Paid flaggers at Nationals

I have no idea how they structure it. I think that’s one of the many mysteries about the situation is where they find these people. 

"Final side note: Watching the NASCAR race yesterday a car spun and the flagger was furiously waving a blue flag until another track worker handed him a yellow. So it is not just motocross."

That happened twice at 2 different corners. I was freaking out.  They must have the same problems.

I watched a flagger at RB watching the race, He shouldve been watching from his stand to the next stand, not watching the racers coming his way, wasnt even concerned what happened after they went by, no wonder these things happen

I've been working on this for the past 2 years at www.FlaggerFinder.com, and there's so much that people are ignoring. First and Foremost, it doesn't matter whether the flagger is paid or unpaid, the incidents we see each weekend boil down to 2 main issues:  quality AND quantity.   The tracks are muhc larger than SX, so you need more people, and each flagger needs to have sightline to the flagger before and after them.  With the natural topography of our MX tracks, that can be difficult.  Next,  you have volunteers who may have little to no racing experience, and are not trained to flag apart from a 30-60 min briefing session prior to the race.  So "Paying" the flaggers is only part of the battle, and doesn't necessarily equate to "now they're being paid, so now they're going to be better at flagging".  All that means, is that we're less likely to be scrounging for unpaid/volunteer flaggers last minute. 

Obstacles in play:

- For a paid, designated flagger team to travel the country:  each MX track requires a minimum of 40 flaggers.  each flagger is there from roughly 6:30am - 5pm. Let's say we pay them $20/hr.  That's $210/flagger x 40 flaggers= $8,400.  Then you have flights (~$300+), hotels ($150/night for 2 nights), per diem etc for Friday-Sat-Sunday (~$50/day). With this platform, you require that the flagger team is available Friday-Sat-Sund, so they're only working 3 days a week, which means they likely need a flexible regular job the other days of the week, and/or able to be away from family for 13 weekends throughout the summer. 

-Lights/sirens along the track:  this seems like it might be viable until you consider that these tracks are being bulldozed and dirt-worked over and over and over and over again, often changing layouts (redbud, hangtown, thunder valley, all changed this year alone)  so having wires buried beneath the dirt for 1-2 miles around the perimeter would be very costly, and easily damaged by their heavy machinery.  Well you might say,  don't bury it, just lay it out for the race - well, apart from being a tripping hazard, you're going to be hiring a technical team to set it up each weekend, and it's only a matter of time until you run into technical issues and can't get the lights working, which throws a wrench in the TV broadcast time slot. 

In summary, I would like to see the flaggers provided with and trained by informational videos, which they must watch to earn a certification.  Then, for their commitment, they are compensated in some way even if it's not monetary: whether that's 2 free tickets for family and friends to attend the race,  or entry into a raffle for signed rider gear, maybe a free pass to ride that track for the remainder of the year - there are options. 

I've already made a proposal to MX Sports and the AMA - hoping to hear back and get to work on the 2025 season. 

-KN

See my message on page 3.  There is no training. There are no informational videos.  You show up on Friday to sign a waiver and get your access credentials,  then you show up Saturday morning, they tell you a spot to stand at, give you a flag and tell you to keep your head on a swivel.    It's far too relaxed, and needs structured training in advance, with some form of non-medical certification.  

-KN

www.flaggerfinder.com

Have you registered at www.flaggerfinder.com?

I just want to add that I don’t think paying people will make a difference. I think there are plenty of people out there that understand the flags and how to flag from their own racing experience. I don’t want to downplay the errors but for people that have never done it, things can happen really quickly and sometimes that split second to react makes all the difference. It looks easy from the couch but I guarantee some people won’t react as quickly or in the way they think they will when it unfolds in front of you.

Every year I work as a flag marshal or intervention marshal (pushing bikes/cars off the track after an incident) at the highest levels which is MotoGP and F1. Both series have plenty of money and we are all volunteers. They ask that we have experience flagging at some of the local races but beyond that we have a short online training session to watch then one in person before the event if we can attend. Then it’s go time. Many of the volunteers are just race fans and have never touched a track in a competitive sense. Oftentimes they are the best flaggers out there!