volunteers do for our club and am very appreciative.

So, in general, racers would rather pay an additional $225. per event for workers?
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You might not like the answers but for a significant number of people they'd turn to other clubs or racing businesses. Jerry, since you put a NER spin on it I can pretty much guarantee NASA North East would see an influx of new racers.

What we as drivers are forgetting, that many times flaggers do not have the means, ability or desire to literally race, but they do enjoy being part of the "club" and enjoy the social side of the event.
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Excellent point. I don't care what organization you're talking about - American Cancer Society, American Red Cross, SCCA... - the reality is people volunteer because it benefits them in some way. That benefit could be because they enjoy the position, it makes them feel good to help others, they've been impacted by the cause in some manner, and so on. That's not a bad thing but is a reality.

Jerry - What if we put a mandatory $50 increase in the entry fee for the workers fund, that ultimately can help to pay for at least gas for the flaggers?
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There are price points where people will turn to other options but in general people would rather pay a few extra bucks (probably not $50). I know when I was doing HPDEs there were two clubs I tried. One was a bit cheaper but it was necessary to work the corners for a session or two. The other one was a bit more expensive but drivers never had to work the corners. I did the less expensive option once and became a regular of the other organization.


 
In 2008 I worked four weekends in Tech, Drove my SRT4 as pace car for one weekend, and worked a corner for a half day until the corner workers were able to make it to the track after the ice melted on the roads. It can be done.

Speaking of other clubs. NASA pays their workers. Their entry fees are the same or lower than "ours".

Raising entry fees causes the number of entries to go down, causing the hosting region to make less money, causing the entry fee to be raised again, causing entries to go down, causing...
 
Knestis said:
THAT SAID, I think it would be a great idea for Novice license programs to require that new drivers spend a couple of days out on the corners. It gives one an entirely different perspective on the relationship between flagger and driver, to be the piece of meat out there among the high-speed metal boxes.

K
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I believe that to be a great idea!
 
I'm with Jake on this one. I take care of at least two cars on a race weekend and sometimes more in addition to driving. I give back in other ways too. Race chairmain for a BIG vintage event ( 600 plus cars),ITAC ( until this year),Chief driving school instructor,region comp committee,etc,etc. I just don't have the time on a race weekend that I'm driving in to flag or help out in other ways. I also agree that has part of the Novice experience you should be required to flag or do something that gets you an understanding of what really goes on. The flip side to that is how do you enforce that with the pro schools?
 
So how much extra are drivers willing to pay to guarantee an event to drive at? The volunteer situation is getting to be a HUGE problem. Especially now given the economy...

We, as drivers, need to help work on a solution. I can tell you that in the North East the drivers are cheap asses when it comes to contributing to the workers fund. :shrug:

$25
$50
$75
 
or maybe the people putting together the schedule should just put fewer dates on the calendar. fewer race weekends consolidates both the driver entries, and the volunteers to make for better events without the need to pay workers, raise entry fees, etc....

i'm not really willing to pay much more. throwing money at this problem isn't necessarily the answer.
 
tnord said:
or maybe the people putting together the schedule should just put fewer dates on the calendar. fewer race weekends consolidates both the driver entries, and the volunteers to make for better events without the need to pay workers, raise entry fees, etc....

i'm not really willing to pay much more. throwing money at this problem isn't necessarily the answer.
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+ eleventybillion for all of that. Again.

It's gotten to the point now where you're not only getting a lot of VOLUNTEER burnout, you're even starting to see entrant/competitor burnout. That, right there, should be a big ole neon sign to the organizers.
 
Greg Amy said:
+ eleventybillion for all of that. Again.

It's gotten to the point now where you're not only getting a lot of VOLUNTEER burnout, you're even starting to see entrant/competitor burnout. That, right there, should be a big ole neon sign to the organizers.
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i've lobbied hard for this the past couple years, and seems like it's finally starting to swing that way in our division. myself and others were met with mucho resistance from the "old world" crowd that wouldn't give up dates and couldn't see beyond their own noses.

i imagine it's the same across the country.
 
Jeremy Billiel said:
So the Atlanta division pays for their licensed F&C come to the track. What about the other volunteer positions?
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I had to actually do some work this morning but didn't want this to get lost in the ensuing discussion(s):

All volunteer specialties are eligible for our Worker Expense Reimbursement Program. Contracted positions (wrecker and ambulance people, track security, etc.) are not eligible. Since implementing the program we've had MUCH better success staffing events, but now the challenge is keeping our events profitable without raising entry fees to unreasonable levels.

It's always about trying to maintain a balance...
 
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