7 Tips and Observations from an Official to Drivers for the New Season

By: Steven Hubert of Auto Sport Quebec.

1. It’s a new season, everyone is excited! You’ll get to race soon! Did you take the time to thank everyone who make it possible for you to race this year? Your parents, mechanics, teams, sponsors, officials, series organizers, etc. They all put in a lot if time, effort and resources to make racing possible, you should be grateful for that.

2. A new season means a new rulebook. Have you read it? Karting isn’t F1 or NASCAR. We have our own set of rules. Drivers usually learn the rules in two different ways: the first one is by reading them in the rulebook. The second is finding out about them on the posted results after a session. It’s your call, but I believe the first method is a lot easier and a lot less frustrating.

3. Now, this may be hard to believe, but officials aren’t perfect! We try our best and I think we have a very good record, but we do get it wrong sometimes. We may miss things, there is a lot going on during a race weekend. We don’t do it on purpose, we wish we could see everything, and we are more than willing to listen when you approach us with calm and respect. You usually are hot when you come off the track. This might not be the best time to talk to an official, wait until you have calmed down.

4. Speaking of officials, some of them are volunteers, like the track marshals (flaggers) and pit marshals. They risk their personal safety on track next to you. I have seen pit marshals jump out of the way to avoid being hit by a kart on pitlane; I have seen drivers yell at track marshals, I have seen drivers not even get out of their karts and expect marshals to push them, etc. They are the unsung heroes of racing and they deserve all your respect.

5. The other drivers, you clearly are better than all of them right? In reality, the value of your results on the track are greatly depend on who is racing against you. They are not enemies, they are part of what makes your racing meaningful, and you should always respect them.

6. I am assuming that you are racing karts because you want to. Karting can be a dangerous sport and if your head is not in it completely when you are on track, you may hurt yourself or others. You should not be racing just to please other people.

7. There is positive in all your results and things to learn that will be helpful later on, regardless of where you finish. You had a mechanical failure? You made a mistake? That’s supposed to happen, this is part of racing. Most drivers will not win at all this year. Make sure you enjoy racing, not just winning.

Oh and one last thing: for my sake, and every official’s sake: always have 4 readable numbers on your kart at all times. You have no idea how you make our work more difficult when you don’t!

See ya at the track soon!

– Steven Hubert, Auto Sport Quebec