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| Behind the Laptop - Commentary from EKN’s David Cole - 06.22.08 |
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It’s been roughly a year since my last ‘outburst’, as it has been busy at the EKN Michigan office. Our hectic EKN travel schedule is in full motion as we near the halfway mark of the year. I recently celebrated my first Father’s Day at the WKA Manufacturer’s Cup Series event in Dousman last weekend. I got to spend some time with my son the following Monday when I got back, sitting in front of the television watching the Speed channel and taking naps together. While I have the time, I’d like to wish all fathers, including my dad, a belated Happy Father’s day. My father Bob is celebrating his 35th season in karting after getting into the sport as a hobby for him and his father to do together.
With my busy schedule, I have had zero time to journey to the race track to get in some personal seat time. I made a couple practice laps at a road racing event last month while wrenching for my dad and our family, but it’s just not the same as getting the green flag to start a race. Let me just say that we should all be thankful that we can do this sport that we love so much, enjoying the many friends we meet along the way and filling that need for speed that keeps us coming back for more.
Now it’s time to move on to some of the things that I’d like to get off my chest. First off, I’d like to know what exactly are you going to the track for? Is it just the racing itself, the friends you meet, or the prizes? Many times, I hear “I’d love to race for money” and then a promoter puts on a race with a hefty purse and no one shows up. Such is the case for Scott Paape and the USA International Raceway staff. They bent over backwards to create a new endurance race with plenty of perks and cash for those who would attend their Iron Eagle enduro, only to have just a dozen teams sign up. The upcoming Ironman 150 at the New Castle Motorsports Park has roughly 40 drivers signed up for their event, but they are still wondering where all those people who raised their hand at the RoboPong race in October when they asked to gauge interest in a one-driver format? They certainly are not on the Ironman entry list.
Don’t get me wrong, you are not evil for not racing in these events as I understand it’s tough to commit to a special event in the middle of the season while you’re racing for a championship at your local club, regional, or even on the national scene. I think that is why the RoboPong has found success as it’s at the end of the year at a kick-ass facility with television coverage, top-notch drivers, it has the whole shebang.
With that said, let me get to what’s really itching at me. Over the last 10 years, the electronic scoring system has been implemented into the programs of nearly every track across the country. It’s awesome technology, as I can still remember sitting at the scoring table when I was old enough to hold a pencil, trying to write down the numbers of over 50 karts as they went by at about 60 mph, not an easy job. So with this new technology, why don’t we use it as much as we can?
Over the past three years, I have been able to see the ‘behind the scenes’, if you will, of many events, both national and regional, and this is where I don’t understand their philosophy. Most of the issues that I see in scoring can be grouped like this:
a) the scoring loop isn’t working properly
b) someone’s transponder is not working, or on the kart
c) the correct transponders were not assigned to the correct drivers
Why not mandate the use of transponders on the karts during Friday practice to take care of these issues? This would save the time and energy that is often spent on Saturday morning when qualifying/racing begins, and the T&S person is normally having to deal with who is showing up ‘unrelated’, who didn’t pick up on the scoring loop, what number is their kart and why don’t they have the correct number on their sidepods, etc. I’ve seen this on the sprint track and this is where I commend the Stars of Karting program. On Friday, they require that transponders are used on the karts by the end of the day and if they are not, they are removed with a special ‘transponder’ flag (created by flagman Matt Long *props*) until they have one mounted.
I’d like to take it a step further. Most pre-tech inspections take place on Friday morning before you get on track for practice. Why not make the transponder a pre-tech item? Now before you comment, I already know what you’re thinking. Pre-tech is for safety issues or the other is what if I have more than one kart? Yes, most of pre-tech is for safety issues, but the five seconds it would take to look at the transponder to make sure it is on and correctly mounted on the kart per the organizations regulations is not that difficult. There should be other things checked at pre-tech as well, but that’s for another time. If you have two or more karts, I’m going to guess that you can afford to buy a transponder to go with that kart, which is now $280 with a $30 warranty. I think that’s a pretty good investment as you could easily sell it down the road either with the kart or to a newbie.
If we have transponders in use on Friday, this will allow the scoring staff to make sure everything is in working order during the practice day and will also allow them to print out official lap times for each session. Let’s be honest, once you have all the drivers and correct transponders in the system, scoring is simple for practice - hit the green, checkered, and print buttons. This will give us - the media - something to talk about and work from during the day, rather than everyone giving us their best lap ±0.2-seconds depending on who’s giving the time to you.
Eventually, most if not all tracks across the country will have live timing or at least the ability to load up the monitor system over a wireless internet connection at the track. Some tracks are already using the monitor system, so you can watch the fast laps click off from your laptop. Once live timing begins to enter the picture, I would feel that transponders will be required at all times otherwise it would be pointless to have the technology. Thus, lets just mandate them on the kart for the entire weekend now so we can get ahead of what I see will be happening in the future.
Club racing, on the other hand, is a different story as I have not been out to a club race in a long time and many of the club volunteers are set in there ways. If it works and everyone is happy, keep doing what you’re doing. However, I think that in order for the sport to be taken more seriously by outside entities, we need to keep the national/regional programs as professional as possible. If they come out to Friday practice, how do we tell them who is fast, who is not, etc.
Another step to bringing our sport more credibility is to be as consistent with our procedures as possible. We need to have the same race director, head tech official, flagman, and scoring personnel at each and every series event. Both the Stars of Karting and Superkarts! USA organizations are at the top in that category as each have their full staff at every event. Some of the regional events I have been to, both in sprint and road racing, drop the ball in this factor of their program. One event may have one tech official, while the next event may have another, or vice versa for a race director or scoring official. There is just no consistency. These four individuals are crucial components in the running of an event and it is critical to have the most experienced and knowledgeable persons in those positions.
Corner workers are another part of the equation for a well-run event and should be just as dependable as those listed above. However, with the limited budgets of the programs, this sometimes relies on volunteers or people who are just not accustomed to working a corner. The incident that happened at the recent WKA Manufacturer’s Cup Series - where the corner worker pointed the leaders of the race off the track one lap early - is a freak incident and I’m sure the person will have a tough time getting over that. However, if you’re going to take the job, you need to know what your duties are. That is where having the same head flagman comes into play as he or she can work with the staff; he has to know exactly what he’s looking for and how to do it.
Now that I’ve got that off my chest, I’d like to wish everyone good luck at the Road America SuperNationals next month, as I will miss the event for the first time in five years (second time in 10 years). There is just something you have to love about racing at Road America. However, I am excited to be heading to my first ever IKF Road Racing Grand Nationals at the Portland International Raceway over the July 15-19 week. Being at the track during the week will throw me off a bit, but I’m thrilled to be able to watch and cover those diehards running for the prestigious Duffy. Make sure you watch our coverage throughout that week.
Life is short, have fun!
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