Do you want to get close to the action? Get involved with the event, meet like-minded people. We will give you ownership of responsibilities, throw parties, give out goodies and you’ll get a great experience you’ll never forget.
If you are interested in volunteering please enroll online. It’s easy and only takes a couple of minutes.
Thank you for supporting an event that gives back to the community.
Here are a few examples:
Control Teams
Control teams work with the marshals on a given stage road to form a ‘stage team’. The two control teams on each stage have 2 tasks. First, they secure each end of a road being used as a special stage. They also perform the critical task of starting the rally cars onto each stage at exact one minute intervals, and then precisely timing the rally cars at the exact time that each car crosses the finish line of a stage. Control teams consist of 3 or 5 people at the start and finish of every stage road. These people are usually experienced in rally work, or may even be experienced competitors who have decided to volunteer their time at a particular event rather than compete. They need the same preparations as marshals to be outdoors for a long day, and are equipped by the rally organization with the needed signs and timing equipment and time sheets to perform their stage timing tasks.
Road Marshals
Many positions are fun throughout the rally. But nothing beats a road marshal. The job is to ensure that no one enters the stage road. Be placed in a safe spot and watch the rally cars fly by at high speeds. If you are new to rally and you would like to get the best seats in the house you want to be a Marshal.
Event Staff
There are the most experienced, rally competitors and rally organizers, as well as local community support organizations. They have usually been participating in large event organizing for years or even decades. These people typically spend hundreds of hours preparing an event and do it for the love of the sport and community that so many people share. Local community members of the event staff may not always be thought of as part of the event, but their contribution in event planning is priceless. These are the local town, county, and area tourism and community promotion organizations. These folks provide key input and assistance in guiding rally organizers along a good path. They typically know almost everyone in the local community, and have relations and access to many local people who can help with the event. Every rally relies on the wisdom and guidance of these local organizations, and we are always grateful for their help and support. The rest of the event staff works to make it possible for the rest of the rally volunteers to do their jobs. Rally staff, outside of the local community support organizations, consists of such functions as timing and scoring, radio system management, chief of controls, press relations, and so forth.
Emergency Personnel
While rally competition may seem dangerous, the use of modern racing safety equipment in rally cars has given rally operations an excellent safety record. But, like anyone who drives a car, rally competitors need emergency support in the rare case of an accident. The primary source of emergency personnel and equipment is local volunteer emergency organizations. Their donation of time and provision of their equipment on-scene is the most generous example of volunteer support to a rally. Like every citizen served by a local volunteer fire and rescue organization, every rally competitor sees these people at the ready at each stage start, and is very grateful and comforted that they are there to help at a moment’s notice. The rally supports each participating volunteer fire and rescue organizations with a donation. One way in which sponsors help the overall community is by making sponsorship contributions that in turn become donations to these local volunteer fire & rescue organizations. It’s a great way to help the rally and to support the community at the same time.
Radio Operators
Each rally has a radio network for safety and for managing event operations. These networks are usually ham radio networks and are manned by experienced and licensed ham radio operators. The networks have an experienced ham operator at rally HQ to serve as ‘net control’ and manage the communications flow on the network. But the heart of the network are the individual operators who are dispatched in the field to report and provide direct communications support to the stage teams. These ham operators are stationed at the start and finish of each stage road, and at other critical locations to report the progress of a rally, to send and receive messages for rally personnel, and to report any significant rally developments. Like their stage team counterparts (marshals and control teams) the ham operators need to be prepared for a long day in the field. Additionally, they need to have their own vehicle, be equipped with a 2 meter mobile transceiver, and be an FCC licensed ham operator. No prior rally experience is needed; if you are familiar with your equipment and with basic radio net operations, you can be a rally ham operator. Note that often ham repeaters are used to make wide area communications possible. These repeaters are usually owned and maintained by local ham operators and ham clubs. The generosity in allowing their repeaters to be used for multiple days for rally communications is one of those often overlooked volunteer contributions, but we want to specifically identify their vital contributions.
Vendors
We are happy to offer a new event to the community. If you want to join the 2010 Idaho Rally please contact our office.
