My life as an occasional corner worker.

"cabarne4" (cabarne4) 04/14/2015 at 22:54 • Filed to: None

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That's right! I'm back, to bother you guys with more posts! This time, I thought I'd share with you guys the wonderful life of a corner worker for our local NASA chapter.

(I wanted to bother you guys so bad, that I took some crappy photos while working this weekend.)

I'll answer a few of the questions that nobody has actually asked me. Careful, this is going to be a long one!

What is a corner worker?

A corner worker (or corner flagger) is a worker on a racetrack. Their job has two primary functions: To communicate with drivers (via flags and hand signals), and to communicate with race control (via radio).

Ok, so why is it important?

Corner workers are key to course safety. Let's say some dumbass spun his Miata around the next corner. Drivers hauling up on him might not see him. A corner worker will use appropriate signals to tell the drivers to use caution, warning them ahead of time to an incident. If the dumbass in the spun Miata needs assistance (tow, medical, fire, etc), the corner worker will communicate it to the race controllers, who will dispatch services needed. As well, some races / events have penalties for leaving track, spinning, crashing, catching fire, etc. Race controllers can't see and hear everything, so corner workers are the "eyes and ears" around the race track.

So, what exactly do you do?

Mostly, I waive flags and stand for about 9 hours a day, hating myself for (once again) forgetting to pack a folding chair and some form of shade.

Flags?

Why yes! Flags! Eight of them, in my case.

From left to right, we have:

Yellow (x2)

Blue with a yellow (sometimes orange) diagonal stripe

Black

Black with a red dot ("meatball")

Red

White with a red cross

Yellow and red striped

So, what do they all mean?

It depends on the combination, and whether or not you're frantically waving the flag, or just simply holding it up! Let's review:

Standing, single yellow: "Watch out, someone fucked up ahead." When used, it tells the drivers that someone has most likely spun out or gone off-roading somewhere ahead. When displayed, drivers must use caution, and passing is forbidden. The yellow condition exists from the corner station to either the incident or the next corner station NOT showing yellow. Whichever comes first.

Waving single yellow: "WATCH OUT. Someone has fucked up ahead." Someone may be stalled out, in the middle of the track, at the exit of a blind corner. Otherwise, it's the same as above.

Double yellow: "The whole course needs to calm the fuck down." Typically, this is used for pace laps. No passing is allowed, and drivers must use caution.

Standing blue with a yellow stripe: "Hey fucker, someone is riding your ass. How about letting them by?" This flag isn't a command, but is more like a suggestion. Drivers aren't required to follow it, but it's generally a friendly thing to do.

Waving blue with a yellow stripe: "Seriously, asshole? You're making a traffic jam!" Like the above, it's not a command, just a suggestion. You typically wave it if the driver didn't pay you much attention the last time by. Drivers are supposed to at least acknowledge the corner station (thumbs up, head nod, whatever) — with no acknowledgement, we have to assume the driver isn't paying attention (tunnel vision). This will usually get called in, and the driver will get chewed out afterwards.

Furled (rolled up) black: "You're driving like a god damn asshole." This flag is given to an individual vehicle.

Standing black: "You're driving like a god damn asshole, and they want to talk to you about it. Exit the track next time by." If they're still driving like an asshole after getting a furled black flag, they'll usually get booted from the course.

Waving black: TWO meanings! (1) "GET THE FUCK OFF MY TRACK, ASSHOLE!", and (2) "Get the fuck off my track, the race is over!" This flag can be used as a more angry version of the above. It's also used in place of a checkered flag (typically only found at the start / finish, at least with our local chapter), to tell drivers that the event is over, and to exit the track.

Standing black with a red dot: "Your shit is broken, get it the fuck off my track!" Used when someone is dumping fluids on track, something is hanging off the car, or they're pouring smoke.

Standing / waving red: "Somebody has SERIOUSLY fucked up. Stop your shit immediately." A red flag brings the course to a full halt. Drivers are to pull to the side of the track (typically to the opposite side of the driving line, or wherever is safe to pull off) until told to resume. This is usually called when there's a serious wreck or a fire.

Standing white with a red cross: "Watch the fuck out, there's an ambulance / tow truck / fire truck on the track." This is used when emergency vehicles are on course. Like the yellow flags above, the condition is in effect from the corner station until either the incident or the next station not displaying the emergency flag. If just the emergency flag is displayed on its own, vehicles can still race (full speed, passing), they just have to keep their eyes open. (Note: this flag is usually held with a standing or waving yellow, which would signify caution / no passing).

Standing yellow and red striped: "Someone fucked up the course ahead." This is the debris flag. It could mean anything from 'someone clipped the apex and dumped gravel in the corner' to 'someone lost their god damn bumper mid-track'. Drivers should keep an eye out for debris, fluids, obstacles, etc. It is typically displayed for a few laps, as the obstacle either clears (fluids dried, gravel blew off), or the drivers are just expected to remember where it is.

