People often have more than just the one string to their bow...
You guys probably imagine for example, I spend 24/7 here at Wincustomize....which is essentially true...so how can I have a second string?
Simple....I just work out a way to get more than 24 out of one day....multi-tasking...
When I'm not here...[which doesn't happen]...I design 'stuff'.... Said 'stuff' sometimes resembles residential buildings, you know, like houses and things.
Then, in the in-between times, when not doing the 24/7 I muck around with things that go 'vroom'. This weekend...starting today, my time, it's the Australian round of the World Superbike Championship [SBK] at Phillip Island....'special' in particular as currently 1st and 2nd in the series are the 2 Troys [Corser and Bayliss], both of whom I've met. These sorts of race-events are what classifies [for me] as a 'holiday', though I'm 'working'. [volunteer]. The last 'real' holiday was the year before Adelaide South Australia got the F1....so that would be 1984, 22 years ago.
Of course, March is 'the busy month' this year...first the Supers, then Melbourne 'gags' on the C'wealth Games, then straight after those is the F1 GrandPrix...and that's a 4 day event quite a bit 'bigger' than the Bikes.
This year's F1 will be for me, the 27th consecutive Aussie GP that I've worked at....the kind of 'record' that has become a bit of a challenge...to see if I can last to a point where I have worked at more than half of the AGPs ever staged....[Oz is the second oldest GrandPrix, after France]. Of course, I'll be about 80 not out by then.... so I won't be picking up Superbikes or push-starting F1s....
I was looking through some old 'running sheets'....notes Jotted down as a communicator for the other officials on the corner to keep up to date...like cars crashed, etc...and found a quote I'd forgotten....
1994, Turn 5, Adelaide GrandPrix....guy called Berger kept 'dropping in' got stuck in the kitty-litter twice in practise. At that time he was the world's second-highest paid sportsman [after some basketball bloke]....and he'd come over this second time to stand with us...and watch how the others managed to get round the corner.....commenting "I hate this F***ing corner".
We'd painted the runoff area with a black outline of a parking bay, with his number on it...and placed black cardboard 'sharkfins' in the rippled, sea-like stones to fend off errant drivers....and this running-sheet included the entries...
"Gerhard-I-hate-this-f***ing-corner-Berger won"
and
"Starlog 15.45 looks like the sharks have done their work....no visitors".
There's a whole swag of stories in those years....maybe when I'm 80 I'll just pen a tome....