Swifster
Forum Member
This is a little long, but I think the background is important...
When I was a young man of 26 in 1990, I became involved with Waterford Hills and the SCCA (Sports Car Club of America) in Flagging and Communications. This is also known as a corner worker or flagger. The job of a person in F&C is to relay information to the drivers relating to track conditions or possibly vehicle condition while vehicles are on the track using flags or hand signals (I didn't say jestures!). Radios are also used to relay information to race control.
This is a volunteer job. There is no paycheck. Why do this? Well, with the proper licensing, you can work pro races, such as Indy Car, Trans-Am, World Challenge, IMSA or other santioning bodies. I worked 57 Indy Car events at various tracks such as Detroit, MIS, Laguna Sega, Milwaukee, Miami and others. At oval tracks, I was one of the Black Flaggers. While you weren't paid, you had the best seat in the house and were an active participant in the event.
The bad? I am not a morning person. Far from. I have very rarely set an alarm clock on Saturday or Sunday over the last 12 years and even during the week, rarely get up before 7:30 AM. This is a slight benefit to working for yourself. At pro racing events, the corner worker meetings will be between 6:30AM and 7:00AM.
On to the reason I bring this up. Last Tuesday night I had friends coming in to work the 12 Hours of Sebring race here in Sebring, FL. Midway through the day I received an assignment to inspect a car in Stuart, FL. Stuart is along the east coast of Florida and about 2-1/2 hours away from my home in Mulberry. I called the car's owner and had an appointment for the following day (Wednesday) at 10:00AM, which meant I had to leave at 7:00AM. This means I had to set the alarm for 6:15AM!
That afternoon, I called my friend Willy to see what time dinner was. He advised it was at 7:30AM at the Watering Hole in Sebring, home of a 14' alligator in a large tank. I left at 5:30PM and made it to dinner at 7:15PM.
So while drinks and dinner were ordered for the 30 or so corner workers who were there, I have 4 or 5 telling me I 'need' to work the St. Pete Grand Prix the first weekend of April. I gave the standard excuse that I haven't worked at the track in 12 years. I'm advised it's like falling off a bike, you never forget how. I told go see Nancy. So I see Nancy, who is the Flag Chief for the Atlanta Region of the SCCA. "Are you a member?" Nope. "You need to be a member." OK, I said I can do that tonight. She gives me her e-mail.
So I'm talking to Willy and Sue (another Detroit Region member) and was advised that they would get me guest pass for me in the afternoon for when I was done in Stuart. Now normal corner worker clothing is white. ALL white. They will usually let newbies wear jeans and a non-offending color (no yellow, red or black). Now knowing how underhanded my friends could be, I wore jeans and a gray T-Shirt on Wednesday. But I'm getting ahead of myself. Dinner concluded around 10:00PM. This means I didn't get home until 11:30PM and didn't get to bed until 12:30PM.
So the alarm goes off on Wednesday at 6:15AM. Arrrgggghhhhh. I get showered, shaved and dressed and I'm out the door at 7:15AM. I end up catching 2 trains at the crossings and get to Stuart at 9:45AM. The customer is going to work and I get the car to myself. It's an Explorer with damage down the entire right side. I get done around 11:00AM.
I grabbed some lunch at Subway on the 1-1/2 hour drive to Sebring. On my way, I left a voicemail from Willy checking on my guest pass. I get a return message from Willy, who says, "Bring your checkbook as we can have you work this afternoon." I mentioned I already sent my $85 membership fee to the SCCA the night before and even had a membership number alreay. I'm told to call when I get there.
So I pull in the parking lot at Sebring and you can hear race cars on track, a truely beautiful noise. Because registration was closed until 5:00PM, some strings were pulled to get me registered ASAP. By 2:00PM I'm on Turn 13 at Sebring and being worked into the rotating. Overall, not a bad day. I got to flag, work the radios and was out at the far safety station between us and Turn 14. Did I mention we have a Speed TV camera set up across the track from us.
So the racing ends at 6:15PM, we have to stash our equipment and catch a shuttle from the turn. I left at around 7:00PM. No let me mention that corner workers like to have a beer or two before leaving the track. It's a bit of a social hour. I can't do that tonight. I have to get home and finish the paperwork on that Explorer and get it e-mailed to the insurance company and the owner. I get home at 9:30PM.