But what if you need more than one flag?

You have more than one hand, don't you? Like the double yellow, or even the emergency + yellow, sometimes you're expected to show multiple flags at once. To give you an idea, I once had an emergency worker in my corner, hooking up a vehicle for a tow on track, during the last lap. The vehicle in question had spun out off track, showering my corner in gravel. Thus, I had to display a standing emergency flag, black flag (final lap, exit track), surface flag (gravel in my corner), as well as a waving yellow (emergency personnel working on the track, in the driving line, at the exit of my corner). You figure out creative ways to hold three flags with one hand (separated so that the drivers can see all three) while waving a flag in the other. Another combination is a standing yellow with a standing red — this is used only during the first lap of a race event, to signify that the race start was botched, and cars need to regroup and restart. Passing is only allowed to regain starting position.

So how do you know when to wave what flag?

Some of the flags are at the discretion of the corner worker. This includes a single yellow flag, the passing flag (during driving experience events, not during race events), and the debris flag. All other flags require a command on the radio from race control (except for the black flag, when it goes out during the checkered lap — it's "automatic", not requiring a command, but is not at the discretion of the corner worker).

So what do you say to race control, and what do they say to you?

Radio communications with race control are kept short and to the point. Corner workers are also expected to speak clearly, and without an overly excited tone. Track safety is listening in, and if you're freaking out on the radio, they're already moving out. Contact is typically initiated by the corner worker (unless race control needs to relay information to the workers, such as telling corner workers to display red flags, or black flagging a specific car). Corner workers are identified by their corner number. A conversation will usually start with "Control, turn __." Control will usually respond with something along the lines of "Go for control," or "Turn __, go for control." From here, you announce the basics. Namely: Who, what and (usually) where.

"Who" is the vehicle in question. To make things clear, all vehicles are identified by color and number (this is why it's important that vehicle numbers are large and clear). "What" is what happened (more on this later). "Where" is what corner it happened in (this is additional information, and often left out, unless necessary to dispatch emergency personnel).

A few words are not good to say on the radio. For example, if a car spins off track, takes a moment, then goes on their marry way, you don't say they're "rolling". That would mean they're literally rolling. Instead, you use words like "continuing". "Fire" is another word that is only used when completely serious. When the word "fire" comes over the radio, fire personnel are already heading your way.

So, a sample command would be something like: "One-Two-Three Silver, spin and continue, turn two." Short, sweet, and to the point.

It's important to note that radio communication always takes a back seat to driver communication. It doesn't matter if someone is upside down and on fire — you get flags waving before you get on the radio. The number one duty of a corner worker is to ensure driver safety, not to talk to race control.

Do you get paid?

Every track / group / employer is most likely different, but my regional NASA chapter gives us two options: a cash payout, or track time. The cash option is alright (though I won't disclose specific amounts online). The track time option is better, however, if you compare dollars to dollars. The basic idea is "work a day, race a day". Every day you work, you get credit for a day of track time. Anybody who has raced in sanctioned events knows how expensive weekends can be.

What's a typical day like?

It really depends on where the event is. Some tracks, we camp out on. Last weekend, we were at a local track in Phoenix. I stayed over with a friend who was driving all weekend. Woke up at around 0530, at the track at 0630. Got all my shit together, worker meeting was held at 0700. Radio check on station around 0745, with the track going hot at 0800. Events are overlapping (one group going out as the other goes in) until lunch, typically around 1230. The track goes cold for 30 minutes for lunch — but the break is also used for time correction. So lets say an incident took up 5 minutes during one of the events — all the following events get pushed back 5 minutes, and lunch is shortened by 5 minutes to correct. On Sunday, we had a 13 minute lunch.

During lunch, corner workers are expected to make their way to the paddock from the track, get food, eat, and get back out in time for radio check, which is held 5 minutes before the track goes hot again. So your lunch is automatically 5 minutes shorter. The track goes hot, and stays that way until around 1700. After that, we clean up our stations and head in.

During events where we camp on track, the party starts as soon as the track goes cold. Last time we were at Chuckwalla Valley Raceway (one of the tracks we camp at), I forgot my phone charger — so I (drunkenly) decided to curl up and sleep in the tech lane, so I would be awake in time. Sure enough, at 0600, the first few cars rolled in to tech. Nothing quite like being woken up by racecars.

So, do you like it?

I love it. I basically get paid to spectate, get a front row seat to all the action, and get to know a lot of great people. At events where we camp on the track, there's always great parties and great memories. It can definitely be stressful and dangerous, but it's a great way to spend a weekend.

Dangerous?

Well, obviously. We've had corner stations get destroyed, and then catch on fire by an out of control racecar (luckily everyone was alright). Loose parts, out of control cars, heat / sun exposure... There's several hazards. I've had cars spin out and end up inside my corner station, I've been showered with gravel as someone goes sideways a few feet away from me, I've had car parts hit me, and I've been dehydrated through just about all of it (they provide us with a cooler full of waters, but I forget to drink them). It's all part of the fun!

