I had an opportunity to help lay out the lines for both Speedweek and the
FIA course for this month....
It's amazing how well organized that turns out to be... Hanging out playing
Chicken with a Truck laying the lines.... Basically what you have is 8-10
Teams ..... one person goes and picks up a Pre-layed Cone and holds it in a
position for the Oil Truck Driver to aim at.... The Line Truck Driver has
about 5 folks holding up cones in a row....1/4 mile apart.... he simply sets
his speed and aims at the Folks. ( people make a better sight picture then
a simple cone )
So you stand out there while this BIG truck bears down on you.... and move
outta the way just prior to getting run over.... you then carry the cone to
your vehicle and take off for another cone down course.... all the teams of
cone holders playing leap frog going down the course until you get to the
end..... then the oil truck shuts off..... turns around aims at the next
line of cones and you leap frog back the other direction....
If this don't sound like a semi organized Chinese fire drill I don't know
what does..... it's a dang mess.... but it'a amazingly effeicent Mess....
I had a Blast.... Got to do all the lines for Speedweek and I did the Help
laying the cones for the FIA course..... what was fascinating is how much
work was done by the time we got there.... All the courses had been surveyed
and little X's were in place to indicated where to lay Cones and what Mile
markers we were at.....
One day I got to help Lay in the Wire Pig Tails which allow the course to be
Moved and the timing lights to be repositioned without laying any new wire.
This minimizes the delays in swapping a course... I was in awe of the ease
with which 3 different crews worked and did things the same...
Fred Danzenfelter (sp) Jim Jensen...and another guy ( can't remember his
name...) all did thier work exactly the same.... like they had done it a
bazillion times before....all the wiring is spliced the same and Never
allowed to touch the salt before the Splice is completed and insulated with
tape...
The wire that makes up Glens timing system is a Whole party in and of
itself..... These guys will take all this wire back to L.A. and have a Wire
Fixin Party..... where they do all the maintenence on the wire before the
next time it's used.... ( I would love to go to one of these ) they have all
kinds of Rules about what you can and can't do with the wire itself....
don't lay it this way or that.... so on and so forth.... It really is just
Years and Years of knowing what works..... I think I heard Glen say there
was a Total of Two Missed Times the Whole of speedweek.... which bodes well
for the quality of these Volunteer crews that maintain this junk....
I think the Best way to say thanks to these folks is to get there in advance
and help them set up sometime....... you will have a ball... I know I did.
Keith
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