Even at the national level, autocross events are still run by the participants. If you’re there driving, you’re also doing some work that weekend–maybe shagging cones, overseeing the times or loading up the trailer afterward.
There is no magical group of elves who handle the dirt…
Grid was a favorite of mine for all the reasons you mention. I also used to love flagging, because how often in your daily life do you get to jump up in the air and wave a flag at a speeding car?
But I think my favorite position was tech. It's important for safety, right up there with checking helmet straps, because you're looking at things that could cause damage or injury if things went south. (Battery tie downs, throttle return springs, brake pedal pressure, seatbelts, etc.)
The best thing about tech, though, is I got to crawl all over all (or at least most of) the cars that showed up. Want to see whether I can fit in a 914? (Yes.) Want to get a look over the hood of a Lotus? (Please!)
The high point of my tech experience, though, was when I volunteered for the Portland Historics about 20 years ago. It's always fun to slip into a hot street car at an autocross (especially if it's one you've been chasing all season and now you get to look at it up close), but it's another thing entirely to do that with a Chevron B16 or an Alfa Romeo GTA (a real one, complete with pop-top door handles and riveted rain gutters).
That was also the first time I was at a race track with the magic wristband, the one that says "Go ahead and stand where you like, but if you die, you can't sue us."
And best of all, you sometimes get to see things like this from the 2022 Rolex Monterey Motorsport Reunion.
I was going to say Start.
At Start, you frequently have to keep up with multiple cars on the course, as well as all of the people on the course. You get to be the conductor that keeps the entire thing in motion without crashing it all together in the middle of the course. You will also get to make the occasional call to the grid to ask them why there are no cars at start. An inexperienced person at Start can lead to disaster, especially if there is a crossover mid-course.
I really enjoyed being a corner worker this past weekend at the Daytona event. Sure it was hot, but it was a lot of fun standing with other competitors talking cars and watching the competition from a great vantage point. Luckily not too many cones were hit at our station so we had a relaxing shift, and it was cool seeing everyone get faster through the session.
Earlier this year, I was assigned waivers. As I headed to my station, I thought, Why give this assignment to the guy with 30 years’ experience?
Then it hit me: Duh, idiot, you get to greet everyone and welcome them to the event.
The grid worker is very important for keeping a heat running smoothly. But from the standpoint of safety, the start worker needs to really be on top of things. If they are tired and miss a cone down, sending the next car, things can get ugly fast. Even if timing says to send the car, start should be aware of the whole course and have final say. We always made sure the start worker was fresh and had shade.
The most difficult and important role at an autocross is timing-and-scoring, and it's not even close.
Efficient timing and scoring are the difference between 400 and 900 total runs in a day.
I'm thinking maybe the most important person is the one who got the contract to use the pavement in the first place. Just saying.
Obviously every position is important.
Purple Frog (Forum Supporter) said:I'm thinking maybe the most important person is the one who got the contract to use the pavement in the first place. Just saying.
Obviously every position is important.
Yeah, there's always the people that keep the club running, keep the bills paid, and schedule events. Grid is super important, especially somewhere like the Firm where you can't always see the line of cars when going clockwise. Tech, to weed out the cars that shouldn't be running without correcting a problem and out of date helmets, and lets not forget two other crucial positions, the course designer and solo safety stewards.
I have worked nearly every position, including probably the least crucial (announcer). I try to earn the reputation of being someone that will always be willing to do whatever is needed.
As for working waivers, it's always fun seeing everyone arrive, and I was just commenting this weekend that no one is ever mad because they have to be there. Good observation, David and good writing.
We are truly lucky to have Nick as our Event Chair for CFR. This past weekend my son and I ran on Saturday (He is now officially faster than me - the student has become the master). We try to make as many of the Daytona events as possible.
My son got to work the computer in the timing trailer this time. He said it was stressful, but had the perks of being inside with a nice fan blowing on him. I usually default to corner worker because I like to watch the different approaches to the course and chat with folks.
Most important job is the job you are assigned. They all matter, and we all have to do our part to have a great event.
"Media"
I think I've worked them all over the years, including Safety Steward. That's a tough one, leaning towards Start for reasons mentioned, Timing seems like the job with the most noticeable results if you get it wrong.
I was assigned instructor on Saturday. While it's probably not the most important position, it can be a ton of fun--if anybody uses the instructors. I ended up mostly watching the cars on course, which was fine with me.
Starter is pretty important if you have an event with a crossover -- one event I was at there was car-to-car contact because the starter sent the second car before the first one had made it through the crossover.
My favorite position was always timing, for two reasons. First it meant I got to sit inside the trailer instead of standing outside in the sun, but also because it gave me a really good sense for the event -- who was there, who was fast, what car types found themselves well-suited to the course, and where the troublesome spots for cones were.