Wait, you're still reading?

Corner working is a fun, rewarding job. You're part of the action, and a key element in creating a safe track environment. If anybody is looking to get into track experience, I highly suggest starting with corner working. You'll get in-depth knowledge of how the track operates, what signals mean, and how the whole system works before you get behind the wheel of a car at 100 miles an hour.

If you've made it this far, and you SOMEHOW have follow-up questions, feel free to post in the comments!

Chuck 2(O=[][]=O)2 > cabarne4 04/14/2015 at 23:05

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How do you get into it, and how would you recommend getting into it. Unfortunately there aren't any tracks in MD, so it's not really an option, but it'd be nice to know.

cabarne4 > Chuck 2(O=[][]=O)2 04/14/2015 at 23:24

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I have friends who race in the local NASA chapter. Oddly enough, I went to my first event ever as a spectator at Chuckwalla (just across the Cali border). We drove Friday night, woke up early on Saturday morning to race. I was planning on just watching, maybe getting a ride-along. Before anything even got started, the friend I went with (who was racing that day) runs up to me and asks if I have any plans that day... Uhh, no? So he drags me to some trailer, throws me a headset and a radio, and tells me to join a group of people. I had no idea what I was doing, was put on one of the more interesting corners of the track, and basically learned as I went.

https://www.nasaproracing.com/regions

There's NASA's list of regions, along with contact info. Not sure if Maryland is considered Northeast or Mid-Atlantic (I'd guess Mid-Atlantic). Personally, I'd just shoot the coordinator an email — something along the lines of "Hey, I've been wanting to get into the regional race scene, and was really interested in corner workers — are you taking on any trainees for the season?"

Not sure how their director will run it, but typically (my case being an exception), we take on new trainees each event who want to see what it's like. They'll get placed in a corner with an experienced worker, listening in and occasionally waving flags on day 1, and typically given the reins on day 2.

Definitely a great way to experience your local tracks, meet a bunch of great people, and have fun on your weekends!

Gizmo - The Only Good Gremlin, but don't feed me after Midnight > cabarne4 04/14/2015 at 23:28

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From one corner worker to another, "Good on ya, brother." Been doing it for three years and its been a lotta work and a lotta fun. My track also has an annual class for corner workers that includes "Crash, Fire, Rescue Training." Putting out burning cars takes practice. We all have at least 2 extinguishers in our corners and the class teaches which works on what, how to handle them, practice actually using them and safety stuff for assessing drivers, cars, and fires.

cabarne4 > Gizmo - The Only Good Gremlin, but don't feed me after Midnight 04/14/2015 at 23:34

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Yeah, NASA is a little more lax. I don't work for the track itself. We have one extinguisher, good for most fires (NOT meth, though!).

We're told to basically only use it if the fire is IN our station. All calls go in, and we've got emergency crews on standby. Our safety truck has the trained personnel ready to go, with all the fire suppression and clean-up gear.

Hoping to make it to the "big leagues" of corner working one day! After I get some good experience with NASA under my belt, I was going to see who's leg I have to hump to go work PIR (Phoenix International Raceway). Our NASA coordinator works over there as well, so it's a pretty decent foot in the door.

Diesel > cabarne4 04/14/2015 at 23:42

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Please, I know what you really mean when you say you were a 'corner worker'.

cabarne4 > Diesel 04/14/2015 at 23:48

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Funny enough, I updated my facebook profile pic and cover pic, and one of my friends commented with: "Seriously, you work more corners than someone on van buren" (Van Buren being a street known for ... those types of workers).

Diesel > cabarne4 04/14/2015 at 23:50

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That's pretty humorous. It looks like a fun day. I never did get a chance to work as a marshal at the F1 race unfortunately.

cabarne4 > Diesel 04/14/2015 at 23:52

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Two days! It's been a pretty crazy week so far, as far as work goes. Worked a 10 hour shift at O'Reilly's in Flagstaff on Wednesday, then drove to Phoenix, then worked Thursday and Friday with the military, then was working on the track Saturday and Sunday, then left Monday morning at like 5:45 back north. Half way up, got called into work at 8am (wound up making it in JUST in time!), then worked 11 hours straight today with no break... I need a day off.

Side note, we should get CAH started again!

Diesel > cabarne4 04/14/2015 at 23:55

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Yeah, it's been too long since I've hosted a game. I passed a certification exam at the end of last month. I now have letters behind my name. Today, I disassembled my dash and replaced 6 stepper motors in my speedometer. They were failing and occasionally my speedometer would just go up and not back down. It seems to have worked spectacularly. And yes, you do need to take a day off once in a while.

cabarne4 > Diesel 04/14/2015 at 23:59

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Letters? What letters? And, nice. That's legit.

Work-wise, it's been absolutely insane. Army put me on full time orders for 4 months. After getting off orders, one of my jobs decided to not give me my job back (even though federal law says they have to). So now I'm working 1 job, finding any odd job that will pay me to make ends meet, and looking for any other job I can find. Might have to move back to Phoenix and abandon school plans just to work.

