Lessons Learned

[douglap1]

This past year I had to skip a race that I had signed up for due to missing some critical car parts. A day before the event, when it became evident that I was not going to make the race, I contacted my buddy who was the Race Chair for the event and volunteered to help out with the event if there was anything that they needed.

I thought they might give me some cushy job, but no, they wanted me to help work a corner station. I thought you had to do a crash & burn school before you could work a corner, but I was wrong. They will apparently take anyone now.

So, as a novice corner worker, they put me with some very experienced workers, and I learned quite a few lessons that I believe are beneficial for us all to know as drivers:

1. I always thought that when a corner station put out a yellow flag, it meant there was an incident somewhere in the area of that worker station. Not so – each worker station covers the specific area of track between their station and the next station. So, if a yellow flag or surface / debris flag is shown at a certain corner station, it means that the hazard is between that station and the next corner station.
2. With Item 1 in mind, the yellow flag guy is looking only down track when the course is active. The person with the passing flag is the one looking up the track to see what is coming, and also has the job of warning the rest of the corner workers at his station to run for cover if a car heads for them.
3. S**t happens unbelievably fast when you are stationary next to the track. The yellow flag guy has to be very quick to get that flag out when someone spins. It may look like slow motion to us in the car sometimes, but at the track side, it is crazy fast. We as drivers need to be aware that hazards can and will pop up quicker than a flag can be shown.
4. One of the first questions that I asked my corner captain was under what circumstances we would go on the track surface. I was told that corner workers do not go on track anymore. If there is an incident, the corner workers must wait on the professional crew to show up to deal with it, and the most the corner workers could do was to hand a driver a fire extinguisher. This is very different than when I first started racing in the 1990’s. Back then I had a car fire one time, and like a dufus, I pulled off across the track from a corner station. Fortunately, one guy from the corner station ran across the track with a fire extinguisher and saved my car since the fire was too large for my halon bottle to fully extinguish. Apparently, they won’t be doing that anymore.
5. We all joke about the passing flag work, but from what I saw, they really make an effort to get this right. In the first few laps the passing flag guy normally writes down the car numbers of the fast cars, and notes the car numbers of the slow cars who are likely to be lapped. Generally, they try not to flag any pass for position, even if there are multiple classes on course. The passing flag is primarily used to worn the guys who are about to be lapped. Many of the corner stations are just after a hill or turn, so frequently they just can’t see you coming soon enough to help with the passing flag. Back to Point 3 above – things happen very quickly when you are stationary next to the track.
6. We frequently talk about the “graying” of the club with concern over the dwindling number of competitors in our class. I tell you we better be worried about having enough corner workers to continue this sport. The day I was corner working, at least 75% of the workers were over the age of 55, and less than 10% were Millennials.
7. A lot of the guys I met corner working had tried racing themselves, but due to finances, or family situations, they just couldn’t justify staying with it. They are us, and we need to have a greater appreciation, and comradery with these folks.

[Dave Gomberg]

...

I thought they might give me some cushy job, but no, they wanted me to help work a corner station. I thought you had to do a crash & burn school before you could work a corner, but I was wrong. They will apparently take anyone now.

C&B school was never a requirement. It was, and still is, a relatively relaxed way to train new people. But, it was also always true that new people showing up mid-season were trained on-the-job as you were.

With regard to your points below:

Item 1: I don't know how long you have been racing, nor where you did your driver school, but this is something that should have been taught to you or that you should have picked up along the way. But, better to find out a bit late than never.

Item 4: This is not universally true. You didn't say what track you were at, but what you were told is, disappointingly, becoming more the norm. This is true at every NASCAR track, but also at "club" tracks where the owners/managers are concerned about liability issues or because they don't know how to train their own paid workers so they extend the prohibition to everyone.

Dave

So, as a novice corner worker, they put me with some very experienced workers, and I learned quite a few lessons that I believe are beneficial for us all to know as drivers:

