It was an invite, Bonnie. Not a challenge. But we that have been in the 'game' for many years have a tendency to look down our proboscus at programs that may not fit the mold of our personal training/experience to the exclusion of objective observation. I offer a solution. Come and play with us. Couple hours on, four off, couple on someplace else, and so on. It's different, and it can only be as much fun as you let yourself have.
I volunteered my time, skills, and equipment. Mainly because I wanted to support those members of my racing family that had taken advantage of the opportunity to not only be a part of this fun, and frolic, but to supplement their income by even a little bit. And I saw the rising tide of entries. How could I possibly NOT want be a part of that?
This is only ChumpCar's second time @ PIR, and they knew coming in that they would need workers (duh). So, instead of initially depending on any particular entity to 'ram-rod' their show, they sent an agent to offer pay for a certain number of positions. The truth is that they were taken by surprise with the number of entries too.
Yes, one per turn for the most part, but some turns were re-inforced while others wound up with more volunteers rotating in as the event progressed. Cathy Frasier, and Bob Smethers roamed, as some of the Workers' Revenge Team did stints at T6, and T11. It would have been nice to have enough people involved to afford a 'buddy' system at every turn, but for the lack of more participants...
Dave Marden did a great job of juggling those logistics, while also flagging at Pit-Out (Which served as the BF, MBF, and Start/Finish from the end of the wall), AND he got to race a stint or two in the 97 white car. They only had enough lights (red, and yellow only) to supply T1, T4, T6, T8, T11, and T12. And the only flag set was at Pit-Out.
The Chump Monkey Safety Team consisted of Trunk Monkey (Adam Jacobsen) with Dan Wilkins in the PIR 'Chase' Truck, designated 'Safety', Mitch VanAlstyne of Sergeants' Towing (our normal wrecker driver for CSCC events), one ALS (Metro-West), myself in 'Safety-Lite' (my Bronco II that has served me well as a rapid response vehicle at both PIR, and ORP this year), with Russ Newhouse, and Micah Dolim grabbing some shotgun time. Add to that the special extraction tool demo truck from Santiam Emer. Equip. Inc. (Safety-Equipment) with an arsenal of nifty power tools, a couple of 20# powders strapped to an available ledge, and a guy (some call him, Tim) that knew how to use them. I think we'll see more of him next year (good networking).
Unsafe for the drivers? 71 cars? Maybe, but only because there wasn't a whole lotta room on the course in some places, but otherwise things were no more unsafe than the Lords of the Cosmic Jest would allow. That's racing. Look at the start of most off-road races. The drivers were given a multi-hour ground school Friday night. So it had to be more than, "Go drive the car, and don't hit anybody."
The rules for equipping the cars is pretty complete, although not as intricate as SCCA, ICSCC, NASA, but they aren't writing them for the potential of 200mph cars either. Fire systems (bottles), full roll cages, no glass, last year for Snell2000 helmets, etc. There is some intelligent thought put into them, and everybody left with all of their fingers and all of their toes. The ambulance never moved from their position except to go home. In fact, true to the norm of our other races, the only real injury of the weekend was a 'walk-up' from the paddock.
I ask about ice racing because, not having been to one, I was interested in just how much crazier that game is by comparison.
Whether, or not you would put yourself out there isn't an issue. We are all volunteers, but that is not a bat that we need to swing. And I'm not as young as I think you are, so we can decide for ourselves under what conditions that we are willing to subject ourselves. Not because we are motivated by the offer of income, but perhaps only to enjoy the simple rewards of the motorsport activities.
Bonnie, know this. You are always welcome to play here with us. Whenever YOU want to.
As for ChumpCar... I think that they went home with a different appreciation for the existing infra-structure that the local racing family represents, and much more knowledge of how PIR runs, as a racing circuit than they had before.
With our participation, it can only get better, yes?