Thread: new job tech inspect in training

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well i finally got a job at the local dragstrip as a tech inspector in training and a burnout box boy tech maybe u can show me some points

This is starting to bite...... another person I have to be nice to. Congrats dude!

Well Scooter, I don't know whether to congratulate you or give you my condolences.

I'll start you off like I have everybody else I've ever trained.

1. Counsel with the track owner and/or race director and determine how strict they want you to be. If they want you to toss a car out that night because the battery is not properly secured in the vehicle, so be it. If they want you to pass a car with half the floor missing, so be it. They are the ones who write your check. Do it like they want it done. (There are no gray areas at Firebird. The car is either legal by the book and gets to run or it's not and it gets trailered.)

2. Be courteous to everyone. They paid their money to have a good time and they don't need their chops busted by some smart*** tech inspector. If their car is nice, tell them so. If it isn't, keep your mouth shut. Thank them for showing up and assure them that they can lean on you for anything or any information they need while they're there. If you can't answer their question, find someone who can.

3. Don't tell anyone to make any changes to their car that you can't show them in black and white in the rulebook. There are no exceptions to this, no matter how you feel about the vehicle or driver personally.

4. Read the rulebook cover to cover, over and over and over and over and.....

5. As you walk around the car, you'll be looking for things that can prevent them from running at all (like a busted windshield, less than 1/16th inch of tread all the way across all tires, missing lug nuts, short studs, missing or non-functional neutral safety switch, etc.) You'll also be looking for parts or lack of parts that will limit their e.t. Memorize what parts are required at what e.t. If you walk up to a car and it has a rollbar, you automatically know that the car is qualified to go quicker than 11.50 (the quickest limit without a bar), as long as the bar is legal, which you'll find out shortly. But what is the limit for this car? If you know that an aftermarket damper is required at 10.99 and you see this car has a stock damper on the crank, then that is his limiting part on the car so far. You now know that the car can't go quicker than 11.00 and you can look for other things that will disqualify the car from running at all. If it has an aftermarket damper, then that will not be the limiting part, keep looking.

6. Make certain that every part of the tech card is filled out by the entrant and that they have signed the card, limiting the track's liability in the event of an incident. If you have a separate waiver for the entrant to sign, make sure he/she signs it before you let the car go to the staging lanes. Be particularly watchful for under-age drivers. You must be 18 with a valid driver's license to drag race. If 16 or 17, you must have a parent or guardian sign a notarized waiver for you. No driver's license, no race. We keep a list of 16-17 year olds that have signed and notarized waivers on file at the track. Not on the list?, no race. In any kind of a lawsuit that goes before a judge/jury, the court will always find in favor of the minor, no matter how many lawyers the track has in its defense.

7. Sometimes you will let minor infractions go if they will not play a major role in the safety of the driver or other participants. What I do in that case is look the car owner in the eye and say: "This is a problem, but I'll let you run the car tonight if you promise me you'll fix it before you come back again. Will you do that?" They'll say yes every time and you've made a friend. You are now viewed by that racer as a reasonable technical inspector and he'll tell his buddies. Pretty soon, word will get around that Scooter knows his way around a race car and knows the rules, but he's also a pretty good guy who won't rag on you about petty stuff.

Originally Posted by nitrowarrior

This is starting to bite...... another person I have to be nice to. Congrats dude!

Warrior, that's funny, but it brings up something I forgot to say in my instructions to Scooter.

Scooter, in the end when all the other BS has been cleared away, all you have is your honor, integrity and reputation. I've encountered hundreds of racers who show up at tech with a chip on their shoulder. They've already determined before you get to the car to tech it that you are a no-good smart*** who's gonna give them a hard time. Maybe they had a bad day at work or their ol' lady is givin' them grief or whatever and they're in a bad mood. There's only one thing for you to do. KEEP YOUR MOUTH SHUT AND TECH THE CAR. If you give them grief in return, things will go south in a hurry and it gets ugly.

Also, get it straight with the track owner and/or race director that they will back you up in your decisions. If they allow something that you've dis-allowed, it destroys your credibility as a tech guy and you're worthless from that point on. NEVER MAKE A DECISION THAT WON'T BE BACKED UP BY YOUR SUPERIORS.

I got into a go-round with Warrior on a thread the other day and was proved wrong. I said I was wrong and apologized. That's what a man does to keep his integrity. A man with a child's mind will try to wussie out of it some way or another like some I've seen on this board and will have no integrity or honor.

i think it was jimmy tice sr. who once was quoted as saying you have to be nice to the racers because when they show up the 1st thing they get is people telling them how big a POS their car is" or to some extent is how it went. i am working for jimmy tice right now so its somewhat of an honor i just hope we can keep this track afloat if it goes im afraid there will be alot of street racing. since they started the friday night drags 3 years agho it has cut traffic on the main streets by a good 60-70% on friday nights which is a good thing!

yes ive been taught about the certain things are ok for 12:50 and up and 12:50 and down and so forth. our main techie bill has been doing it since the 60's he is the only one allowed to do any pro cars but hes training me to do those also. ive known bill since before i was born. pro cars are alot harder to tech in you ahve to look for grade 8 everything, drive line loops 12 inches max behind the front u joint with a 360* circle around the driveline <thats for anything below 12.99 though. any blown pro car has to have restraints. no more then 12 inches of rubber fuel line max in the whole fuel system. must have double springs if they look to puny we make them put another one on. battery tie downs for everything, anything below 12.99 must have an external cut off switch for battery anything below 9's i belive must have for fuel and battery.

Don't take offense, but those are some pretty strange rules. What rulebook are you using?

And most important thing that was left out, if an area is gray, have the driver slip you a $100.00 and let him go. If it's an outright infraction of the rules, you might want to ask for more from the driver.

That is one job I would not want. Probably hard to make anyone happy.

Jack

told you our track was "differnt" ill snag a copy of the book when i go out next and scan some pages for ya.

Originally Posted by techinspector1

Don't take offense, but those are some pretty strange rules. What rulebook are you using?