Why 2-1/2 hours. I stop at Walmart and bought a pair of white painters pants and a new belt. I get my paperwork finished and washed my pants, white shirt and I'm ready for the morning. I'm in bed at 12:00AM.
At 5:00AM the alarm goes off. Someone shoot me. I stare at the clock for two minutes and get up. I get washed up, dressed and I'm out the door at 5:30AM for the 7:00AM workers meeting. And then I find out about night practice. Cars will be on track until 9:15PM! What?
The track will usually feed you lunch during a pro event. We had a nice turkey and swiss sandwich. But no dinner... What? Fortunately, the turn captain know the spectators on our turn, and they took care of us with great plate of ribs and beans. I'm glad we got to eat when we did.
At 6:15, out come the SVRA (vintage racing cars). They are out 10 minutes and here comes the rain...HARD. I had my white rain jacket but I had left the pants at home. So while my pants are getting soaked, my waterproof boots are getting wet and my gloves at soaked, we have vintage cars spinning out all over the 3.7 mile track. All of the cars had come out with slicks) We had a former SCCA T1 Corvettes (a C5 Z06) end up in our tire wall. Needless to say, they called the session to clear up the track just as the rain stopped.
The last 2 hours sucked with soaked clothing and the temps dropped into the 60's. We get done at 9:15PM. I got off the track and I'm on my way home by 10:00PM. I'm a 1/3 off the way back and now I have red/blue lights lighting up the interior of my truck. I found out Florida considers your plates expired at your birth date (03-15). He let's me off with a warning. I get home at midnight.
I had Friday off, but no chance to sleep in. I had scheduled my youngest cat to get fixed and the vet wanted her in at 7:00AM (are you kidding me?). So I'm up at 6:30AM and take the cat over and drop her off. I had some paperwork to do for work and I was done at 10:00AM. Off to bed. I set the alarm for 3:00PM. I get to the vet at 3:30PM and the vet is holding a seminar on meds (meds, really?). I get antibiotics and painkillers(?). I'm even being given a list of things to watch for like seepage of the stitching. Do I have to stay home Saturday? All this and I'm going to miss the race?
No, I'm not. I checked the cat all afternoon, and the wound wasn't leaking. I get my clothes washed, beverages and food for the following day and a plan for the cat. I call Willy for a meeting time. 6:45AM???? Arggghhh.
Now as most of you know, this is the begining of March Madness. And MSU is playing the last game at 9:50PM. God damn it! If there was a good point, the local CBS station put Wisconsin and Florida State. I had the laptop at bedside watching the streaming version. I feel asleep halfway through the 2nd half with the Spartans up by 20 or so.
And the alarm goes off again at 5:00AM. I got to the track at a little before 7:00AM. I missed a little of the meeting, but not much. We get out to the turn and now we have 12 workers. This isn't bad. The more the merrier. But, the minute I got off the shuttle, my eyes started watering, my sinuses started draining, and I started sneezing pretty regularly during the day. A cold or alergy?
We had a couple of preliminary track things going on. Pre race wam ups for cars in the race, the drivers parade, etc. Before the race starts, the corner captain starts making a schedule for everyone. Three safety stations, communcations (radios) and the flag station. Any worker will tell you the best place to be is on flags, especially the blue. It's your interaction with the drivers. Me and my partner Ed have the last shift on flags. Not ideal, as it's from 8:30PM until 10:30PM (all in the dark, a lot fewer cars, etc.).
So the race starts and we are the turn station safety. Nothing goes on. At 12:30PM, me and Ed get the radios. And Ed has the headset first. And I find out Ed is afraid to make a call. About a 1/2 hour in, Ed passes my the phones. I had some calls to make, and it wasn't boring. Ed doesn't know what he missed.
At 2:30PM, we move down to the safety station between Turn 13 and Turn 14. This was miserable. My dogs were barking from the time we started there, and Ed wasn't happy either. The only thing that broke up the misery was when a Viper in GT2 spun right in front of us, and we gave him a point to continue once he fired up his car.
At 4:30PM we were off for 2 hours. Many will leave the station and check out the infield or the front straight. I had done this when I had worked this race in 1992. Not today. I pretty much sat/snoozed in my chair until 6:30PM.
