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Volunteering at the Sebring PCA Club Race

Sebring. The word has many meanings.

To World War II history followers it was a major training base (Hendricks Field) for B-17 and B-24 combat crews until 1945. To many sports car fans it conjures up a racetrack steeped in the annals of sports car competition since the 1950s. To Porsche buffs the PCA Club Race season has been launched at Sebring since 1994.

To me, all three meanings hold significance, since I have a college minor in European history, enjoy watching sports car racing and have a passion for Porsches. So, when a long-standing hometown friend, former SCCA racer and fellow Porsche DE driver, Jim Young (1989 944 S2; PCA Chicago), suggested we volunteer for the “48 Hours at Sebring”, I jumped at the chance. (But, of course, only after first getting clearance from my wife. Thanks, Mary!)

After registering, my excursion began when I flew from White Plains to Orlando and drove an exceedingly boring Ford Focus to Sebring. (I really should have upgraded to the red Mustang convertible.) Jim Young and his wife, Jan, drove from Green Bay, Wisconsin to spend a week of vacation in Florida. We met at Sebring on the Wednesday afternoon prior to the race to explore the track and then go to dinner.

There were a few amusing Sebring policies listed in the program:


“ALL guests are REQUIRED to have fun.
Please do not create your own city, state or country by roping off an area of our beloved property. Guests may choose to reserve spaces by purchasing a reserved space, but NOT by marking territory with ropes and streamers. That just irritates people.
Feel free to fire up your BBQ grills. However, most other fires are BAD, and therefore prohibited – i.e., fireworks, firearms, fuses, and burning furniture.
Due to gravity, we limit scaffolding to 6 feet tall. “

Our first impression of the Club Race setup was that of a high level of organization, with signs, pits, parking and the race committee building clearly labeled and easily navigated. The many cars and teams in the pits were certainly impressive, and no doubt very expensive to support. The cars included everything from 944 Cup cars to the latest GT2s and GT3s. The Sebring magazine stated there were more than 250 entries.

While Jim Young and I were walking around we said hello to the always cheery Spencer Cox of Speedsport Tuning, which was supporting eight fantastic cars. We also said hello to Dan Jacobs and Baron Jacobs of Hairy Dog Grrrage (ten cars) and Chris Musante of Musante Motorsports, supporting about six cars. Needless to say, our CVR vehicle shops and drivers were well represented at Sebring.

Sebring International Raceway, its formal name, is a 3.7 mile track located in an unassuming area two hours south of Orlando. There’s not much to see as one nears the track, since the area is comprised of sand, small pines, orange groves and retirement communities. The public roads are flat and largely straight, with little of the winding road experience that is so much fun on a drive to Lime Rock, Palmer or Watkins Glen.

Sebring is laid out on the concrete runways built for the U.S. Army Air Force’s use during WWII. Since the original runways were 5,000 ft. long and 300 ft. wide, there was plenty of concrete when the race track was created. Some portions of the track are now asphalt. Other portions of the original runways were used to start the Sebring Regional Airport.

In examining the track map, one immediately notices the two long straights. Both are very wide and don’t use all of the available concrete. Sebring isn’t a narrow road-style track with clear markings or narrow roadway as at the tracks known by most CVR drivers. Imagine if the Lime Rock front straight was three times as wide, with one side only delineated by cones! The first notable item about Sebring is Turn 1/17, which is at the end of the longest straight and is where cars enter the track from pit out. Amazingly, the curve is more than wide enough for three cars abreast – although we never saw three cars try it! It is a long sweeping curve from the back straight to the front straight past the pits and taken at relatively high speed.

The Thursday morning check-in experience was very easy. We said hello, received our assignments and obtained the always important free t-shirt and lunch ticket. Things moved rapidly at the well-organized check in tables.

On Friday, our volunteering on the grid was an active and fun experience. Guided by the Grid Chair, eight volunteers lined up the cars for each practice or for each race based on times from the qualifying laps. It was an opportunity to see the cars up close, examine the cars for leaks or loose parts, check for driver safety items (helmet, chin strap, harnesses, gloves and window net) and guide the cars into the correct positions. With 40 to 60+ cars for each practice or race it was a bit of juggling, especially with the drivers’ limited sight lines, extremely loud cars and an occasional impatient driver. Sometimes we had to push cars backward out of the wrong spot on the grid when a driver misread his grid number. Another chore was urging the crews to exit the grid before each race stated – apparently there are many last minute items for crews to check or discuss with a driver. Fortunately, there were no incidents on the grid and all went well.

At Friday evening’s reception for drivers and workers we enjoyed listening to John Fitzpatrick, a famous English race driver from the 1960s through the 1980s, speak about his racing career. Just before John started speaking, the cover on a car inside the reception area was pulled back, revealing the exact Porsche 935K3 that he raced in the IMSA GT Championship when he won seven of the fourteen races. One of those races was the 12 Hours of Sebring.

The next day, Saturday, my friend Jim Young continued to volunteer on the grid while I volunteered to work at Turn 17a, which is just past the apex and next to the infield access bridge. It was a different experience at this corner since one hears cars approaching and then suddenly sees them appear, cornering and preparing to accelerate for the front straight. While we mainly watched the cars corner, it was exciting to see some take evasive action to miss each other and maneuver for the straight. In one case a 911 somehow lost steering control and slid towards the outside of the curve, stopping just short of the tire wall. Since the car was out of the way at the far outside of the curve the track session continued. After the session ended, the safety crews examined the car, spending a long time inspecting it. After the examination they chose to use a forklift to place it onto a flatbed truck to remove it. As it passed use we could see the front left tire and wheel had been damaged, presumably because a suspension component had collapsed while cornering hard. No doubt that was an expensive repair!

Turn 17, Sebring International Raceway

In conclusion, we had fun volunteering and would highly recommend it to others. Being able to see the cars up close in the pits and watching an impressive PCA Club Race event from a corner is a lot of fun.

Jim Young (left) and Jim Maitland (Right)

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