The racers bear considerable responsibility
for presenting a smooth, professional show, too. Though
they weren’t the only culprits, the 10.5 guys in particular
last season were notoriously slow to answer the call to
enter the staging lanes. Fenn once told me he’d string
a line across the lanes once a preset time limit was reached,
but not once did I see that tactic employed. True, I wasn’t
at every single event, but I certainly witnessed enough
situations that warranted closing the lanes before both
qualifying and elimination rounds. That kind of tardiness
just can’t be tolerated. Not only does it demonstrate
a lack of respect from competitors to both race officials
and fans, but ignoring the schedule will create a financial
headache for ORSCA if it dictates the TV crew has to incur
overtime just to cover late elimination rounds.
Speaking of television, I have to commend
Fenn for stating crew members have to wear some sort of
uniform when accompanying their respective cars to the line
this season. I know working on racecars, especially in the
heat of the moment, can be dirty business, but it just doesn’t
look good on TV when a ragtag bunch appears alongside a
beautifully prepped machine. Even matching T-shirts would
go a long way to projecting a more professional image over
the airwaves. Uniforms also make starting-line security
a little easier as it helps officials to visually narrow
the list of who really belongs there, which in turn opens
up a little room to work for team members. There’s
no real downside to looking like a team out there and I
would think most ORSCA team members would be proud to advertise
their raceday affiliation.
Finally, ORSCA must(!) get better at sending
its message to the media. Though Fenn and everyone involved
with ORSCA have always been polite, cooperative, and enthusiastic
about the series, their records keeping and press releases
leave a lot to be desired. Race results shouldn’t
take days to produce and the point standings should be available
online—and accurate—at any time throughout the
season. ORSCA desperately needs to develop a press release
system that works if it hopes to garner its fair share of
the media spotlight.
That said, overall I’m encouraged by
what’s happened at ORSCA this past year. Sure, there
are bound to be grumblings from certain racers who felt
slighted by one call or the other, and some track operators
are going to feel betrayed when they’re no longer
on the schedule or have to go head-to-head against an ORSCA
points date, but those are the painful realities of running
a viable series. In my opinion, ORSCA members are fortunate
to have a guy like Fenn at the helm right now; not because
he makes no mistakes, but because he recognizes it’s
still a work in progress. 
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Tocher
Talks [12/8/04]
Bazemore
chilled by Glendora's high sheriffs |
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