The system we used was fairly manual, a timer system with a 4 car memory and a physical timing card for each car. One person had to sort the cards out and line up the ones for the cars waiting to start, another person ran the timer and wrote down the official times on each card, a third person ran the PA to announce the times, and a fourth would copy the official times onto the timing sheet to post on the trailer. It took a well-practiced team to keep things running smoothly so that we could get a car out every 15 seconds.
Worker chief is pretty damn important. Especially at events with rolling changeovers.
Parking Lot Owner has the most important job at every autocross.
me, chilling at home on sunday mornings not shagging cones is the most important to me. I applaud those of you who put up with that to enjoy your cars. that you're willing to do that for the group to have a collective good event is awesome, appreciated, and not my jam
Tom Suddard said:I was assigned instructor on Saturday. While it's probably not the most important position, it can be a ton of fun--if anybody uses the instructors. I ended up mostly watching the cars on course, which was fine with me.
When I did the Cadillac V-Lab on that course, they had three instructors, with several cars that they rotated for each group. My group was the last of the day, and my "instructor " was clearly ready for the day to be over. There were three groups of 90 people, so he had to ride shotgun for 30 people from each group, once for the CTS-V, and again for the ATS-V. I would imagine some of those other drivers were, uh... not proficient at autocross.
I felt bad for him as he told me to take it easy on the first run to get a feel for the course. The color was almost gone from his face. I had already made my passes in the CTS, and they were giving a prize to the fastest time in the ATS, so I didn't want to waste any of my three runs. At least he didn't throw up during my runs, and I got FTD. Oh yeah, that was on Friday, so he still had two more days to go.
Just had an idea for a follow-up question: Do you prefer to play with cars home alone or out with others?
An important point being made in this discussion. Because all these workers are volunteers autocross has stayed fairly affordable. In club racing it has become a real challenge to get corner workers and such. To the point that they require pay, which has only further raised the cost of play.
David S. Wallens said:Just had an idea for a follow-up question: Do you prefer to play with cars home alone or out with others?
Honestly, both.
If I didn't have some good friends that played with cars, I probably wouldn't race anymore. Cars, be it building a Lemons car or going to an autocross or time trial, give us a good excuse to get together and hang out and I enjoy it.
I'm equally happy tinkering with the Bentley and spending my time by myself. I can spend hours out in the shop messing with it with the stereo jamming and no one bothering me.
Purple Frog (Forum Supporter) said:An important point being made in this discussion. Because all these workers are volunteers autocross has stayed fairly affordable. In club racing it has become a real challenge to get corner workers and such. To the point that they require pay, which has only further raised the cost of play.
That is a good point.
Back in the day, you needed real money to get on track. Those who didn’t have it but wanted to get involved got on a crew or worked corners–or, in my case, wrote articles and took pictures.
Fast forward to today, and it’s much easier and less expensive to get on track: track days, low-buck endurance, etc., etc., If you want to get involved, you don’t have to work a flag station. Has that hurt today’s worker pool? Discuss.
David S. Wallens said:Fast forward to today, and it’s much easier and less expensive to get on track: track days, low-buck endurance, etc., etc., If you want to get involved, you don’t have to work a flag station. Has that hurt today’s worker pool? Discuss.
Track days have definitely and an impact on this. The overhead on track days is less than it is for racing; you need fewer qualified people to do it so the cost of corner workers is offset.
My local track is one of those country club tracks; on test days they have workers who are paid, they use fewer corner workers because they have a lights system. I don't recall the pay.............I think it's $200 a day thereabouts.
Now juxtapose that against the concept of volunteering at a run of the mill club event...............not hard to see why unpaid volunteers are hard to come by.
If track days were a thing 30+ years ago when I started doing this, I'm not sure I would have ever done wheel to wheel racing. My desire to go SCCA racing led me to working corners initially and once I started racing I flagged the bigger events.
In reply to David S. Wallens :
I don't autocross solely because I don't think it's worth the time investment. I'll be there all day to get maybe 5 minutes of seat time; compare that to a track day where I'll get 10-20 times that amount of seat time for only about 5 times the cost. Spending half the day standing in a parking lot loses it's appeal pretty quick.
In reply to 350z247 :
Like any motorsport, the enjoyment has to be holistic. You have to enjoy the preparation, the travel, the standing around BSing with friends, in addition to the actual seat time.
I like working course because it is spectating up close and personal. I like the travel because I can be alone with my thoughts and the mechanical hum. Etc. In a way, I kind of have to enjoy it, because as you point out, they take up the majority of the time.
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