Luckily, Army wants me back on full time orders starting in October (unluckily, it'll require me to definitely move back to Phoenix).

Diesel > cabarne4 04/15/2015 at 00:03

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Army? I didn't know you were in the Army. Yeah, I now have OHST behind my name. It was a lot of work but I feel really good about it. Luckily I was able to get some assistance from a guy at NASA that teaches solder. That used to be something I would work on in the Army, it was nice having someone walk me through replacing one though. He said it looked like it was OEM work.

cabarne4 > Diesel 04/15/2015 at 00:08

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Nice! And yeah, we totally talked about it... Because we chatted about Fort Huachuca / Sierra Vista and shit. haha

Diesel > cabarne4 04/15/2015 at 00:08

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Yeah that was a long time ago. I totally forgot.

Gizmo - The Only Good Gremlin, but don't feed me after Midnight > cabarne4 04/15/2015 at 00:09

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Yeah, we practice on meth and alcohol as well. HOT, invisible flames! We have emergency personnel as well and we're all told it's up to our individual discretion to assist. If we're not comfortable with the situation, make way for the pros.

cabarne4 > Diesel 04/15/2015 at 00:10

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Haha only the best and brightest at NASA, huh? ;)

cabarne4 > Gizmo - The Only Good Gremlin, but don't feed me after Midnight 04/15/2015 at 00:11

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With regard to meth fires: Our brief is — drivers ONLY get out of their cars if there's fire. If the driver gets out of the car, clearly NOT on fire, but is jumping around smacking himself — he's probably on fire.

Gotta love invisible fires.

Diesel > cabarne4 04/15/2015 at 00:12

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LOL Yep. Only top men here. Top men.

cabarne4 > Diesel 04/15/2015 at 00:15

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Though to be honest, I thought of Family Guy first.

RyanFrew > cabarne4 04/15/2015 at 00:56

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I think this post should be on the FP - great job. I'd emphasize your point about getting paid to spectate. This is hands down the best way to watch a race. Do it for long enough, and it's a good way to get free/paid access to otherwise expensive races. There are other jobs, too, like working in staging where you can get up close and personal with the cars. I've met a number of dudes who don't race, so they aren't interested in free track time; they just volunteer because it's a great way to watch racing.

cabarne4 > RyanFrew 04/15/2015 at 01:52

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Yeah, personally I go for the paid option. My only car right now is an FR-S... Seems ideal but it's expensive and I don't want to track my daily.

kanadanmajava1 > cabarne4 04/15/2015 at 06:23

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I have been doing track marshaling in Finland in some races. We have slightly different set of flags here. The basic flag rules come from FIA (but we have some small national differences too).

-green (incident/danger over)
-blue (let someone pass)
-yellow+red (track is slippery)
-red (race is stopped)
-yellow x2 (some racing incident or other danger)
-white (non-racing vehicle on the track)

In the pit area's marshaling station there's also black, black+white and black+red dot. But they are only used with a displayed racing number. The safety car also has a blue+white flag which shown when the track is been closed for the race.

All flags (except the yellow+red) are waved but waving yellow or white flag is preceded by a similar standing flag (in the station before the station that is waving). The flag rules are slightly modified nearly every year.

Besides the radio communication and flag waving we also need to make paper reports for all racing incidents that marshals witness. The track cleaning is also common task as calling the maintenance team takes a lot of time. Usually every station is manned by two persons but very often we ran out of marshals and single marshal has to do everything.

We usually get some arrival fee to cover the (fuel) and if we are lucky we can get an event T shirt.

Here's one (shirtless) marshal friend waving a yellow after a Mustang decided to drop its oil filter onto the track. Many of our tracks have this style of marshaling stations. Usually the stations are placed so that the stations can see at least one station after them and before.

TA4K > cabarne4 04/15/2015 at 06:33

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Good to hear about what the other side of the world does! I'm a Starter/Timekeeper/Flag Marshall in New Zealand and its really cool to learn how other places do their flags and such.

For example our waved yellow is your standing yellow essentially, and your waved yellow is kind of like our double waved yellow.

We don't hold any flags stationary except for our blue flag, which is the same as your blue and yellow, and our black, black and orange(red) and our black and white (which is the same as your rolled black; called the bad sportsmanship flag) are only held stationary at the startline and are accompanied by a number. They are also shown to the the whole field.

Our waved red flag commands all cars to return to pit lane (if in practice/qualifying) or to a control line partway down the starting grid (about grid 20) where a grid marshall or the starter (me) meets them. A stationary red is only used by the startline and it means all cars must stop on the grid.

Debris flag is the same, and the only other differences are we have no medical flag, only a white flag which is for mechanically slow cars on the circuit and also used for when there are medical/fire cars. Finally we have a green flag which is shown after a yellow sector to indicate the track is open again.

