Runoffs safety crews

The safety crews at the Runoffs were operating very 'old school' compared to what we have seen in the past. Operating very close to the racing action.

1) Is this the norm at other SCCA events during the year?

2) Who develops this event safety crew philosophy? Does it change day to day with different stewards?

3) I the FV race there was a roll over and there was no PC/Dbl Yellow called. Is this normal? In my many years of SCCA racing I have never seen a roll over without a PC, red or black flag.

Brian

The safety crew at RA is track personal and the operate as they see fit. Clearly a different person was at the helm this year. They appeared to be much more willing to work under local yellows.

The flag condition is all up to the operating steward. Fcy on a rollover could come down to the picture the corner captain is painting for the steward. There is a big difference in how that plays out if I saw ambulance now upon seeing the incident or if after the cars stop both drivers signal they are fine. In the last case I would just inform control that there was an airborne car so they could have the driver looked at when he is towed in. Where the cars come to rest also matters. Its all judgement calls. Hard rules would never work. Just as futile as trying to define who's fault s racing incident is.

Drivers out, cars rest in decent area for minimum damage to all as mentioned above, keep the race going, good job RA corners/tow/safety, I noticed that issue brought up by the guys above and kind of enjoyed that fact, older days but hopefully extremey careful ....... sorry about my comments this weekend, not even funny, gonna go dark for a while and enjoy or crindge at becoming 62 next month, Damn!!

Oh yea, double yellow on a 4 mile track, BRUTAL!!! except for the behind!!

The crew at Road America operates much much differently than most tracks. They are very willing to work under local yellows and conduct hot pulls on green tracks. While I appreciate the risks the safety crew is taking in trying to keep the track green, I think the dangers of trucks working on track with formula cars are special and the crew needs to take into account that when there is a truck parked on track. It might only slightly dangerous for a sedan to crash into the truck, but it can be deadly for a formula car to crash into that same truck.

That being said, no one wants their runoffs race to be 60% full course yellow (or more).

I was very happy with the performance of the safety crews at RA this week. The response to my incident was VERY fast and professional, as were the other responses I observed as a spectator.

Let's make sure that everyone knows how much we appreciate their efforts; we can't race without 'em.:thumbsup:

Truck becomes part of the track (under yellow, furled white, check that, may not be at yellow but furled white IMO is yellow, check GCR as well as head n keister), difficulty is when your competitor uses that to his advantage, well, he will do that with double yellow, anyway, just some thoughts, yea Dennis those trucks look big to us, especially the underneath, rear bumper, got a point, out of here folks!!

Say Here!! E. WHITE FLAG (Solid White)

Caution and take care for a slow moving race car, ambulance or other ???nivers]emergency vehicle on the racing surface. The standing flag is displayed for 2 flag stations prior to the vehicle in question. In addition, a standing

white flag will be displayed during the first lap of each race group’s first

session of the day to indicate the location of the flagging stations.

Tiago ....... I agree, have rolled over a few times, one was at the 'Bridge', tetering on the tire wall after T1 and the bumpy downhill, could hear the corner worker radioing in, "He's going over, a light roll back off the wall" Yea, you'll live, the wing is another story!!! ...... thought it was funny at the time, back to the drawing board!![/FONT][/SIZE]
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more aligned to this thread topic, I was out the car and always jump over the wall to safety as fast as I can, the car was there but the big thing at the Bridge is, those were not peebles, they were wind-surf swept large stones between the track n tire wall, car was not in a position causing danger!!

Cursed if you do, cursed if you don't, eh?

Certainly a roll over is a serious incident, but that particular one was so quick, it would have been easy to miss it. The car landed on all fours and the driver appeared to be fine, I don't think it would have made sense to treat it (as far as flagging and safety goes) any different from a spin/contact incident.

I've heard about cars (vees) rolling over, landing on all fours and continuing on to the pits under their own power. It all comes down to judgement, and from the few races I watched this weekend, the only one that really made me twitch was the trucks after T1 at the end of the SM race.

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Originally Posted by fezzic181

The safety crew at RA is track personal and the operate as they see fit.

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You are incorrect sir. It is a mixture of RA Safety crews and SCCA crews for SCCA events.

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Originally Posted by fezzic181

They appeared to be much more willing to work under local yellows.

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We are up until we feel drivers are not playing nicely. All the driver's have to do is respect the flag condition and there will be less FCY or Black Flag All.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by fezzic181

The flag condition is all up to the operating steward. Fcy on a rollover could come down to the picture the corner captain is painting for the steward.

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Not entirely true. Several times this past weekend there was a flag condition for a particular incident as called by the corner captain. Once Safety arrives they are in charge of the scene, not the corner captain and Safety calls back for an upgrade to a flag condition if that's what they feel is needed.

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Originally Posted by Brad Ellingson

We are up until we feel drivers are not playing nicely....

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Exactly which steward makes the judgement that the drivers have stopped behaving?

Brian

The Safety crew on scene makes the judgement and relays that information to the dispatcher who in turn relays that information to the operating steward for that race.

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The Safety crew on scene makes the judgement and relays that information to the dispatcher who in turn relays that information to the operating steward for that race.

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This is the same at several track which I work in the NE. The EV crew will work under a local yellow in many situations. However, if they call and say drivers are abusing the situation and they do not feel comfortable, the flag condition is escalated to FCY (with safety car) or BF All depending on the situation.

Terry

can't be any safer than hi comp scca, runoffs for sure, Jackie had his own helocopter, Not bad

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Brad Ellingson

You are incorrect sir. It is a mixture of RA Safety crews and SCCA crews for SCCA events.




We are up until we feel drivers are not playing nicely. All the driver's have to do is respect the flag condition and there will be less FCY or Black Flag All.




Not entirely true. Several times this past weekend there was a flag condition for a particular incident as called by the corner captain. Once Safety arrives they are in charge of the scene, not the corner captain and Safety calls back for an upgrade to a flag condition if that's what they feel is needed.

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Ah ok I was given the impression by someone else who had worked out there that only RA personal were allowed over the wall.

I should have specified the flag condition I was refering to was FCY. As only the operating steward can make that call. He certainly might be quicker to make that call if the corner or safety crew call in that drivers are going past the incident in an unsafe manner.

Probably shouldn't have replied when I was on my phone as I didn't really get what I was thinking down.

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Originally Posted by Modo

Truck becomes part of the track (under yellow, furled white, check that, may not be at yellow but furled white IMO is yellow,

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Furled white is a new one to me. Please explain.