(Photos courtesy of Mike Pearson)
With the Club Racing season right around the corner, the Kaw Valley Race Group held a Crash-Fire-Rescue school last Saturday, March 18th, at Heartland Park Topeka in Topeka, KS. The school was a overwhelming success with forty people in attendance. In addition to several veteran workers, there were quite a few novices in attendance as well, which is a great thing for our Club Racing programs moving forward.
Topics covered in the course ranged from what volunteer corner workers need to bring with them to the track on a race weekend, the meaning of the different colored flags and when to deploy them, using hand signals to communicate with other corner stations, the roles and duties of the various stewards, and extrication and fire training. Training wasn’t restricted to a classroom setting. Instruction was taken to the track as the students were driven around the course. The class stopped in Turn 8 and instructors highlighted specifics of corner set-up and best safety practices.
Donna Cross, Justin Walker, Chris Kern, Keith Pfautz, and Neava Ford were presenters, and Jeff Lacina, Director of Road Course Operations at Heartland Park, was also on hand. Mr. Lacina spent spent about 15 minutes at the beginning of the day discussing the new developments at Heartland Park and the facilities plans for 2017. He was very excited for the upcoming SCCA season and events that are planned.
Coffee, soda, a continental breakfast, and a pizza lunch were provided for all those in attendance.
On the weekend of May 12-14, the SCCA Majors tour returns to Heartland Park Topeka. There will be a Friday Test & Tune followed by two days of practice, qualifying, and racing on Saturday and Sunday. You can come out and enjoy the racing action for free! Yes, FREE!! You can also register to volunteer as a worker for the weekend at MotorsportReg.com. This is also free, and lets you get as close as possible to the racing action without actually holding a steering wheel.