We also have only one sanctioning body, so there is a manual that is universally applied everywhere which makes doing multiple circuits very easy.

Finally everyone is a volunteer. No payment. We get a free lunch, but past that its zip. We do it for the love of the sport and the camaraderie.

I should really do a post like yours..

cabarne4 > kanadanmajava1 04/15/2015 at 09:23

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Interesting to know!

Our start / finish station has a green flag, which means the track is good. All other stations simply display no flag to signify a "green" track. Some people use a white flag instead of our white with a cross. Here, a white flag means a non-racing vehicle, and a white flag with a cross means an emergency vehicle (tow truck, ambulance, etc). So, if someone is limping into the pits, corner workers would show a white flag if they had one. Because we don't have white flags (only the emergency flag), we just show standing yellow if someone is limping through our section. Only downside to that is that under white flag, people can pass, but under yellow, it's no passing until they get clear of the slow moving car. Drivers who are limping in stay off the driving line, and typically give a hand signal to other cars that they're the "incident" (flashing hazards, giving a "point by" out the window, etc).

Here our corner stations depend on the track. The ones we race on around Phoenix have ones like you see in the flag picture. Here's a better picture I took:

It's just a simple concrete wall to stand behind, with some tires between the wall and the track. On this track they're arranged in an "L", but a few other tracks just have a single wall.

At Chuckwalla Valley Raceway, another track we visit, we have actual "stands". Can't find a good picture of one, but you can see one here in this video:

I'm actually standing in the one you see at 1:22 in that video! My friend Jake is driving the Honda. If you jump to the end of the video, Jake actually breaks down right in my corner. He dropped a valve on the straight just before me, and pulled way off track going through my corner. That was half way through a 30 minute race. If you watch the video, the station right after mine (you'll see the cars go down a long straight, and the station will be on the right) is missing its platform. That's the one I briefly mentioned that got knocked down and caught on fire! Those stations are wooden platforms, about 1.5m in the air, and about 3m x 3m. Some of them have roofs for shade, others don't. They're surrounded by similar concrete walls and tires, just on three sides in a U shape.

Interesting in your picture, the driver is out of his car. Here, drivers only get out of their car if their life is more in danger INSIDE the car than outside.

cabarne4 > TA4K 04/15/2015 at 09:40

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Sounds like the FIA rules!

We used to have the plain white flag (which signifies ANY slow moving vehicle on track), but they replaced them with the white with a cross. That's only with our race group though, other sanctioned racing uses different rules (and more legitimate racing series tend to use FIA rules).

Our start / finish line has a green flag, a checkered flag, and a white flag. Green signifies "go" (obviously). White is used during races, to tell the drivers to expect the checkered flag next time by. Checkered obviously means the race is over. Corner workers show "green" by displaying no flag at all, and signify race end with a black flag when the leader car (first under checker) passes by, and keeping it out for the rest of the course. It's the general "get off the track" flag.

The furled black flag is only a warning — just telling the driver that if they keep acting up, they'll be booted from the track. It can also be used with hand signals for other things. For example, hold up an arm and tap it with a furled black flag, and it means to get your arm back inside the damn car (used frequently during Driving Experience events, when drivers have clueless passengers in their cars). If they go an entire lap without retracting their arm, control would tell us to black flag them. They'll pull into the hot pits, someone will talk to them, and they'll be sent back out on track.

All corners here have a red flag, instead of just start / finish. Works the same, but instead of "collecting" the cars at start / finish if the track needs to be stopped, we just stop everyone in place as quickly as possible.

If an incident is big enough, and the track's corners aren't the best for visibility, we might use two stations for one incident — for example, last weekend my station was just before a blind corner. So if I had a bad wreck or something at the exit of my corner, I would be waving yellow (possibly with an emergency flag as well), and ask the station before me to go standing yellow. This gives drivers an extra heads up.

Our double yellow is used for pace laps only. It tells a driver that the entire course is yellow, not just the one section after my station. Last weekend, for example, we had a fire that brought the whole course to a standing red. The pace car was sent out, and met up with the lead car with his lights on, and came full-stop in front of him. Then the whole course went double yellow, while the pace car sat still. So everyone made their way around the track (no stopping) until meeting the pace car, and the pace car did one pace lap to get everyone moving again. That'd be a typical restart for us during a race event. During something like driver's experience (open driving), we'd just go from red to double yellow (without the pace car, as there is no "leader"), and stay double yellow for one lap. It's also used, obviously, during the first lap of races (most of the driver's experience events are "straight to green").

