I read Mark's initial post and just KNEW he'd get the hate mail from the "I
can read MY numbers just fine" people. (Okay, it wasn't hate mail, just a
little perturbed mail).
As one who has fought this same problem on race cars as well as solo cars
for nearly three decades, I do not blame Mark for being somewhat less than
diplomatic. Diplomacy seems to get nowhere on this subject. First you bring
out the 2x4 and get the mule's attention.
Here's the bit, folks. "Contrast" doesn't just mean different colors, it
means colors at opposite ends of the spectrum. And as I learned from Peter
Raymond's excellent article on the subject (SportsCar, January 1997, Page
28), a key is the "luminosity" of the colors. That is, brightness. I have
earlier written a similar article at least twice in SportsCar as well as in
other publications. Once when I did the article, it was illustrated with a
picture of a Corvette crashing, on which the number was invisible. How was
the corner going to report who was in peril? IT IS A PROBLEM!
Red and black. Did you know that in making offset printing plates, to create
a "hole" for a photograph the printer will put down a black square on the
page? But sometimes, instead, they will use a red square because in black
and white photography red photographs "blacker than black." And THAT is why
black-on-red or red-on-black are NOT contrasting colors. RED IS A DARK
COLOR. If you have a black or red car, your number has to be of a color that
AT LEAST has some hues in it from the white end of the spectrum.
Also, it frequently happens that numbers that are just fine at your local
events are terrible at Nationals. Why? At home you are on a smaller local
lot running 40-second courses maybe 1 or 2 cars at a time and because
everyone there knows who you are anyway. Now you come to an event where
total strangers have to determine who you are and score you, often on the
fly, with another car coming in 20 seconds, and by the time they look up to
see which car it was that hit that cone you are not 50 feet away but 400
feet away heading off at 50+ mph.
One irony in racing (I'm a licensed timer) is that bad numbers screw up not
just the car with the bad numbers, but the ones behind it. The timer is
hunting all over the car for the number and thus misses the several right
behind. Been there, done that. One person's conceit harms the many. It
happens in solo too if the corner is so busy trying to figure out what car
just went by they miss the cone hit by the next one to come.
Luminosity. I am going to tell a story on myself. I have yellow graphics on
a blue car. You'd think that good contrast, right? I was racing at Heartland
Park one dim and overcast morning and my yellow numbers (made from a rather
dull-finish Contact paper) just faded into the blue background. Neither
paint nor paper was "bright". They were always adequate before but this time
the gray day did not help. Timing couldn't see 'em. The fix was to lay a
strip of yellow Scotch Plastic Tape right on top of the number. The Scotch
was a much brighter yellow, you see, and the brightness -- not the color --
made them pop off the car. Now I use a yellow vinyl that is of similar
brightness.
It is NECESSARY to identify you AT A GLANCE. The corner or timer needs to
determine what car/driver it is in a fraction of a second. Anything that
takes longer gets in the way of the smooth running of the event. And when
you are pushing 250 cars a day through a course (as we hope to be doing in
2000), smooth running is imperative to the benefit of all.
So if you are told you have a bad number, don't argue the fact. No one is
trying to hassle you or get into your head .. they simply don't have time
for such nonsense and, in fact, are trying to save time at the moment when
saving time is most critical. Simply, you HAVE a bad number, at least for
this event in this application or setting. Accept the fact that Topeka is a
more difficult environment, just go quietly and fix it. The only reasonable
response is to inquire how it is bad and if there is any specific suggestion
for making it better.
Just because it works back home doesn't mean it works in Topeka ... but if
you make it so it works in Topeka's more difficult environment, it should
work just fine back home too.
--Rocky Entriken
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