This post isn’t exactly about RDing or even announcing. I don’t want to move into “how to build a track”, in part because I can’t say I’ve got that much experience and in part because I don’t find it that interesting! However, one aspect of a track is really important to your ability to RD […]
Tag Archives: Race Director
If you haven’t read the prior post “The Weather”, please start there. This post covers race data… that is, factual race information that should or could be in your patter as an announcer. Because LiveTime (LT) is the dominant scoring software, that’s what I’ll be focusing on. However, if you use another program it should […]
How about that weather? The go-to topic when you need to talk about something. This post is about what you say as a race announcer (often the RD’s job, sometimes separated). Patter. Specifically, what things should you talk about and why. I will follow-up with a second post covering what information you get from the […]
I recently came across a familiar concept, expressed more directly than usual: “If you didn’t help, you don’t get an opinion”. I think this is toxic. In posts to From The Chair that I’ve already made and will make in the future, I note that as an RD you’re “in charge” or this and “can […]
This morning, I posted a link to the opening salvo of From The Chair in a Facebook group I follow. I received not only good feedback – including a couple of folks saying it’ll help them! – but also a wonderful idea: how about getting other RDs to contribute? I’m all for it! So… if […]
The LiveTime Scoring software provides excellent tools for real-time transponder assignments… so much so that I never ask a racer for their transponder number. In fact, I refuse it when they offer! Why this approach?
Most race programs have an insane amount of wasted time in them. Sometimes that’s the right choice, and sometimes everyone sits around thinking how long the day is going to take and how late they’re going to be there. Pace is totally under the RD’s control, and you should make sure that whatever pace you’re running is the pace you WANT to be running… not just the pace you’re letting your racers dictate to you.
I’m a firm believer that drivers will race as cleanly as they are told they must, or as roughly as they see they can. As the Race Director, you get to pick. Or you can do nothing and green light the high contact racing.
Whether you’ve done some RDing or none at all, I’m confident that anyone can do a good job in the RD’s chair as long as they CARE about doing a good job.