RACE: Mid-Ohio Runoffs Wednesday notes #3

Runoffs Notes - 9 - Wednesday copyright 1996 John P. M. Dillon

A few west coast flaggers are taking part in this week's activities. Bill and Linda Haneline are here thanks to GT3/GT1 competitor Mike Lewis. Lewis sponsored their attendance by creating the Autocon Motorsports Worker Scholarship to encourage San Diego Region workers to go to the Runoffs. Linda, who is Flag Chief for the region, and Bill were jointly awarded the prize at the region's banquet in February.

Also present is Roger Littell from Cal Club. Roger is currently the SoPac Divisional Administrator for Flagging and Communications. It is beyond this author's memory as to when or if a SoPac F&C D.A. has ever been able to afford to make the trip east, though last year the division's D.A. for Starters (Ken Silva) and his wife (Pit Control D.A.) Kathe trekked to Mid-Ohio. Littell, to maximize the value of his experience, specifically requested that he work with people from other parts of the country, as opposed to working with SoPac folks. "I want to meet new people and learn new ideas," said Littell. "I've seen and heard a lot of things that I'd miss by working with my old friends." Roger's limited budget would have precluded his attendance but for the generosity of the Snow family. Roger helped John Snow tow drive their camper and trailer across the country, along with Nelda (who is serving Race Control as a logger) and John's brother Dan, who is racing their dad's old FP Fiat. I think I've already mentioned that Dan somehow ended up with his dad's car number (21) as well. Roger is staying in the Snow motor home while here, of course.

Joel Duvall, Arizona Region's flag chief, is out on the corners, while Arizona's tech inspector duo Gene and Lois Petersen are playing with lots of race cars in their specialty. As mentioned earlier, Joanne Jensen (Arizona's R.E.) is serving the stewards in the capacity of Race Control. Her husband Bill Stringer enjoys corner work, so he's flagging this week as usual.

As Fred Slick once pointed out, "Stewards are workers too." Included in this esteemed body are Jack Brabban, Jim McCashin, and Larry Stephens. Marge Binks is here in her Area Director capacity, while Fred is here for the club office. Mike Higgins is here too, I believe as a representative of the Competition Board.

Jean Parsons is the only other SoPac worker name I can remember at this late hour. I believe she's the D.A. for Timing and Scoring, and is one of the macarena dancers mentioned earlier.

I know there are several San Francisco workers here, including Marcy Crawford in Scoring and a bunch of folks in tech, but I don't have a full list of names for you. The list can be found in the worker directory which is currently in the trunk of my car. Since I don't feel like getting dressed and leaving my motel room to fetch it, you'll have to guess who they are!

John Dillon Mostly SoPac (Hawaii, Las Vegas, San Diego, Cal Club)