The pay isn't too high — similar to if you worked a minimum wage job for the same hours — and we get free lunch (typically Subway or pizza if we're in Phoenix, or they BBQ). But, like I mentioned, sometimes we get as little as 10 minutes to get in, eat, and get back out! To be honest, though, I could care less about the pay. It covers my gas to get to the track, and the breakfast / dinner I eat, but I really do it for the fun of it. It was actually kind of funny, my first time doing it I was sort of "thrown" into it (someone got sick, and they desperately needed an extra body). At the end of the weekend, they asked me: "How would you like to get paid? Check or track credit?" and I was just like: "Wait, I get paid?" While the track credit is a better deal, I usually take the cash — My only car right now is an FR-S (GT86 to you), and it's too damn expensive to track (plus the whole "Don't track your daily" thing).

kanadanmajava1 > cabarne4 04/15/2015 at 10:23

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Interesting. Here we require that the drivers need to get out of stalled cars as soon as it appears to be safe. The track marshals are supposed to yell at them until they get out. They can try to restart the car for a while but then they need to give up and go outside hazardous area.

If the driver doesn't get out a marshal will either signal the event to be stopped or go and see if the driver is ok.

I hope that marshal who was in the platform during the crash had quick feet. I was once in marshal station when one old marshal was nearly ran over by a race car that had overshoot the corner badly. He was just sitting in a chair and looking at the "correct direction" when a car nearly ran over his toes.

Here we are supposed to be looking at the area after the station but I usually follow also what's approaching the corner. You will usually see pretty well if a situation is coming up.

The green flag isn't used much. The old rules required that a waving yellow flag had to be followed by a waving green flag in the next station. Most classes don't use this anymore. In some races it is shown during warm-up lap.

cabarne4 > kanadanmajava1 04/15/2015 at 15:58

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It was actually pretty funny when his station got hit! I see a lot of dust, and no more station, on the far end of the track. Next thing we hear on the radio is (in a voice about as calm as that guy who sat in his truck watching a tornado go by): "Uhh, fire, turn 12."

Control asks if he needs a new bottle (fire extinguisher). Guy goes "No, I need a new station."

Safety guys got a good laugh from it. The car managed to go through the tires and concrete, and took out two supports for the tower. The tower dropped into the car, and the guy just sort of rode it down. Everyone was completely ok (driver included, somehow).

I guess the rule sort of makes sense for drivers to get out. When we have a stopped vehicle, control usually asks us if they're in a safe location (off-line, off track, away from impact zones). If they are, they'll send a tow later on. If they're not in a safe location, tow is immediately on its way. Our truck just flat tows everyone with a rope, so the driver needs to work the brakes / steering to get the car back in.

That said, we only have one safety truck — so sometimes they use the pace car to tow people in! Always funny watching a '97 Honda Accord towing in much bigger cars.

TA4K > cabarne4 04/15/2015 at 17:26

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Yeah as far as I know we stay pretty aligned with the FIA. For the last lap, the startline shows a board with LAST LAP written on it, and they use boards for heaps of other stuff too. For our Safety Car situations (pace car) we have another board with SC on it, which is accompanied by a single waved yellow, then if there is an incident in a particular sector that point will go double yellow. All of our points have reds too, we just don't stop the drivers on circuit. How much have you traveled around with corner working? Have you done any high profile events? How many years have you been involved?

cabarne4 > TA4K 04/15/2015 at 22:47

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Yeah, we don't have boards or anything! Haha definitely not up to FIA standard.

I've only been doing it for 2 years, and only with our regional NASA chapter (National Auto Sport Association — a membership-based national racing league). We only have a few local tracks to work, a few around Arizona, and one in California — Wild Horse Pass East Track / West Track (Phoenix area), Phoenix International Raceway (Phoenix, but we don't use it anymore), Arizona Motorsports Park (Phoenix), Inde Motorsports Ranch (Willcox, AZ), and Chuckwalla Valley Raceway (Desert Center, CA).

TA4K > cabarne4 04/15/2015 at 23:38

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Wow, that's a lot of racetracks to service. I have been timekeeping for 7 years, and flagging/startline for 4. We only have 2 circuits but they are the busiest two in the country and we did 36 events last year, most of which were full weekends with the V8 Supercars being a 4 day event, since we had ANZAC day on the Friday, which meant some practices got pushed to Thursday. I am part of The Motorsport Club which is a volunteering group that is hired out by the car clubs and event organizers, and we supply our XR6 Falcon Medical vehicles, our ex-police Commodore fire vehicle and our VW safety car and things like water and such. Put simply, the circuits in Auckland don't supply their own support/safety vehicles. We supply the vehicles, crew, marshalls, officials (timekeepers etc), fuel and drivers. All of our support vehicle drivers are supposed to have a race license and our safety car driver and one of our occasional medical drivers were previously rather accomplished racing drivers.

cabarne4 > TA4K 04/15/2015 at 23:44

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Huh, definitely a different setup than we do here!

Most tracks are privately owned. Even the "big league" guys have to rent tracks from owners for events. Most tracks provide their own emergency services (typically two guys in an ambulance), and the event coordinators have to provide the marshals / corner workers / controllers.

So, for example, NASCAR might rent Phoenix International Raceway (PIR) for a few days, bringing with them their own workers (who are employed by NASCAR). PIR might provide an ambulance.

