So how many of you guys work the races?

I've flagged a half dozen hillclimbs, or so, and really enjoy it. I come home jazzed about building a car every time.

I run timing/scoring, help with classing/registration, and manage the moolah for my autox club.

GameboyRMH wrote: I volunteer to marshal or officiate in events I'm not competing in. Other people volunteer to marshal or officiate in events that I'm competing in but they're not, so it seems like a fair trade to me. Don't people volunteer to work the events you compete in, HiTempGuy?

They sure do! But I've been volunteering for over a decade now, any event I don't race in I volunteer at. My attitude comes from the fact that is seems like respect for the volunteers has gone down. I've been on both sides of the coin (racer, volunteer, and official), and at the end of the day more abuse is thrown at volunteers nowadays it seems.

For me, it's a bit different (in my mind) when some guy with his $10k car is trying to do something he loves, versus rich people with their $100k+ cars and service crews having fun on the weekend and then hopping on a plane. Especially when said $100k people are much more demanding than the $10k people (generalization).

The pressure to shut down the Targa Newfoundland invariably comes from locals who don't see why their roads should be used so rich playboys can play around. Last time I checked, there was a lot of true grassroots racing at that event. So you have to watch out where you draw your lines. Guys with $100k cars are racing for the exact same reasons guys with $10k cars are.

2400 volunteers at that event, BTW. Yowza.

I've worked in various positions over the years. Done some flagging, Tech inspector for ice races and local dirt track. Auto cross course designer. Presently chief steward for our ice races. Ben at that for many years.

Maybe I've been lucky but all of the racers I run into while volunteering have just been awesome and very appreciative.

Last race, Nate Stacy came out to test his WC car and during a break they went through the car and I was able to crawl around it and they answered a bunch of questions. Good kid with a bright future so it was fun to meet him at such a casual environment.

And yes Keith, I work the COTA events not for the "rewards" Shoot, I would be probably paying to be out there anyways so this saves me a bunch of money.

I have been volunteering at the Rally of the Tall Pines for 14 years now. I also normally volunteer at a regional or two per year.

I've done everything from Spectator Marshal, Safety Officer, Stage Captain, to driver of Control Car.

I don't work at auto races per day but along the same lines, I work as a course marshal at bicycle criterium races. I tried my hand at bike racing in the past and realized that I'd get my behind handed to me so I switched over to working behind the scenes. I get cool t shirts, most of the time lunch and I get an up close place to watch some great racing. An occasional thank you from a racer seals the deal too.

I worked races, mostly HPDE and CVAR before I got my race car. Working got me interested in racing and helped me to understand what the corner workers did and how to react and respond to them.

When I got on the board of my local vintage club I proposed that a weekend of working a corner be a requirement for a full racing license. This was accepted and enforced to this day. Not only is it beneficial to the drivers, but it helped to alleviate the occasional worker shortage.

When I used to run short course off road, we drove our heat and then while they staged the next race, we would dash out to a corner and flag or roll cars back over. Great way to meet the rest of the racers and catch a tan.

I used to do grid with Loopracer a couple of years ago and I loved it! Had fun and built up free track time. Work has been getting in the way of that the last 2 years or so.

Other than that, I have crewed for different events. I have crewed on World Challenge, Trans Am, and random club races. The last year, I have been doing fly-in work for a Porsche shop out of Dallas, Texas. I'm actually supposed to be at Sebring right now, but some of our drivers dropped out last minute. So there goes that paycheck.

As far as $100K racers, just about every driver I work with fits that bill. For the most part they are cool. My usual driver is awesome and tips well, gonna miss working with that guy this season. Now sometimes they are pissed if they have a bad session for what ever reason(E36 M3ty qual, body contact, kitty litter). But as Keith said, these guys are there for the same reason.

Just about every pro driver I have worked with was cool too, except one, not going to say his name but he was a douche.

This past summer I somehow landed free pit pass every sat night at the local dirt track as a photoguy doing thier victory lane shots. Before the feture races I would wonder the pits taking pics and offering shots to teams and meeting lots of cool people who raced and ran things at the track. I ended up printing pics for some of the staff and gave them copys one week and would always talk to everyone. It was very cool and in a couple of cases one team owner bought a bunch of food and invited everyone after the races to come over and eat. Very cool people. Planning on doing that again this coming summer if I can.

This past Sunday at our ice race at Tupper Lake we didn't have enough workers to hold the race.

When I announced that we don't race unless all stations are covered.

This brought out some old time non racers and a few drivers alternated.

So, a good day of racing was had.

I even had to do the gridding. Worked out it was fun.