We now move down to the station between Turns 12 & 13. Nothing happened but our feet didn't bother us after 2 hours of rest. But at 8:00PM, we get another worker who came down and said the captain wanted to have a bump (change) after only an hour. WHAT? Sorry, not happening. We politely declined.
Why did the captain want to make a change? Because she would have been station safety and she wanted to be on the phones. At 8:30PM, the group who followed up station to station, shows up to relieve us. I also indicated that they needed to bump around us at 9:30PM. We move to the flagging station and I give Ed the blue flag for the first hour.
Right at 9:30PM, I gave him the yellow flag and took the blue. And sure as shit, everyone starts to rotate stations. It's good that the girl I spoke with earlier understood where I was coming from, because it could have got ugly. Ed gave up the yellow. The race ended with the top 3 cars on the lead lap. I left the track about 11:30 and returned home around 1:00AM.
Needless to say, the alarm was turned off this morning. For whatever reason, I woke up at around 8:00AM. I gave my cat her meds and went back to sleep. I didn't get up until 3:00PM. I have a full blown cold or alergy (though I did pick up some Zyrtec). This early to rise crap is waaaaayyyyyyyyy over rated. I'm beat. I could still sleep. Not just sleep a few hours either. I'll probably go to bed around 10:00 and call it good.
So know I'm debating the St. Pete G/P thing. While the drive is a lot shorter, and the race stuff limited to three days, I'm exausted. I'll probably go through with it. It's a street race like Detroit was originally. There are people a lot older than me that do this and greatly enjoy it. I don't know if this is 'old' age rearing it's ugly head, if it's the long drives each day and just feeling like crap with this cold/alergy. I guess I'll find out in a few weeks.
By the way, if anyone ever becomes interested in racing at Waterford or in SCCA, do yourself a favor and look at corner working for a year. You'll gain a lot of knowledge about racing lines, rules and flagging. It was definitely invaluable when I started racing at Waterford in 1996.
EDIT: OK, so should I paint my Studebaker Daytona Blue Ice (Mopar B3) or Atlantic Blue?
When I was a young man of 26 in 1990, I became involved with Waterford Hills and the SCCA (Sports Car Club of America) in Flagging and Communications. This is also known as a corner worker or flagger. The job of a person in F&C is to relay information to the drivers relating to track conditions or possibly vehicle condition while vehicles are on the track using flags or hand signals (I didn't say jestures!). Radios are also used to relay information to race control.
This is a volunteer job. There is no paycheck. Why do this? Well, with the proper licensing, you can work pro races, such as Indy Car, Trans-Am, World Challenge, IMSA or other santioning bodies. I worked 57 Indy Car events at various tracks such as Detroit, MIS, Laguna Sega, Milwaukee, Miami and others. At oval tracks, I was one of the Black Flaggers. While you weren't paid, you had the best seat in the house and were an active participant in the event.
The bad? I am not a morning person. Far from. I have very rarely set an alarm clock on Saturday or Sunday over the last 12 years and even during the week, rarely get up before 7:30 AM. This is a slight benefit to working for yourself. At pro racing events, the corner worker meetings will be between 6:30AM and 7:00AM.
On to the reason I bring this up. Last Tuesday night I had friends coming in to work the 12 Hours of Sebring race here in Sebring, FL. Midway through the day I received an assignment to inspect a car in Stuart, FL. Stuart is along the east coast of Florida and about 2-1/2 hours away from my home in Mulberry. I called the car's owner and had an appointment for the following day (Wednesday) at 10:00AM, which meant I had to leave at 7:00AM. This means I had to set the alarm for 6:15AM!
That afternoon, I called my friend Willy to see what time dinner was. He advised it was at 7:30AM at the Watering Hole in Sebring, home of a 14' alligator in a large tank. I left at 5:30PM and made it to dinner at 7:15PM.
So while drinks and dinner were ordered for the 30 or so corner workers who were there, I have 4 or 5 telling me I 'need' to work the St. Pete Grand Prix the first weekend of April. I gave the standard excuse that I haven't worked at the track in 12 years. I'm advised it's like falling off a bike, you never forget how. I told go see Nancy. So I see Nancy, who is the Flag Chief for the Atlanta Region of the SCCA. "Are you a member?" Nope. "You need to be a member." OK, I said I can do that tonight. She gives me her e-mail.