So our regional NASA chapter owns their own safety truck, trailer for race control, pace car, and a few others (equipment trailer, RV to hang out in, etc). We bring them out to every event, at whichever track we use. The track owners provide EMTs (the cost of which is usually included in the track rental fees).

The way you describe it, it sounds like you're pretty much a 3rd party for hire — so the event coordinators don't have their own people, and instead have you guys come out.

TA4K > cabarne4 04/16/2015 at 00:25

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Yup, pretty much, however our facilities at Pukekohe and Hampton Downs are pretty good so we don't have to bring the kind of equipment you guy have to. At Pukekohe there is a top spec Race Control building, Timing building nextdoor, results/secretariat below Race Control and we just bring a trailer with flags etc. Hampton Downs is a bit more basic but we still have all the facilities supplied. The circuits themselves are privately owned but for any proper race meeting or drift event they are sanctioned by Motorsport New Zealand which oversees everything, supplies stewards and a rule book, and actually insures the event. I'm not sure how it exactly works but I understand that if a car damages a part of the circuit, another car or injures someone, MSNZ insures it. Or something like that. Having a standardized rulebook and penalty system makes operating at different circuits really easy, and it gives a really easy reference when crucial decisions have to be made in regards to penalties etc. As timekeepers we are kinda seen as the go-to for an intricate knowledge of the rules and my boss (I'm 2IC) knows the book inside out. We are a 3rd party for hire by the clubs, but we have a very close relationship with the clubs so it isn't like we are just hired goons. For Ambulances we usually hire a St Johns (national ambulance service) ambulance since they are a proper emergency service and always come with a few paramedics including ones for the medical cars.

Dream Theater of the Absurd > cabarne4 05/12/2015 at 19:28

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My experience as a corner worker is similar to yours, with a few exceptions:

I work primarily with SCCA San Francisco Region, and as such work as a volunteer. No money involved, but we do get lunch each day with dinner included for pro support weekends and on Friday of a three day regional. Also, there’s free snacks and beverages at the end of the day! SCCA flag rules are similar to NASA’s aside from the use of the red cross flag (we don’t use it; white indicates a slow-moving race vehicle OR an emergency/tow vehicle). As a clarification, the furled black is shown only at the S/F stand, and the meatball is shown only at select stations in conjunction with a number board.

Also, I work occasionally as a track employee at Sonoma Raceway. Basically it’s like working for SCCA, but with a paycheck and withoutend-of-day libations or (usually) lunch unless I bring them myself. Pro event weekends usually include lunches.

I have been at it for a little over ten years now and probably work around 15-20 weekends in an average year between SCCA and Sonoma events. And I love it!

Clay_T > cabarne4 05/12/2015 at 19:29

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Thanks for your service, and thanks to all the turn workers* that sweat and freeze so we can play with our toys.

Every club racer should spend some time at a station if they get a chance. There’s a lot to be learned watching cars go by. After a while you’ll start to recognize who’s going to be the cause of the next yellow, before they actually run out of talent.

Here they come. (Grabs the yellow) Off they go!

Buy a turn worker an ice cream (or hot chocolate) during lunch break. Talk to them a bit and I’ll bet they’ll have some pointers about how the fast guys (and gals) do their corner.

(*and grid workers, and timing and scoring, and EMT’s, and...!)

cabarne4 > Dream Theater of the Absurd 05/12/2015 at 19:42

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We used to have the white, and replaced it with the red cross. Red cross ONLY specifies emergency, so we’re kind of bummed we can’t signal slow moving race cars. We also don’t have any of the number boards.

dogisbadob > cabarne4 05/12/2015 at 19:44

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so it’s like Japan’s parallel universe twin

dogisbadob > cabarne4 05/12/2015 at 19:44

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inverse Switzerland

Dream Theater of the Absurd > cabarne4 05/12/2015 at 19:53

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so we’re kind of bummed we can’t signal slow moving race cars.

That’s what the white flag is for. :) So I can infer that your NASA chapter discontinued using the white flag altogether?

That said, if a slow-moving car is really slow, covering it with a waving yellow will get the message across.

We also don’t have any of the number boards.

You should consider getting them. Makes it much clearer who that mechanical black flag is for. :) I have been known on occasion, either when a car has no number or a car is posted before I can pull its number up on the board, to point at the car being posted and giving the driver a stern look while displaying the flag.

cabarne4 > Dream Theater of the Absurd 05/12/2015 at 20:00

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Yeah, no more white flags for our regional chapter. If they’re slow enough, we’ll cover them with a standing yellow.

As for the lack of boards, that’s exactly what we do. Sometimes I’ll even jump onto my barrier wall, and make a scene of pointing my furled flag at the offender, while giving them an evil look and pointing with my other hand. We’re also in the desert (NASA Arizona), so often times we strip down to basically nothing. I’ve totally jumped onto my wall, wearing nothing but a pair of shorts, angrily waving a flag at someone.

minardi > Clay_T 05/13/2015 at 08:20

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I have been flagging for the past 3 years. Last April on a cold and rainy day, first event of the year, at a local track, for the first time ever, one of the driver yelled a loud “Thank You”. That made me feel good.

