SCCA Race Officials
Experienced SCCA Race Officials are in heavy demand at Road Racing
venues throughout the United States, working
races run by other sanctioning bodies such as
IndyCar (CART) and IMSA (World Sports Car, Firehawk, etc.)
On This Page
It's easy to get started; review the list of worker specialities below,
and select one you'd like to try your hand at.
Join the club, and then call Central Licensing at the National Office
in order to request your Regional License in the speciality.
Once you have that, you are ready to show up at the race track
and start learning
(show up pretty early; racing starts early, especially for
Registrars and Tech inspectors. At some tracks, registration closes for
the day at 9am or 10am.)
Of course, there's an alternate approach: most regions will let you show
up at the race track, join the SCCA, and sign up for your Regional
Worker License, all in registration in the morning.
The SCCA has recently made a major change in their policy towards
minors as Race Officials, and now permits properly licensed and trained 16 and
17 year olds to work in hot areas. This program is managed directly from the
National Office;
call Central Licensing for details.
As always, minors are welcome in specialities that don't work in hot
areas, which usually components/old Registration and Timing and Scoring.
There are many specialities in which one can work at a race. The
list below describes most of them (I make no claim that the list
is complete at present.)
- Flagging & Communcation
- One of the most visible specialties, these are the corner workers
whom you see dressed in white at all road races in the United States.
They use the array of colored flags to communicate to the drivers about
the condition of the track, communicate via radio or land lines with
race control about incidents on the portion of track for which they are
responsible, and handle the first response to most incidents on the track.
Clothing & equipment requirement: F&C workers generally wear white, long
sleeved clothes; polyester and other synthetics are to be avoided, with
cotton and other natural fabrics preferred (although fireproof Nomex
is the safest by far.) Orange gloves and a whistle are also a good idea.
The colors red and yellow should be avoided at all cost in selecting
cold weather and foul weather gear for use on station.
- Starter
- The starters handle the flags on the tower; they are responsible
for deciding when to start the race, and throw the checkered
at the finish upon direction from Timing & Scoring.
- Pit & Paddock
- The pit marshals control action in the pit lane; they serve as traffic
cops during practice, qualifying, and the race, and insure that conditions
in the pits are safe at all times, taking care of matters such as fire
control in the pits.
Clothing & equipment requirement: white pants and a blue shirt are
recommended; natural fabrics are prefered to synthetics; orange
gloves are recommended. Note that at some tracks the colors may vary;
for example, at Watkins Glen, Pit Marshals wear red shirts instead
of blue ones.
- Grid
- Grid workers are responsible for insuring that the race cars are
placed in the proper order for the beginning of the race, and for
traffic control in the period before cars are released to the track.
They also do last minute checks on certain items of driver safety
equipment, and try to insure that only cars that have passed inspection
by the scrutineers are permitted on track.
Clothing & equipment requirement: white pants and a blue shirt are
recommended; natural fabrics are prefered to synthetics; orange
gloves are recommended.
- Timing & Scoring
- Timing & Scoring is one of the technically most challenging
and most under appreciated of specialties. You have to actually
see the T&S workers in action to realize what all they do up there;
tracking a race in progress is unbelievably challenging.
- Scrutineering
- The tech inspectors are one of the first groups to go to work at a race
and one of the last to finish. They check cars for safety and conformance
to the rules at the beginning of a weekend, and insure that the drivers
remembered all their safety gear and that the gear is all in satisfactory
condition. They provide the scales that racers use to check on their cars.
At anytime during the weekend, and always immediately after the race,
they manage impound, where the top finishing cars are weighed and spot
checks are run to verify rules compliance.
- Fire & Rescue
- Fire & Rescue workers do just about exactly what you'd expect. They
are the Firemen and EMTs of the race meeting.
- Registrar
- When registration goes well, nobody notices, and when it goes poorly,
everybody complains. This speciality is more complex than most realize,
and greatly underappreciated. Because of the way that races are scheduled,
it is often possible to work Registration in the mornings and another
speciality such as Timing & Scoring or Sound Control in the afternoons.
- Sound Control
- Sound control is a little known but necessary speciality; workers
in sound control monitor all sessions on the track and report cars which
are in violation of local or national rules about sound levels.
- Stewards
- Some of the most experienced participants in Road Racing become
stewards; the Operating Stewards (headed by the Chief Steward) are
responsible for the overall management of a race, and the Stewards
of the Meeting are responsible for Judicial aspects of the event
(such as handling protests.)
Worker Licensing
Workers at SCCA races should be SCCA members.
It is often possible
to join the SCCA at the registration booth for an SCCA race, although
it is probably preferable to join before that and have your membership
card with you when you go to your first event, as this will speed up
the worker registration process. Note that some specialties have
clothing requirements; these are mentioned in their descriptions above.
The grades of licenses are as follows:
- Regional Licenses
- The Regional license is the "Trainee" license for new workers in a
speciality. Any SCCA member can obtain a regional license simply by
filling out the proper form, which is readily available at any SCCA
regional race. Regional license may also be obtained by calling
Central Licensing at the National Office.
Regional Licenses may be renewed indefinitely, without
any requirement that the member work a minimum number of events during
the year.
- Divisional Licenses
- The Divisional license is typically held by an experienced worker
in a particular specialty; the holder of a Divisional License is
permitted to work in any position in that speciality except for
Chief at a National race or Chief at a School. Other restrictions
may apply in specific specialties (for example, Race Vehicle logbooks
may only be issued by the holder of a National Scrutineering License.)
To upgrade to a Divisional license, a Regional license holder should
have at least two years of regular participation in their speciality,
typically 8 days (4 races or other events) or more for each year.
To renew a Divisional license, the holder should expect to work 8 days
per year in their speciality.
- National Licenses
- National licenses are held by the top people in their
specialities; Chiefs of Specialties and the Regional Administrators
for specialties usually hold National Licenses.
