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Hey PALA flaggers!!!!!!! Eagle eyes, eyes on backs of heads!! Take it seriously!!!! Let's go racing to the wonderful Outdoors!!!
Steves on it.
At least he’s willing to call them out for this, you know it’s bad when an arm of the promoters PR is calling them out
Comparing mx flagging to F1 flagging is apples to oranges.
F1 has driver communication , MX does not. MX has blind jumps and F1 generally has much better visibility on whats coming up on the track.
If MX continues to NOT allow radio communication, they no doubt need to figure out the flagging issues. Possibly train a group of folks that live in the area of each outdoor track so that they can be called upon each year to avoid flights and hotels bills. To keep them interested and coming back each year, pay them a bit or provide some other perk like free admission into any of the outdoor tracks and give them VIP passes for the races they don't flag.
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I have tried volunteering to flag at Fox Raceway two years in a row now. They say they want help, I’ve been riding/racing my whole life and would be great at it. If there are others like me who just aren’t getting the opportunity, I don’t know what we can really do.
I kind of get the feeling it's a friend of a friend club. If you aren't in, you're a spectator.
I tried to volunteer for the medical crew and was told they have their people. I guess the didn't want a racer with 20 years of street paramedic experience.
I was told by someone who would know that the Astars medic unit are all doctors, they don’t want EMS people (for some reason).
Its money, but its also logistics, management, liability, and finding committed people willing to do it for a season.
A friend worked as a flagger the first Pala National. He also helped with the set up for a couple days before and break down. He said it sucked and didn’t do it again. So it may be more involved then just showing up day of to flag. He was there late the night before and started early, if it’s like that at all the rounds some of the flagging fuck ups make more sense
My understanding is that the event was a pro practice day that they used as a press day. You can’t expect the series/promoter/track to have a full flagging staff there two days before the event for a practice day. I know in my area most tracks don’t have a full flagging staff on practice days and that is when 50s and 450 pros are on the track at the same time. There is no guarantee that flaggers would have been able to prevent the crash on Thursday either. I want to see dudes stay safe and healthy but this idea that we can ever have a “safe” sport is absurd.
No it isnt.
If the the most cash rich motorsport in the world , doesnt pay its flaggers, who the fuck else is going to.
And i am not talking weekend warrior types , the point has been made that we need Pro flaggers, so it needs to pay a wage that justifies someone doing it. And that is never gonna happen.
The Championship i worked with had a core of staff ( all weekend warriors) who went to all the rounds, and we used local flaggers, and paid them £50 a day expenses.
Can you imagine that there are people who think that people waving flags should be paid more than some riders ?
I think you’d need double that number of flaggers to truly cover the track, maybe more at some outdoor events. And by ‘professional’, it would make this their primary occupation. So 20 people at approximately $80K per year would be over $1.5M, throw in travel and expenses you’d probably be close to that number for all SMX events. I’d say $3M would be just about a rough starting point for truly professional flaggers to cover the entire series.
The answer to the problem isn’t humans. Need to use available technology so we aren’t reliant on flaggers. Things like lights on the track, or on the bikes, in helmet one way comms from race direction to riders.
When SX/MX make the investment to put working caution lights at each relevant spot around the track, communications systems in the helmets of every rider, such that Marshalls/flaggers are purely supplemental and no longer the primary indication of an accident, I'll cut them some slack on using volunteers.
lol, this isn’t chicken licks raceway, this is the premier race series and a sanctioned ride day. If they don’t have the resources they shouldn’t have the riders out there.
Boy you’re going to shit yourself when you find out there are professional series that race on 12+ mile loops through the desert with 300 bikes on the track at a time and 10 flaggers. I get it man, you’re a supercross guy and that’s fine.
Warning lights with sirens are now quite common on Nz tracks , first ones were 20 years ago ,
2.4 million is what it would cost.
that would be 60k per person for a total of 40 people for the whole circuit.. not peanuts but i would call it an investment in your show and 60k a year is barely a livable wage in some areas.. and the job would be industry coveted.
might i add, they as in feld and mx sports should pay for their traveling as well. And a per diem like NHL/MLB/ NBA refs
pipe dream, but it would make for way better flaggers and enhance the safety and look more professional but alas it will never happen because the current people love only giving a hotdog and tshirt
Pit Row
$60k per person but that needs to cover flights and hotel. No idea what that would cost for the entire year, $25k maybe 🤔
I do think in this scenario though, that core group wouldn’t be just flaggers they would be part of the entire group that’s in charge of safety protocols and be part of discussions to help make the track safer. It can be a way bigger role than just flagging which would help justify the cost.
Seems they don't want the truth.
I've done flagging and communications for the last 40 years. Everything from MX, sports cars, IMSA, M/C road races, etc.
The only time I got paid from flagging was because I was an employee of the motocross track I flagged at.
All the big time stuff, drinks and meals. We even rent out own motel rooms.
Your friend that "knows" does not. The medic crew at the races is a crew of paramedics supervised by a doctor. They don't even have any EMT-basic or intermediate personnel. The medical crew also does not accept volunteers
Racer Productions/MX Sports pays for the flaggers at the events they promote. IDK about the other promoters, but when I flag High Point, I get a check in the mail a few days later.
Does MX Sports engage with local moto clubs for flaggers?
Feld must be saying.
Anyone have $3 or $4 million dollars and want to become a partner with me to start a flagging business?
Back in the 80-90's the Washington and Oregon vet riders orgs did the flagging and it was pretty damn good at the Washougal national races. Why can't they still?
What will the return be on my investment ?
Does mxsports get their flaggers for a discounted rate at Ringling Bros through Feld Entertainment?
It’s so bad and it really needs to be fixed. It’s not funny anymore. We can’t compare it to the past because the speeds are higher, the jumps bigger and the risk the highest it’s been. There really is no excuse and at this point they need to pull money from tickets, tracks, teams, whoever. The teams should be onboard as they are losing their investment if these guys get hurt.
Half of these flaggers look they are staring into the sun. As far as I know the ones with the blue flags are suppose to be smarter but even those guys don’t even know who to give the blue flag to.
No... but not a bad idea!
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