As a former Flag Chief for NER, I’ve been race control operator many, many times at NHMS and LRP, and I’ve spent a lot of time in race control at Road America and a little bit at Watkins Glen. I have a few observations to make.
1. Terry says that the call regarding the incident was at 9:36 (and it might have been 9:36:01) and the call for FCY was at 9:37 (and it might have been 9:37:59, almost 2 minutes later) and yet it seems that it took two laps for the FCY to go up. These are not contradictory. The call regarding the incident was most likely not made as soon as it happened. In club racing we teach flaggers not to make calls as an incident unfolds (i.e. real-time calls) unless it is an emergency, but rather let the incident resolve and then make one call. This leaves the net clear in case another station has an emergency. If it wasn’t clear immediately, it would have been proper for the flaggers to wait an appropriate amount of time (perhaps 15-20 seconds) to see if the car was going to continue before making the call. Also, it is possible that when they went to make the call, there was traffic on the net and they had to wait for that to clear before they were able to make their call, further delaying it. So while the call was made at 9:36, it’s entirely possible that the incident actually occurred at 9:33 or 9:34.
2. The full nature of the incident was not described, but it doesn’t sound like it should have been called an emergency. Even if it had been, that wouldn’t have changed the timeline of the initial call if the net were tied up when the station attempted to call it in. It also would not have changed race control’s initial response to the situation. Specific criteria for calling an emergency are: hard impact with anything (another car, a wall, Armco, a berm….and “hard” is subject to the interpretation and experience of the flagger making the call), a rollover, a car on fire, a car disappearing out of sight off the track, and a worker down. Emergency calls are not to be made lightly, as they have very specific consequences regarding the net and standup of EVs.
3. While it is terrifying to have a car stopped online, esp facing counter-race (I was yellow-flagging at LRP when the Lotus spun and Ken Payson drove right up over it, one of the most terrifying experiences of my flagging career), I’m not clear what danger a delayed FCY caused in this situation. A local waving yellow was being shown. All the drivers saw and avoided the vehicle the first time around (before even a timely FCY could have been put up), and when the cars came around the second time and saw the same waving yellow, they could assume it was the same car in the same location. Now, if you’re talking about a true emergency situation with significant course blockage that would require a red flag, that’s a different ball of wax.
4. As with drivers, there is a large variation in the experience and expertise of flaggers. However, we teach flaggers early on how to make calls to race control. They know to tell race control where the car is (and what car it is, if known, whether the driver is OK, and whether there is course blockage. After the immediate situation has been addressed, they know to tell race control what car it is and how it got there. To imply that bad decisions are made by the operating steward because the flaggers are making bad calls is insulting to both the flaggers and the stewards. The operating steward can, and usually does, request whatever information he needs from the station to make a decision, if the station communicator didn’t give him enough information in the first call. Our axiom is: “Give the operating steward the information he needs to make the decision you want him to make”. As flaggers right at the incident, we usually know what needs to be done. It is our job to give the OS the information he needs to get it done. If we don’t give him enough information, he should, can, and does ask for it.
5. The fastest way to get flaggers to not come back is to “flag from the bridge”. Most tracks do not have cameras in race control (except for pro races, which is completely different flagging), and most tracks are not completely visible from the tower like NHMS is. When there are cameras and track visibility, it is not necessary or best for operating stewards to make calls based on what they see in the tower, without waiting to hear from the flaggers at the scene.
6. I strongly agree with Greg Amy that all drivers should spend some time up in race control. You will get a much better understanding of what goes on, what goes into making the decisions that are made and why it seems to take so long to make what seems like an obvious decision (as in this case). You’ll have a much better understanding of what the flaggers do as well as what the operating steward and all the other people in race control do. You don’t need special permission to come up, just identify yourself and tell them why you’re there. You will be welcomed.
7. I’ve never flagged at WGI and I probably never will. If a car on fire stops near me, I’m going over the wall to respond, track policy be damned. I don’t need to be escorted off the property and be told to never return. My job as a flagger is to make your race safe. I won’t flag at a track that won’t let me do my job.
Leigh McBride
National F & C
Mo-Hud Region
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Originally Posted by MMiskoe
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