Life in the fast lane as professional race officials

GRAVENHURST - The track vibrates the very soul. The rev of engines, the burning of rubber and sheer power that screams around a professional racecourse, from Formula 1 to NASCAR, is an addiction to millions around the world.
Gravenhurst’s Richard and Barb Coburn count themselves among those. But unlike the millions curled up on their couches on Sunday afternoons and even the thousands crammed into trackside stands on race day, theirs is a front-row seat … no, even better than that.
“We’re the eyes and the ears for the drivers; it’s the next best thing to being right in the car,” Richard said. “We’re feet away from metal flying by at 225 miles an hour, separated by a chain link fence.”
“And when we started, there wasn’t even a chain link fence,” Barb added with a chuckle.
For the past 25 years, save this past year for Richard, the couple have been volunteer race marshals for just about every professional motorsport there is. This season, Richard has retired from the marshal game, after even serving as the national administrator for the American race marshal association.
But he’s not any further away from the course, strictly sticking to his professional race photography where his love of the sport still gets fuelled. The scents are just as rich, but the view much closer.
“When things happen on the racecourse, they happen fast,” he said. “It’s simply the best place to be other than right out on the track.”
Barb explained as a young couple in the 1960s they got hooked on racing with a chance visit to what is now called the Canadian Tire Motorsport Park in Toronto. The facility had just opened and they decided the see what the fuss was about.
“We were hooked,” she said.
Some years later at a sports show in Toronto a booth was set up. Barb said there was one guy, sitting alone in the corner, by himself, looking to recruit volunteers for the racetrack.
“We signed on the dotted line right away and the next weekend we were in a training school, then we were training on the track,” Barb said. There were also about 15 training races they officiated at before becoming registered race marshals, she added.
Twenty-five years later and the volunteer gig has taken them around the world to some of the most famed racecourses on the globe including in Japan, Brazil, all across Europe and, of course, the North American continent. Barb said they tend to officiate street or road course Indy, Formula 1, Le Mans and motorcycle races, rather than oval track racing.
Barb explained as race marshals, they act as part of a team set up at every bend and corner of a course. Each marshal has a line of view they are to keep to help warn drivers, other race officials or emergency crews of all events on the course. They use a set of eight coloured flags to tell drivers such things as “there’s a driver approaching fast behind” or raising a caution that there is danger ahead.
Marshals are also well trained in fire suppression, first aid, CPR and even extrication as they are often the closest to a collision or spill and the first to be able to reach the driver or rider before emergency crews can show up.
“Fortunately, for the most part I’ve never had to use it,” Barb said of the emergency set of skills, adding, however, that she has had to come to the aid of a fallen motorcycle driver and extinguish his flame-engulfed ride.
The marshals are also responsible to act as impartial witnesses to any incidents that may occur on the course and all their work takes place rain or shine. Richard said the difficult part of the volunteer work is dealing with elements, from pounding South American suns to the northeast’s blizzards or late-spring rains. They spend about 45 to 50 days a year at events anywhere in the world in “whatever Mother Nature throws at you.”
“They can be very long days, and many days in a row,” Richard said. “It’s something you really have to enjoy doing or you don’t belong there.”
It’s not a volunteer job without risk. Richard said at least one race marshal is lost in North America alone each year and each has had their own share of close calls. He helped pull a stalled F-1 race car off a blind corner during a race in Toronto and has had his share of tires whiz by.
“There was one race two years ago that was such a bad crash. Fortunately no one was hurt, but it was so bad they had to cancel the race because they couldn’t fix the damage to the track,” Richard said. “In that one, the whole wheel assembly went right by us. But that’s all part of the adrenalin of racing.”
“As long as I can haul the fire extinguisher, as long as I can stand, I’m going to be doing this,” Barb added.

Small - Large
|
Print
|
Email
|
|