This weekend was the first time I ever got to ride in the
pace car, during an actual race. I've driven one up to start, and I've been advised that I may be asked to drive one during a future race, but this weekend I was pressed into service as a communicator.
As most of you aren't racing people, I will explain. A pace car comes out on two occasions during a race. The first is at the start, when the car paces the field around the track at a speed that allows the cars to put some heat in their tires but is slow enough that the cars can line up and thus get a fair start. The second occasion is when there is an incident on track that leads to a full course yellow. In that case the pace car comes out and gathers the field behind it, and keeps it moving slowly enough that all cars are under absolute control so the incident can be cleaned up safely and any damaged/destroyed cars removed. Cars who are behind the leader but on the same lap often benefit from the gathering process as they can close in to the front and any other cars ahead of them. A NASCAR yellow occurs when some very minor incident is used as an excuse to tighten up the field so the racing will be closer and more competitive, particularly for the TV audience.
What I had to do was pretty simple. The driver drives, and drivers with racing experience are strongly preferred. The reason is pretty simple: you need to go fast enough to keep the race cars from overheating and starting out on stone cold tires, which don't grip so much. Cold tires cause a lot of accidents because its hard to estimate exactly how much grip you really do have. As they are in a race car (say a Formula Atlantic, or a 650 hp GT-1 monster) and you are in a street car, the driver has to go fairly hard in sections of a tight course like Mid Ohio. So the driver is accompanied by a communicator with a radio who makes sure control and the driver know what's needed. That was my job.
What you do is pretty simple. First, you must request permission from race control to enter the course. You turn on your light bar (just like the police car lights) and go when permission is given. If the course is clear that's almost always granted, although they will warn you of clean-up operations in progress, so you aren't surprised by that wrecker partially blocking the course. You travel a full circuit of the course and stop in the center of the front straight. Ideally. Sometimes permission comes late, and you exit pit out and then back into positions. Grid will release the cars and the splitter will divide the field into the correct lanes behind you. Once the field closes up the pace car is to accelerate at a mild pace until the entire field is gathered up and then speed up to pace speed.
The first field I paced was made up of GT-1 and 2 monsters, American Sedans with thumping V-8s, Touring 2 Z-06 Corvettes and smattering of modified RX-7s, BMWs and Porsches. My friend Matt Downing drove. He's an experienced driver (who got two second places this weekend) of front wheel drive cars and decided to pace the field at 60MPH with a jump to 90 down the backstraight. Keep in mind that there are turns at Mid Ohio (3 and 8 for example) where 60 MPH is challenging in a race car, much less an Acura TL. Matt maintained that speed until he got to station 11 then slowed to 45 to allow the cars to form up behind us. As we slowed I put my arm out the window to let them know we were about to deccelerate. My job was to announce our locations at different 'corners' of the course, so race control knew when to expect the field. And to let us know what to do. There have been occassions where race cars have crashed on the pace lap, usually due to mechanical failure or that old cold tires/overheated driver problem. We might be told to stay out and continue pacing the field. But we weren't. As I passed corner station 14, the last tracking point I announced our location, that the lights were out on the pace car and that we were coming in. Matt put his foot down and shot ahead into the pits. The race leader then assumes control of the field, and having a big, uber-powerful GT-1 car decided to start slow as he knew he could blow by the Touring class 'vettes immediately behind him.
Then we entered the pits, and moved to the end of pit lane and stopped, angled so we could easily head back out on track. There we sat, engine running until the entire field completed the first lap of the race. Then I asked for, and recieved permission to 'stand down', which meant we could turn off the engine.
Then my problems began. The race ran smoothly and we sat there quietly until the checkered flag was given. After the field entered the pits I asked control if it was time to go out on track and stage for the next race. No answer. I asked again. And again, and again. No answer. Finally I got a reply that said the one minute had been given and so we needed to back down on the front straight as even a formula 1 car can't lap Mid Ohio in under a minute. At least not coming out of the pits.
And did I mention that Matt had turned over the driving chores to a guy who had never driven the pace car before?
Still, I had been warned that control might not respond right away as they often switched head phones. My radio had worked perfectly the session before. The cars went out (this time slower but still quick Spec Racers). We paced at 45 MPH per Matt's recommendation, and successfully got a start.
That's when trouble began. After the first lap, I three times requested permission to stand down. No answer. Maybe those guys were busy. I noticed my dispaly blinking but thought that was normal for this particular radio. What it really meant was my batteries were dying fast. I saw the double yellow flag go up at turn one. I knew we needed to go out, but we also needed instructions. Control was supposed to order us to stand up and the number of the car we were supposed to pick up. Really that means the driver, as he has far better mirror coverage than I. Instead I heard only static, and an odd rustling. I knew something was up, but could do nothing. Not even a pace car may enter a hot race course without permission. Even if I had moved on my own, without radio communications how would we know when to come back in? A moment later a steward ran out of medical clutching a radio. We did a quick hand off, and my driver floored it as the field was coming. We got out just in front of the field, in part thanks to the leader who slowed up when he saw us exiting the pits.
Gee, my (and the driver's) first full course yellow and my radio chose that moment to die. Murphy sure does love racing.
Fortunately, all went well and got the field gathered up (this time single file) for a re-start.
And I had fun. It's cool being out in the pace car, and next time I'd like to drive. But I'll tell you this. You can't see much of the racing from where I sat, and Acura TLs have really comfortable seats. You can't sit there too long without falling asleep.
I was glad at the end of three sessions when one of the stewards relieved me.