waiting in line

["The Weldons" <2weldons@earthlink.net>]

I kind of like waiting in line at Bonneville for the same reasons that others
have stated.  The assigned number setup at El Mirage has it's plusses but what
I don't like is the fact that you can't always hear them call the number
groups over the PA system.  Same problem at the drags.  There always seems to
be a some big motor running decibels on the far side of 100 (including our
own) just when the announcement is coming over.
Some of the ways I've coped with it a El Mirage are:
1. Ride my bike over to the starting line every half hour or so to see where
they are in the line.
2. I bought a nice set of Peltier ear muffs with built in speakers so I could
listen to the CB hanging on my belt.  But the CB is not always available to
the announcer and the hardware and wire gets in the way while I'm working.
3. Work on the car in line.
4. When we have extra helpers station one at the starting line.
I'm not sure the administrative effort to preassign numbers at Bonneville
would really help the operation of the meet.  There would have to be one or
maybe two extra people at each course starting line to handle this plus
radios.  The AM radio at Bonneville would make announcing the line number of
each vehicle practical.  Could be confusing to spectators.
At El Mirage you could put a big LED number sign on top of the announcer's
stand that would show the number of the car that just ran.  At Bonneville the
distances are too much for one sign,  You'd need 5 or 6 with a wireless
interconnection.  More money.
Maybe the day will come when all the racers have a laptop PC with which they
can log on to a wireless network at each meet.  Doable but expensive with
today's technology.  Would take a lot of development.
Glen Barrett and the Rice brothers  -  How about this?
Ed Weldon  (the canoe guy)