So I'm talking to Willy and Sue (another Detroit Region member) and was advised that they would get me guest pass for me in the afternoon for when I was done in Stuart. Now normal corner worker clothing is white. ALL white. They will usually let newbies wear jeans and a non-offending color (no yellow, red or black). Now knowing how underhanded my friends could be, I wore jeans and a gray T-Shirt on Wednesday. But I'm getting ahead of myself. Dinner concluded around 10:00PM. This means I didn't get home until 11:30PM and didn't get to bed until 12:30PM.
So the alarm goes off on Wednesday at 6:15AM. Arrrgggghhhhh. I get showered, shaved and dressed and I'm out the door at 7:15AM. I end up catching 2 trains at the crossings and get to Stuart at 9:45AM. The customer is going to work and I get the car to myself. It's an Explorer with damage down the entire right side. I get done around 11:00AM.
I grabbed some lunch at Subway on the 1-1/2 hour drive to Sebring. On my way, I left a voicemail from Willy checking on my guest pass. I get a return message from Willy, who says, "Bring your checkbook as we can have you work this afternoon." I mentioned I already sent my $85 membership fee to the SCCA the night before and even had a membership number alreay. I'm told to call when I get there.
So I pull in the parking lot at Sebring and you can hear race cars on track, a truely beautiful noise. Because registration was closed until 5:00PM, some strings were pulled to get me registered ASAP. By 2:00PM I'm on Turn 13 at Sebring and being worked into the rotating. Overall, not a bad day. I got to flag, work the radios and was out at the far safety station between us and Turn 14. Did I mention we have a Speed TV camera set up across the track from us.
So the racing ends at 6:15PM, we have to stash our equipment and catch a shuttle from the turn. I left at around 7:00PM. No let me mention that corner workers like to have a beer or two before leaving the track. It's a bit of a social hour. I can't do that tonight. I have to get home and finish the paperwork on that Explorer and get it e-mailed to the insurance company and the owner. I get home at 9:30PM.
Why 2-1/2 hours. I stop at Walmart and bought a pair of white painters pants and a new belt. I get my paperwork finished and washed my pants, white shirt and I'm ready for the morning. I'm in bed at 12:00AM.
At 5:00AM the alarm goes off. Someone shoot me. I stare at the clock for two minutes and get up. I get washed up, dressed and I'm out the door at 5:30AM for the 7:00AM workers meeting. And then I find out about night practice. Cars will be on track until 9:15PM! What?
The track will usually feed you lunch during a pro event. We had a nice turkey and swiss sandwich. But no dinner... What? Fortunately, the turn captain know the spectators on our turn, and they took care of us with great plate of ribs and beans. I'm glad we got to eat when we did.
At 6:15, out come the SVRA (vintage racing cars). They are out 10 minutes and here comes the rain...HARD. I had my white rain jacket but I had left the pants at home. So while my pants are getting soaked, my waterproof boots are getting wet and my gloves at soaked, we have vintage cars spinning out all over the 3.7 mile track. All of the cars had come out with slicks) We had a former SCCA T1 Corvettes (a C5 Z06) end up in our tire wall. Needless to say, they called the session to clear up the track just as the rain stopped.
The last 2 hours sucked with soaked clothing and the temps dropped into the 60's. We get done at 9:15PM. I got off the track and I'm on my way home by 10:00PM. I'm a 1/3 off the way back and now I have red/blue lights lighting up the interior of my truck. I found out Florida considers your plates expired at your birth date (03-15). He let's me off with a warning. I get home at midnight.
I had Friday off, but no chance to sleep in. I had scheduled my youngest cat to get fixed and the vet wanted her in at 7:00AM (are you kidding me?). So I'm up at 6:30AM and take the cat over and drop her off. I had some paperwork to do for work and I was done at 10:00AM. Off to bed. I set the alarm for 3:00PM. I get to the vet at 3:30PM and the vet is holding a seminar on meds (meds, really?). I get antibiotics and painkillers(?). I'm even being given a list of things to watch for like seepage of the stitching. Do I have to stay home Saturday? All this and I'm going to miss the race?
