Race with USARM - USARM The Grid June 2005

• Green Flag
The track is clear
This flag must be shown motionless at each flag marshal post for the first lap of each practice session and of the warm up, for the sighting lap(s) and for the warm up lap.
This flag must be shown motionless at the flag marshal post immediately after the incident that necessitated the use of one or more yellow flags.

• Yellow and Red Striped Flag
The adhesion on this section of the track could be affected by any reason other than rain.
This flag must be shown motionless at the flag marshal post.

• White Flag with diagonal red cross
Drops of rain on this section of the track.
This flag must be shown motionless at the flag marshal post.

• White Flag with diagonal red cross + Yellow and Red Striped Flag
Rain on this section of the track.
These flags must be shown together motionless at the flag marshal post.

• Blue Flag
Shown waved at the flag marshal post, this flag indicates to a rider that he is about to be overtaken.
During the practice sessions, the rider concerned must keep his line and slow down gradually to allow the faster rider to pass him.
During the race, the rider concerned is about to be lapped. He must allow the following rider(s) to pass him at the earliest opportunity.
At all times, this flag will be shown waved to a rider leaving the pit lane if traffic is approaching on the track.

• Chequered Black
This flag will be waved at the finish line on track level to indicate the finish of race or practice session.

• Yellow Flag
This flag indicates that the start of the race is delayed.
Shown waved at the flag marshal post, this flag indicates that there is a danger ahead. The riders must slow down and be prepared to stop.
Overtaking is forbidden up until the point where the green flag is shown.

• White Flag
An intervention vehicle is on the track.
Waved at the flag marshal post, this flag indicates that the rider will encounter the vehicle in the current section of the track.
It is forbidden for a rider to overtake another rider during the display of the white flag. Overtaking the intervention vehicle is permitted.
As soon as such a vehicle stops on the track, the white flags must be maintained and the yellow flags must also be presented.

• Red Flag
When the race or practice is being interrupted, the red flag will be waved at each flag marshal post. Riders must return slowly to the pits.
When the pit-lane exit is closed, this flag will be shown motionless at the pit-lane exit and the light will be switched on. Riders are not allowed to exit the pit lane.
The red flag will be shown motionless on the starting grid at the end of the sighting lap(s) and at the end of the warm up lap.
The red flag may also be used to close the track.

• Black Flag
This flag is used to convey instructions to one rider only and is displayed motionless at each flag marshal post together with the rider's number. The rider must stop at the pits at the end of the current lap and cannot restart.
This flag will be presented only after the rider's team has been notified.

• Black Flag with orange disk
This flag is used to convey instructions to one rider only and is displayed motionless at each flag marshal post together with the rider's number. This flag informs the rider that his motorcycle has mechanical problems likely to endanger himself or others, and that he must immediately leave the track.

For those of you who are coming to Laguna Seca in July and plan on camping; space is going to be an issue this year due to the large number of course marshals required for this event.

If you are planning on camping, please contact Steve Ynzunza at: 408-848-0545 or stevey@earthlink.net and let him know what type of rig you will be bringing (camper, motor-home, tent, car, etc). Also, if you will be staying over Sunday night in worker camping, this will be free for you but USARM will need a number for the Parks Dept.

ALL private vehicle parking will be at worker camping this year.

NO ONE will be able to take any sort of private vehicle (that includes motorcycles) past the worker camping area.

Shuttles will be transporting everyone to the track and back again, this year.

Your cooperation is vital to ensure that everyone has the parking & camping space needed.

The first day of school our professor introduced himself and challenged us to get to know someone we didn't already know. I stood up to look around when a gentle hand touched my shoulder.

I turned around to find a wrinkled, little old lady beaming up at me with a smile that lit up her entire being. She said, "Hi handsome. My name is Rose. I'm eighty-seven years old. Can I give you a hug?"

I laughed and enthusiastically responded, "Of course you may!" and she gave me a giant squeeze. "Why are you in college at such a young, innocent age?" I asked. She jokingly replied, "I'm here to meet a rich husband, get married, and have a! couple of kids..."

"No seriously," I asked. I was curious what may have motivated her to be taking on this challenge at her age.

"I always dreamed of having a college education and now I'm getting one!" she told me. After class we walked to the student union building and shared a chocolate milkshake. We became instant friends. Every day for the next three months we would leave class together and talk nonstop. I was always mesmerized listening to this "time machine" as she shared her wisdom and experience with me.

Over the course of the year, Rose became a campus icon and she easily made friends wherever she went. She loved to dress up and she reveled in the attention bestowed upon her from the other students. She was living it up.

At the end of the semester we invited Rose to speak at our football banquet. I'll never forget what she taught us. She was introduced and stepped up to the podium. As she began to deliver her prepared speech, she dropped her three by five cards on the floor. Frustrated and a little embarrassed she leaned into the microphone and simply said, "I'm sorry I'm so jittery. I gave up beer for Lent and this whiskey is killing me! I'll never get my speech back in order so let me just tell you what I know."

As we laughed she cleared her throat and began, "We do not stop playing because we are old; we grow old because we stop playing. There are only four secrets to staying young, being happy, and achieving success. You have to laugh and find humor every day. You've got to have a dream. When you lose your dreams, you die. We have so many people walking around who are dead and don't even know it!

There is a huge difference between growing older and growing up. If you are nineteen years old and lie in bed for one full year and don't do one productive thing, you will turn twenty years old. If I am eighty-seven years old and stay in bed for a year and never do anything I will turn eighty-eight.

Anybody can grow older. That doesn't take any talent or ability. The idea is to grow up by always finding opportunity in change. Have no regrets. The elderly usually don't have regrets for what we did, but rather for things we did not do. The only people who fear death are those with regrets."

She concluded her speech by courageously singing "The Rose."

She challenged each of us to study the lyrics and live them out in our daily lives. At the year's end Rose finished the college degree she had begun all those years ago. One week after graduation Rose died peacefully in her sleep. Over two thousand college students attended her funeral in tribute to the wonderful woman who taught by example that it's never too late to be all you can possibly be.

These words have been passed along in loving memory of ROSE.

REMEMBER, GROWING OLDER IS MANDATORY. GROWING UP IS OPTIONAL.
We make a Living by what we get, We make a Life by what we give.

God promises a safe landing, not a calm passage.

If God brings you to it, He will bring you through it.

"Good friends are like stars.........You don't always see them, but you know they are always there."