This article first appeared in the September, 2016 edition of SportsCar Magazine. SCCA members can read the current and past editions of SportCar digitally here after logging into their account; To become an SCCA member and get SportsCar mailed to your home address monthly in addition to the digital editions, click here.

Here in the autumn of a long driving career, I’m reflecting on some things that I rarely considered in my early years: race workers. Races just happened, and I wanted to win them. I did not give enough well-deserved consideration to the many SCCA people who put the events together all these years. Contrary to my occasional successes, I’m a last-minute guy, and I apologize to the many SCCA folks who helped me make it to and through the races I inevitably thrashed the last few days to attend, over and over. I’ve been around, though, and have found this is not unusual among racers, wink.

It was my birthday not long ago, and I received my annual phone call from a wonderful couple I met growing up at SCCA races in Florida, Ted and Helen Grieshaber. Ted has a 55-year history flagging with Central Florida Region, having started autocrossing before I was born in a Ford Anglia and then a nifty NSU TT. He and Helen always came up and wished me luck at pro races in the Southeast, too, later in my career. SCCA family I didn’t even really know I had for a long time.

For us drivers, it is most commonly the case that the more things are going well, the less contact we have with race workers. Then there’s the inverse of this: the worse things get, the more contact there is with the marshalls and officials staffing the race. Because of this, we tend not to notice them as much when they are doing their jobs well. Take them for granted, even, if we are not careful. Do not take them for granted. Give our workers a thumbs up from the car on the in lap, and a smile in the paddock.

I greatly appreciate the effort these volunteers make to acquire pro-level skills in race management. One of the places I notice this is when running track days that are not staffed by SCCA-trained workers. A bad flag sticks out like a sore thumb, and I bitch and moan. I’m spoiled, I think, and I feel less safe.

Flaggers are the first line of defense we drivers have against on-track trouble. Bad flags cry wolf, like a wildly waving yellow for a dead car parked far off-track. Over-zealousness makes drivers less likely to heed when there is real danger. Here is part of the importance of well-trained corner marshalls: meaningful flags.

Good flags can utterly save a life, yours or a competitor’s. So many turns are blind, and the flag is the only warning system for cars blocking the track, or who knows what? Several times I’ve said thank you out loud in my helmet after a perfect flag averted a close call.

Well, I say thank you out loud right now to everyone who has made these wonderful events happen!

I’m online right now, checking the web page for my home Region, Central Florida Region. With over 2,100 members, it is one of the large ones. My Region is also a hotbed for corner workers, because in addition to our Regional races, we are the home of Daytona and Sebring, the monster events that fire up the pro sports car racing year, every year. Regardless of the professional sanctioning body, the majority of the people on the corners are SCCA-trained and experienced folks.

In addition, Florida has the advantage of racing weather all year-round. Although that is arguable in mid-summer, like the upcoming Regional races that used to be known as the July Fry.

Many’s the time I have marveled at the weather conditions the race marshalls endured while we nutty racer types plied our craft. I see you standing out there with wet towels around your necks when it’s a hundred degrees, with big Aussie Outback hats. Other times, other places, perhaps, bundled up against the freezing cold and bitter winds, all day long.

And the hazards of being in impact areas. Working corners is serious business. You are our first responders when we have troubles, from impacts to fires to breakdowns. I admit I never gave a lot of thought to the possibility of me crashing and needing help. Like I say, I just wanted to win the race. Get out there and do it. But sitting here, I am finally taking the time to realize the degree of training that SCCA officials go through to accomplish their jobs to the best of their abilities, all so we drivers can do our thing.

I am sitting here feeling very grateful for the untold numbers of hours and work put in by SCCA staff at all levels so that we drivers can race. I hate to leave so many good people out by naming a few, but memories are flooding into my mind, so here are a few.

A sweet lady named Georgia, I believe, who worked tech in Central Florida. Robin Langlotz, whom I met SCCA racing a Capri in the 1980s, and who is still a big cheeze in my Region. Chuck Dawson, who ran the Solo program for years, also still a bigwig as Regional Executive. Penny Pennington, who served many years as Chief of Flagging and Communication, a veritable institution in Florida. My mentor David Ellis-Brown, who started as a flagger who loved racing in the late 1960s and who is still racing and winning now in his IT Jetta. Aforementioned pillars of the Region, the late Bill Martin and his wife Fran, who is still secretary and merchandise chairperson. Ed and Sammi Ronshausen, the latter always running the grid. My longtime friend Peter Keane, working on classing at the National level, and racing with hand controls. Just a few of the army of workers marching to make SCCA events happen.

Another big shout out to this army in white, on corner, in paddock, and in offices the rest of the month. Thank you, thank you, thank you, for my 36 years of fast car fun with SCCA, and many more to come.

Words by Randy Pobst
Photo by Clark McInnis