Slipstream - February 2003

Why It’s Good To Wear White
By Bill Kasdorf
Ithink I had a beer in my hand, and probably one already down when
Joe McGlohen approached me during my first Maverick Happy Hour.
He sensed my weakness. Here's a brand new Maverick, trying to connect
with this new group of strangers. He could strike quickly. Me, a corner
worker? Naw, I wanna be a race car driver, like Michael, or Hurley, or
Nigel. No one dreams of becoming a corner worker! "How much time,
what's involved, and when?" I asked, trying to find a reason to not get
caught up in this. "OK, yeah, put me down, I'll do it.” (Well, some day
maybe). It was like anything else, agree face-to-face then get your schedule
really full. It's worked for years on other stuff, like dentist appointments.
As is typical with Joe, he didn't forget. He bribed my wife, Penny, and
I with his (now) famous barbeque in exchange for attending a Flag and
Communication Class. He had apparently worked similar coercion with
others because he had at least a dozen in attendance for his training. OK,
we're trained. We still have time to manage this commitment. Remember,
I wanna be like Michael.
Volunteers? Yeah, Wendy put us down. Club Race? Yeah, we're
"trained". White clothing? It's October - in Dallas! There's nothing out
there, this is fashion-land. Everything white in Dallas is destroyed on Labor
Day. You'll accept light colors? OK Yeah, put us down for the Club Race.
7am on a Saturday? I must admit I got a kick out of telling friends and coworkers
about "working" a car race. Most had no idea this was available
and seemed intrigued by the idea. Being my first time, I really couldn't
explain what I was going to do, so I made some of it up to sound even more
important and exciting.
I found a flaw in Joe's training shortly after arriving at corner 6 with
my fellow workers. I needed to pack enough clothing and "stuff" for three
seasons; hot, cold, and wet. I also don't recall him telling me to bring
earplugs and Mechanix Gloves (for helping push cars that came to "visit"
our corner). I was sure to bring them Sunday.
At 8 in the morning it was windy and cold. But it was really beautiful
to be out in the middle of a quiet racetrack watching the sun come up. The
cold seemed to vanish when the first cars came out on track, as did the
quiet. We rotated duties throughout the day so each could learn all aspects
of working the corner.
Thanks to Joe and Wendy's recruiting skills we had enough people to
have one person available to "float" and secretly watch the cars. Watching
cars on SpeedVision is great, but seeing the difference in driving styles, up
Photo by Kevin Hardison
close and personal, is really great. I have a much better understanding of
the things my instructor, Dan Germain, tried to tell me at the last DE. "See
the corner station?", he'd ask every time. "Yeah, so what? I'm looking for my
apex, and turn out, and all cones in general," I thought. Now I understand
why I need to add them to my list of things to do. They (we!) are out there
to add a huge level of safety to this driving thing. Not only do you get to
see examples of a dozen different driving styles, you actually start critiquing
the way each took "your corner."
When the fastest and best drivers were on the track it was the greatest
seat in the house. You could pretty much just tape the Blue Passing flag to
the protection barrier in front of us, because they were all over each other,
passing in places that I didn't think possible, and all right in front of me.
It was all very exciting and educational, and it also gave me an entirely
new perspective of why we joined a group like the Mavericks. It really is
about the people, the cars are a bonus. These workers took their jobs very
seriously. And I was one of them. And when there was a break, walking
around the garages got us "thank you's" from the busy drivers. It was a
good feeling. Everyone in charge of this event went out of their way to
make each of us feel good about helping out. Countless acknowledgements
are due, and great food. But for me it was another of life's experiences, great
people, great cars, and recognition.
I still want to be like Michael, but now I've expanded my interests,
again. I truly enjoyed working the event. Joe and Wendy: Sign me up again!
(Reprinted from the December 2001 Slipstream to try and encourage more volunteers.)
Corners are even more crowded at TMS!
Photo by Kevin Hardison
Wagon Wheel is an important corner at MSR. A red shirt on corner worker here would look just like a red flag!
This is one corner you don’t want to get in the habit of ignoring something red out of the corner of your eye!
23