Volunteers and insanity.

As some of you know, I'm a Grand Prix motor racing Official in Australia.
My first Australian Formula One GrandPrix was in 1980, and I have done 'em all since....those alone make 88 days of standing beside a race track, not counting the NUMEROUS other events, including the World Superbike Championship and the MotoGP [500 Grand Prix].

Now, diverging for a moment...
One of my fellow [idiot] Officials....ex Viet veteran [2 tours] and now deceased... ...was also a Volunteer Fire Fighter.....even ended up in California a few years ago...providing 'experienced' assistance...[Victoria, Oz is one of the worst parts of the world for bushfires...so we know our 'stuff']. He was a great guy...

Anyway back to me and the GP....
It was 2000, Melbourne...first race of the season....and 42 degrees centigrade in the shade...[that's 107.6 Farenheit].
There we were...[mad as always]..standing there, driver's left at turn 6...'surviving' as best we could.
The Firies have it harder than most...imagine beautiful beach weather....BUT....you are wearing a full Nomex fire-proof Overall, Leather boots [not shoes], gauntlet fire-proof gloves, and a balaclava...only your eyes get the gentle summer breeze...

Now, not being total morons, we rig up a small 2 metre square tarpaulin to the top of the catch-fence...[there's no alternate shade anywhere within the 'moat']..so at least there can be some respite if and when our duties allow us under its cover.

Then,
From behind us...in the spectator 'general admission' [no seats] area behind comes the dulcet tones of complaint....
"I can't see.....take down the tarp".
I look around to see a woman, about 50 standing in exactly the 'wrong' place for visibility, EVEN THOUGH THE AREA IS QUITE EMPTY AND SHE COULD GO ANYWHERE ELSE AND BE UNOBSTRUCTED.
A long 'discussion' along those lines ensues.
Her arguments...'well, you're paid to stand out there so deal with it'...
No, we are not, lady, we volunteer.
'well, you volunteered...you should know what to expect...you must like it...take it down'.

Now, fortunately for this woman, I was on Comms....meaning I was wearing a headset and in continuous communication with Race-Control, and the other corners, so couldn't just drop my gear, and go over and give her a piece of my mind, but had I, it would have been...
"Ma'am, we volunteer our time to do a JOB. The sole reason for the Officials actually BEING here is to keep a bunch of madmen driving really really fast for your enjoyment from dying quite as frequently as they have been known to. To do this 'small' task requires us to be not just experienced, but competent AND LUCID. If our concentration, commitment or attention is in any way impaired by such trivialities as Heat-stroke or Hypothermia, for that matter [I've had both], then the next we may know of it is at the inquest. Kindly leave and find yourself another vantage point. You can move, we cannot."

She was even phoning the event organization [supposedly] demanding action be taken...

But...
Our Sector Marshal [you wimp, Steve...] decided to be overly PC and we rigged the tarp to be removed during the events and only raised when the track was 'cold' [no racing].
One of the other Officials used another approach.
He aligned himself exactly between this woman and the apex of the corner, overtly obstructing her sight-line.
Eventually she moved on, and reports from sectors 8 and 9 came in that she'd been creating a nuisance there too..

One year later, 2001, I'm now at Turn 9, [my wife is at 3], and one of these volunteers [Graham Beverage] is hit and killed by flying debris at Turn 3.
Why was he there? Not for the benefit of that woman, that's for sure, but because he loved the sport, would put up with the weather, and knew he was just one in a thousand officials trying to keep the drivers alive while they did insane things in very fast cars...

Volunteering takes a 'special' type of person....one with 'not a lot of sense'...
Sometimes you get flak from ingrates...
But,
Most times it's worth it...