Championship 2011 - St Louis - Your Thoughts Please?

[EricH]

I'm almost with Kevin on the safety glasses issue. However:

There are only three ways to deal with this. You either make darn sure that every casual spectator going to a pit field puts on safety glasses to go there (and then have someone to take them at that end, possibly), you move the fields out of the flying debris area, or you make a "No debris" zone all the way down the route to the field.

Ideally, of course, you move the fields back to the Dome area. Not exactly practical.

The safety glasses for "transit" purposes is tricky. I know I don't want to be the volunteer forcing everyone to put them on!

But, I think the "No debris" zone is a reasonable alternative. On some industry assembly/production floors, you can walk around without safety glasses. However, you do not go beyond a certain clearly marked line! This line is far enough from the equipment that you have time to try to dodge or deflect anything thrown off the machines. Granted, this is not in a machine shop. But that doesn't mean that stuff doesn't occasionally go flying.

I would suggest the following, actually: One extra safety glasses distribution point at each pit field AND a marked "No Debris" zone. Anybody just there for matches can go to the fields without safety glasses, provided that they stay in the "No Debris" zone. If they change their mind while at the field, or are there for the pits in the first place, they can pick up a pair of glasses at either end of the zone to wander around the pits (and drop them of at either end as well.