Jim is not alone on this request to space cars further apart on the North
course.
One of the workers for Tuesday North course (heat #1 or #2), noted that he
had two cars in his sector. He is a Safety Steward. He radioed this to the
Chief of Course. The CoC offered another worker. Good, so now one additional
worker could get tangled up in things. The course worker was trying to get a
larger spacing on when the cars were sent.
As an announcer, I like to add a little color commentary if time permits. I
rarely had anytime beyond saying the class, car number, and time, two times
(maybe that was by design? :^) ). The course managers (CoC, T&S, etc.)
were so "driven" by/of getting cars out as quickly as possible, that they
lost sight of the bigger picture (safety, reduced reruns, and dare I say,
fun?). I am saying all of this to learn from, for the future events.
Matt Murray
mattm@optonline.net
----- Original Message -----
From: Little Jimmy Crider <jac73@daimlerchrysler.com>
> At one point on Friday 4th Heat on the North Course (SSL/AS/APL), during
> one of the sweep truck breaks, Corner 3 called in to Control, somewhat
> pleadingly, "Could you maybe have the starter space the cars out just a
> little bit more? We've got 2 cars in different parts of our section at
> the same time and it's hard to watch both ways AND get the cones." Since
> the people in T&S (and the announcer) were all basically panting, trying
to
> catch our breath, we readily agreed. During that segment, the interval
> tightened from 20 seconds to about 15 seconds between cars, and an
> experienced T&S crew (Sharon Shields on Control, Patty Tunnell writing
> times, and someone whose name currently escapes me but who I know drove
> really well in ASL or ASPL on the computer) was in Full Scramble Mode
> keeping up. Announcer Guy (that would be me) had just about enough time
to
> say car number, class, time, penalty, and maybe the driver's name. We
went
> back to 20 seconds, and amazingly enough, things were remarkably easier to
> keep up with, both on the course and in the T&S truck.
>
> Jim "Presented Trophies In A Nearly Empty Room" Crider
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