KusabiSensei - Captain of the Toronto Maple Leafs > cabarne4 05/13/2015 at 09:33

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As someone who helps organize track days, we normally get a radio as well, and there are groups that are....

More active than others...

I think we’ve only really had to pull That One Group (Intermediate) together in the classroom once due to everyone being a bit loony on track. There were a few that the instructors threatened to move back to Novice-Instructed if they didn’t stop the idiocy.

However, the only real difference we have is that Blue Flags are not optional. Blow two blue flags in a row, and you will get a standing black flag with number board, so we can talk to you about traffic management.

Daniel > cabarne4 05/13/2015 at 10:41

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Great post.. i have been doing it for over 3 years now.. and similarly.. i had a friend ask me if i wanted to do it.. i flag at Circuit of the Americas mostly.. PCA (Porsche Club of America) does similar to your comment of cash or track time.. i take the cash of course.

This has also gotten me into doing bigger events at COTA. I have done F1, MotoGP 3 years, WEC, Tudor, Australian V8 Supercars and PCA club races. good fun, and good times.

cabarne4 > KusabiSensei - Captain of the Toronto Maple Leafs 05/13/2015 at 10:59

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Blue is a courtesy, but if you ignore enough of them we’ll call it in. Sometimes control lets it slide, sometimes they pull them off to talk to them about paying attention and being nice.

I could care less if they want to drive slow — but bunched up cars leads to a higher chance of an incident. As well, if I can tell the driver isn’t looking at me or my flags, who’s to say they won’t notice a yellow, red or black flag?

cabarne4 > Daniel 05/13/2015 at 11:01

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I would kill to flag for a big track like COTA! While AZ has a massive car scene, we don't have any world-famous tracks. All of those are in the SoCal region. Lucky bastards get to work things like Leguna!

KusabiSensei - Captain of the Toronto Maple Leafs > cabarne4 05/13/2015 at 11:13

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We had a spate of drivers who were blowing black flags as well, so needless to say that means you get an instructor the next time you go out.

cabarne4 > KusabiSensei - Captain of the Toronto Maple Leafs 05/13/2015 at 11:27

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We’ve had people blow black flags as well. Usually they finally acknowledge a few stations later, but we’ve had cars go a few laps before realizing we’re waving at them. They get a stern lecture, and instructor if necessary.

KusabiSensei - Captain of the Toronto Maple Leafs > cabarne4 05/13/2015 at 11:31

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Some people would say “Number board” but you wouldn’t at all be surprised how many people use painters tape (or have magnetic numbers) on their car, and cannot remember what number is on the side of their car.

Some people are just cloudcuckoolanders.

Jake Huitt - Two Alfas And A Nissan, Not A Single Running Car > cabarne4 05/13/2015 at 11:41

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I need to find a place to get some corner work.

That sounds like a great way to spend a weekend (Work one day, race the next)

Thanks for the write-up.

cabarne4 > KusabiSensei - Captain of the Toronto Maple Leafs 05/13/2015 at 12:39

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We've also had cars with numbers fall off, or cars go out with no numbers at all. So, yeah.

cabarne4 > Jake Huitt - Two Alfas And A Nissan, Not A Single Running Car 05/13/2015 at 12:58

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If you're in the US, I'd definitely suggest looking up your local NASA region.

Jake Huitt - Two Alfas And A Nissan, Not A Single Running Car > cabarne4 05/13/2015 at 12:59

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Will do. Thanks.

Dave Smith > TA4K 05/13/2015 at 15:42

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Good to hear about what the other side of the world does

I agree. I marshal in the UK. I was going to write a post about what we do, but it seems you guys in NZ are exactly the same, except that I’ve been told that you only flag when cars can see you.

For example - if there’s a gap in the traffic and someone runs out to get a bit of debris before the next group of cars comes around, we’ll wave yellow as soon as they go out, whereas I believe that in New Zealand, you’ll only start flagging when the next car comes around.

TA4K > Dave Smith 05/13/2015 at 17:28

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We get a yellow out but we don’t wave it unless there’s cars to wave it at. Especially when it can be a 12hour enduro and there’s no spare starters so we are on point full time, don’t want to kill your arm haha

Dave Smith > TA4K 05/13/2015 at 17:52

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Generally I’ll wave ferociously for the first few cars, then get a bit lazy and just sort of rotate my wrist after that. I’ll change hands if it’s a long yellow / FCY.

Daniel > cabarne4 08/14/2015 at 12:49

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they always looking for volunteers.. got a co-worker of mine to start doing it.. we carpool to the events now.. good stuff..

cabarne4 > Daniel 08/14/2015 at 15:03

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If only I lived in the area. I think commuting from Phoenix would be a bit extreme! Haha