Parade Laps redux

[kleggo]

True, but when you are closely following a car in front, you have to have some focus on that car, rather than on the track. I see cars in parade laps "chasing" others, and it seems like you are either having to back off because you caught the real slow guy in front, or you have to speed up because you have someone on your bumper. Driving the first lap slower with NO traffic seems like a better way to learn the track.

This is the most compelling reason to drop the PL.
As Kim says, i find it difficult to learn anything valuable about the track layout when i am concerned with car spacing.

Craig

[Steve Grosekemper]

I agree as well. If you want to see the track at speed before driving it find an instructor and see if you can bum a ride.

[blakebastain]

Rather than reducing the number of laps, I'd like to see a more rigid schedule for set-up and tear down for the AX events. This might be the teacher in me speaking, but if we had a well-publicized list of things that needed to happen, and when they needed to happen, we'd (hopefully) have fewer people standing around wondering what they could do to help get the laps started. If we started the track walk on time, if we started the laps on time, we wouldn't have to worry about whether or not to eliminate parade laps.

In that same vein, it would be nice if someone could draw a map and take a few pictures of the trailer when it is packed well, too, and, again, make them well publicized. While the truck is out picking up the cones, it would only take three or four people (all of whom would know right where everything goes--thanks to the map and photos) to get the trailer set to receive the cones and then everything else.

Maybe it's the monthly drive from Bakersfield that has stewed my brains a bit, but why aren't we working on ways to get more people educated and involved so we can get more laps, instead of the opposite?

Blake.

[Dan Chambers]

When I was ax chair, when we always had a 100+, we always finished on time, the lot wasn't nearly as bad as today,few, if any X-cars, the beer was colder and the times were faster, you know the good old days. Anyway, I think we would sometimes have a parade lap for everyone while the cornerworkers were going out. Took about 10 minutes, and totally cleaned the track. Cornerworkers got their's in their run session.

Ah, the good ol' days.

let me say that the position of AX Chair is one of the hardest-working, sweat-provoking, hand-blistering, back-straining, sunburn-enducing, forum-provoking jobs in the club. It's no wonder why many of the EOTY awards goes to AX Chairs. They bust their fannies to make these events happen, and the closest thing they hear to a Thank you" is "Why can't we this!?! Why can't we do that?!?! Waa Waa Waa, I want more laps!!" Well, guys; I know your pain. Yours is one of the toughest jobs in the PCASDR business. You're doing a fine job, so keep up the good work. Believe me, I know.

After sitting through 4 pages of this topic, I will try to make my points ... briefly.

When the Tres Amigos ran the show in the Early Days, we:

- Threw the track that morning
- Started the track hot at precisely 9:00AM (not before since it's illegal)
- Adjusted the number of laps for the entire day based on attendance (yes, on the day when we had over 150 drivers we did 3+3+4 for laps)
- Tried to commence timed-runs precisely at 2:00PM
- Ended driving as close to 5:00PM as possible
- Picked-up cone; opened the beer; loaded the trailer ... IN THAT ORDER
- Handed out awards
- Parked the Trailer at Storage by 7:30PM (at the latest)

(Please note the lack of parade laps mentioned anywhere. Uh, that's no accident. We didn't do parade laps in my days as AX Chair ... with but a very few exceptions that Gary has referred to. )

How did we achieve this functionally time, after time, after time with record attendance?

- Pre-planning the event (Pre-drive the course, call and have the pavement swept by Stadium workers ... at no charge ... prior to the event, watch sign-ups to calculate # of laps for the day, pre-notify all event Chairs of impending event to be sure no absentees interrupted the flow of the event.)
- Early arrival at the Q (I was usually greeting Tom Comeau and others at 5:00 to 5:30 AM)
- Calculated assignments of the three A-X Chairs and AM volunteers for set-up
- Strict adherence to time schedules
- Flexibility on the part of all Chairs to work within the parameters of 9:00-to-5:00 allowed driving time.
- Adjusting the number of laps should problems arise, to ensure completion by 5:00PM
- Strict adherence to running the event on time

Did I mention ... strict adherence to watching the time?

Now, in early 2004 I wrote down the standards of the day in a detailed form to guide us through the day. On the front was the AM tasks. On the back was the PM tasks. We adhered to this protocol fairly tightly, with a fairy high success rate.

Upon my "retirement" from AX Chair I passed the written pages of protocol down to the next AX Chairs (in an attempt to have a written vs verbal history of the event protocols). Those protocols were more or less followed, with Gary staying on to assist the new chairs. Ah, but like all good systems, the protocols, like the Dead Sea Scrolls, have wound up buried somewhere and the old habits of fairly successful events have been lost to tall tales, folklore, and myth.

Bill Behun tried to resurrect the "Tres Amigos" liturgy by asking me for a copy, which I gladly gave to him. What happened to the "New AX Testament" ... I have no idea. Clearly, based on my attendance at a recent AX, it has once again been buried in a cave somewhere. (BTW: I know where a copy of those protocols exists. Should anyone want to take a stroll down memory lane, you can contact me. It's just an email away.)

Is it possible to have on-time, successful, enjoyable AX's? Absolutely. There is a plethora of knowledge out there, and the culture of PCASDR is one of sharing, cooperation, and growth through friendly aid. It takes a village to make a great AX event. Let's keep the doors to great ideas, cooperation, and reverence to tradition open.

OK, my soap-box is broken, I'm stepping off.

Hats off to the volunteers who make the PCASDR a great region.

See you at Willow Springs.