No, I'm not. I checked the cat all afternoon, and the wound wasn't leaking. I get my clothes washed, beverages and food for the following day and a plan for the cat. I call Willy for a meeting time. 6:45AM???? Arggghhh.
Now as most of you know, this is the begining of March Madness. And MSU is playing the last game at 9:50PM. God damn it! If there was a good point, the local CBS station put Wisconsin and Florida State. I had the laptop at bedside watching the streaming version. I feel asleep halfway through the 2nd half with the Spartans up by 20 or so.
And the alarm goes off again at 5:00AM. I got to the track at a little before 7:00AM. I missed a little of the meeting, but not much. We get out to the turn and now we have 12 workers. This isn't bad. The more the merrier. But, the minute I got off the shuttle, my eyes started watering, my sinuses started draining, and I started sneezing pretty regularly during the day. A cold or alergy?
We had a couple of preliminary track things going on. Pre race wam ups for cars in the race, the drivers parade, etc. Before the race starts, the corner captain starts making a schedule for everyone. Three safety stations, communcations (radios) and the flag station. Any worker will tell you the best place to be is on flags, especially the blue. It's your interaction with the drivers. Me and my partner Ed have the last shift on flags. Not ideal, as it's from 8:30PM until 10:30PM (all in the dark, a lot fewer cars, etc.).
So the race starts and we are the turn station safety. Nothing goes on. At 12:30PM, me and Ed get the radios. And Ed has the headset first. And I find out Ed is afraid to make a call. About a 1/2 hour in, Ed passes my the phones. I had some calls to make, and it wasn't boring. Ed doesn't know what he missed.
At 2:30PM, we move down to the safety station between Turn 13 and Turn 14. This was miserable. My dogs were barking from the time we started there, and Ed wasn't happy either. The only thing that broke up the misery was when a Viper in GT2 spun right in front of us, and we gave him a point to continue once he fired up his car.
At 4:30PM we were off for 2 hours. Many will leave the station and check out the infield or the front straight. I had done this when I had worked this race in 1992. Not today. I pretty much sat/snoozed in my chair until 6:30PM.
We now move down to the station between Turns 12 & 13. Nothing happened but our feet didn't bother us after 2 hours of rest. But at 8:00PM, we get another worker who came down and said the captain wanted to have a bump (change) after only an hour. WHAT? Sorry, not happening. We politely declined.
Why did the captain want to make a change? Because she would have been station safety and she wanted to be on the phones. At 8:30PM, the group who followed up station to station, shows up to relieve us. I also indicated that they needed to bump around us at 9:30PM. We move to the flagging station and I give Ed the blue flag for the first hour.
Right at 9:30PM, I gave him the yellow flag and took the blue. And sure as shit, everyone starts to rotate stations. It's good that the girl I spoke with earlier understood where I was coming from, because it could have got ugly. Ed gave up the yellow. The race ended with the top 3 cars on the lead lap. I left the track about 11:30 and returned home around 1:00AM.
Needless to say, the alarm was turned off this morning. For whatever reason, I woke up at around 8:00AM. I gave my cat her meds and went back to sleep. I didn't get up until 3:00PM. I have a full blown cold or alergy (though I did pick up some Zyrtec). This early to rise crap is waaaaayyyyyyyyy over rated. I'm beat. I could still sleep. Not just sleep a few hours either. I'll probably go to bed around 10:00 and call it good.
So know I'm debating the St. Pete G/P thing. While the drive is a lot shorter, and the race stuff limited to three days, I'm exausted. I'll probably go through with it. It's a street race like Detroit was originally. There are people a lot older than me that do this and greatly enjoy it. I don't know if this is 'old' age rearing it's ugly head, if it's the long drives each day and just feeling like crap with this cold/alergy. I guess I'll find out in a few weeks.
By the way, if anyone ever becomes interested in racing at Waterford or in SCCA, do yourself a favor and look at corner working for a year. You'll gain a lot of knowledge about racing lines, rules and flagging. It was definitely invaluable when I started racing at Waterford in 1996.
EDIT: OK, so should I paint my Studebaker Daytona Blue Ice (Mopar B3) or Atlantic Blue?
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