1. I always thought that when a corner station put out a yellow flag, it meant there was an incident somewhere in the area of that worker station. Not so – each worker station covers the specific area of track between their station and the next station. So, if a yellow flag or surface / debris flag is shown at a certain corner station, it means that the hazard is between that station and the next corner station.
2. With Item 1 in mind, the yellow flag guy is looking only down track when the course is active. The person with the passing flag is the one looking up the track to see what is coming, and also has the job of warning the rest of the corner workers at his station to run for cover if a car heads for them.
3. S**t happens unbelievably fast when you are stationary next to the track. The yellow flag guy has to be very quick to get that flag out when someone spins. It may look like slow motion to us in the car sometimes, but at the track side, it is crazy fast. We as drivers need to be aware that hazards can and will pop up quicker than a flag can be shown.
4. One of the first questions that I asked my corner captain was under what circumstances we would go on the track surface. I was told that corner workers do not go on track anymore. If there is an incident, the corner workers must wait on the professional crew to show up to deal with it, and the most the corner workers could do was to hand a driver a fire extinguisher. This is very different than when I first started racing in the 1990’s. Back then I had a car fire one time, and like a dufus, I pulled off across the track from a corner station. Fortunately, one guy from the corner station ran across the track with a fire extinguisher and saved my car since the fire was too large for my halon bottle to fully extinguish. Apparently, they won’t be doing that anymore.
5. We all joke about the passing flag work, but from what I saw, they really make an effort to get this right. In the first few laps the passing flag guy normally writes down the car numbers of the fast cars, and notes the car numbers of the slow cars who are likely to be lapped. Generally, they try not to flag any pass for position, even if there are multiple classes on course. The passing flag is primarily used to worn the guys who are about to be lapped. Many of the corner stations are just after a hill or turn, so frequently they just can’t see you coming soon enough to help with the passing flag. Back to Point 3 above – things happen very quickly when you are stationary next to the track.
6. We frequently talk about the “graying” of the club with concern over the dwindling number of competitors in our class. I tell you we better be worried about having enough corner workers to continue this sport. The day I was corner working, at least 75% of the workers were over the age of 55, and less than 10% were Millennials.
7. A lot of the guys I met corner working had tried racing themselves, but due to finances, or family situations, they just couldn’t justify staying with it. They are us, and we need to have a greater appreciation, and comradery with these folks.

[EYERACE]

Cent. Fla. Region occasionally puts on a Worker's School but it's not been a requirement to have one under your belt before working a Corner if you're a member for Regional events. Pro events are a whole different thing though. I have long been of the opinion that after maybe a couple of years a Driver who has never before had the F&C endorsement on their SCCA membership card must also work a corner to be able to renew their Competition License. I formed that opinion after working corners when I lacked a car or an engine.

I'll let people race on a Novice Permit [of course]........ but I think now I'll change my opinion to.......... those who wish to get a full Competition License must fulfill the requirement of what would become a new page in the Novice Permit Book......... wherein after having also worked an Event in a corner and the Chief Steward signing off that new page - along with all current requirements for racing.... then they get a full Competition License.

Or maybe at least as part of an SCCA Driver's School, the Newbie must work a corner for two sessions?
Who knows?.........the world might end up with some younger workers at other times too once they're exposed to what it takes to be a corner worker.

One thing I did like for working corners was a "payment option" as a voucher that I could use later towards a race entry fee.........instead of meals and a $25 or $50 gas card or a credit towards one's hotel room.

Comments: 1. Great corners workers don't just watch a car as it goes by. They scan the car. Their eyes are going sideways along with the car - of course - but the eyes are also going up and down scanning across the car at the same time.....which is not easy. 2.The best example I can offer of a great corner worker is this: I'm working Turn 5 at Daytona - a car zooms by - the other very experienced worker is suddenly on the radio talking to the other corners and the Chief Steward at the same time that Car number whatever Orange is dripping oil. The car is now gone by. There's no tell-tale line on the surface or anything that can be seen after the fact from the Corner Station. Sure enough others confirmed it later at their corners. The car came by a second time......I tried to look for it.......nope, saw nothing. The car was called in later because the worker was right.
3. Once..........a car stopped running and coasted to a stop coming out of 5 and I'm on the radio calling it in saying > "He's dead in the water" < in no time at all I was informed that words like 'dead' are not spoken on radios because what if someone else only caught part of my transmission......oops. 4. By working corners one learns how their car should look to workers.....high contrast please. Example: a black car with red numbers may look fancy, strong and aggressive to its owner when parked - but red is a dark color! - so at speed it can be hard for the worker to identify the car's class and number. I'm not saying everybody should have a white "meatball" and dark numbers but I more and more like that idea. My car? It's either yellow over black on the wing's sidepanel or black over yellow on the body. 5. I showed up at a 24 Hours race (or was it RunOffs?) to work Turn one with a leaf blower - which would be faster than push brooms - and of course dirt etc. got on the surface following a shunt and the race went full course yellow and there were support vehicles on track blocking part of the corner to shield workers - my Turn Captain told me not to go out there with it......so fifteen minutes ticked off while brooms were used.

Thanks Workers !!