SPEAKER_03: 0:02

Green green green! Welcome everybody to another episode of Trackside, the podcast for marshals. Glad to have you along. Boy, we've got a really cool one tonight. So, you know, one of the things that we've tried to do with this podcast is obviously introduce new marshals to the art of marshaling. And I think that's a fair term. But also introduce you to some really cool people. And speaking of people, I'm Jimmy Osborne.

SPEAKER_00: 0:45

And I'm Jessica Altaf.

SPEAKER_03: 0:47

And we're happy to host this podcast. It's been great to do it. Hope you have heard some other episodes and enjoying them as much as we've enjoyed making them. If you're brand new to the podcast, welcome. But as I was saying, not just introducing you to the art of marshalling and telling you how you can get involved or giving you more information if you've just become a marshal. One of the things that Jess and I wanted to do was introduce new people to you the people that help make these events happen we've talked to flag chiefs before we had um the, the flag chief of MotoGP. We've had the flag chief of the Miami Grand Prix. We've had marshals on before, you know, just introducing you to some of the cool people around the paddock. Well, today you're going to be introduced to one of the coolest people in motorsports and that's Sydney Davis-Yagel. She is the race chair. She was the race chair of last year's Las Vegas Grand Prix. This year's the 2025 Miami Grand Prix. She'll be race chair of all of the events this year. WEC, COTA, and Las Vegas. She is a big name in the SCCA, just a great person and one of the people that make the events that we enjoy when we go to the track possible. She's one of the really cool people in motorsports and she's going to sit down with Jess and I and we're going to talk motorsports.

SPEAKER_00: 2:25

Yeah, no, it was great. Great talking with her and, uh, you know, if you were in Miami or if you were in Vegas, or if you're going to be working other ones that Jamie mentioned, you know, there's so much behind the scenes work that is because of her. And she didn't really delve too much into it. Cause I'm sure that would take hours for her to list every single thing she does because of so many, but you know, if you ever see her just say thank you. Cause she, she does so much and she is a huge reason why, you know, they, they treat us so well at these events with the, all the cool little perks we get and just making sure that things running on time and all that kind of stuff. So yeah, there's so much behind the scenes work she does as a race chair. And of course she'll talk about her SCCA work as well in the recruitment stuff. And so, yeah, it definitely sounds like she has taken things to a whole nother level, especially with the recruitment.

SPEAKER_03: 3:20

I mean, it's in her DNA because I remember when I was first starting out in the SCCA back. I joined in 2014, which, you know, by SCCA standards is still a newbie. You know, the, the, the magazine sports car magazine that SCCA put out used to have a page on it where they would list the people who were referrals to You know, when you joined SCCA, they would ask you on the form, who is the person that referred you? And they would list nationally all the referrers of... And Sydney was always in the top, always listed every month. There'd be 50, 60, you know, of course I know now those because she probably was in her job duties at MSR Houston or, you know, but I can also imagine Sydney sitting there in a bar or a restaurant and somebody, you know, sees a race shirt and says, what's that? And, you know, and here she is doling out the SCCA information. She's always been, you know, a huge promoter of motorsports and you're going to see in this interview kind of where that can lead you if you, if you really imagine there's no ceilings to what you are interested in and can and want to do at a racetrack.

SPEAKER_00: 4:51

Yeah, definitely. Yeah. Should we check it out?

UNKNOWN: 4:56

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03: 4:58

So we are very, very pleased and honored to be joined by Sydney Davis-Yagel. Now, you might know that name. You've probably seen the name. You've certainly heard it if you've worked the Miami Grand Prix in 2025. Sydney was the one that put all that together. We are really honored and pleased to have Sydney Davis-Yagel join us. And Sydney, welcome to the podcast.

SPEAKER_01: 5:27

Thank you. Thanks for having me. Looking forward to chatting with y'all.

SPEAKER_03: 5:32

So you have done so very much in the world of racing. I think from my earliest days, you were probably one of the first SCCA people I ran into. Tell us how you got started in motorsports.

SPEAKER_01: 5:51

I was a track rat who grew up watching her dad race. My dad, my uncle started racing in the seventies and we just kind of, that was how we spent our weekends together as a family. I obviously wanted to be a driver because that was the most visible thing. That's what my dad did. And yeah, both he and my uncle were like you can't go karting because that means we'd have to quit racing so you can wait until you're old enough and it's cheap enough like we did so um i didn't start driving until i was 17 um did my two schools that were required and my cousin and i shared a miata um because my dad and my uncle didn't want to repair the C-Sports racer that they had whenever we would crash it, because it was only a matter of time. Eventually, my cousin got busy with firefighting and a family, and I ran the runoffs a handful of times. I think it was like four or five. I can't remember exactly. But about... I would say 20, I think it was 2013, or back that up. In 2007-ish, I got voluntold.

SPEAKER_02: 7:19

Voluntold, yep.

SPEAKER_01: 7:20

Yeah, it was like, hey, you're really good at organizing and paperwork. Would you be interested in being the race chair? And I was like, what is that? And I want to race. And they're like, well, you can still race. You just do the paperwork before and after. And I was like, oh, okay. little did I know that the paperwork before and after is like 87% of the job, which was fine. So that was kind of how I started on the club side of things. And I had done other things like I gritted as a kid, even though now we're not allowed to do that because there's this, you know, age limit things and insurance and whatnot. But so yeah, It was kind of, it allowed me to do, to be a volunteer and in a way a marshal without it interfering with my racing. And when the IndyCar race came back to Houston in 2013, I got involved as the race chair for that event. So I organized not only the corner marshals that were used, but also like the secondary safety team, I think the pit lane firefighters, the driver parade got thrown in my lap too. So it was kind of this whole like a little bit of everything. So I was always busy and never really had a break. Um, it was terrifying, but it was awesome. And I realized it was something that I enjoyed more than driving. And so in 2015, when the IndyCar race moved to New Orleans, I, um, brought the Houston region band over there for the, uh, I don't even know if you could call it a race at that point. Cause I mean, I guess they did race eventually, but, um, it was after the race

SPEAKER_03: 9:12

took place.

SPEAKER_01: 9:14

Yes. Um, there was lots of rain and lots of delays and chaos. And, um, I met, well, I didn't really meet, but, uh, Tim Mayer noticed me. He was working for the, um, Promoter was Andretti Sports Marketing. And I got a phone call, I don't know, a month later. It was like, hey, can I hire you? And I was like, for what? Like, I probably should have Googled this dude's name. It's kind of a big deal. But at the time, I was like, I don't even know. I was like, I mean, yeah, you can, I guess. And he goes, well, I'd like to bring you to WEC and Formula One this year at COTA. And then, of course, I was like, what does that even mean? I mean, I knew what WEC and Formula One were, but what would I be doing? And so that kind of set me on the path of moving further away from driving. And I kind of haven't really looked back ever since.

SPEAKER_00: 10:14

Wow. That's awesome. I did not know any of that. Did you have a different career path in mind before any of this started? And if so, what was it? I mean,

SPEAKER_01: 10:25

growing up, I wanted to be... I want to be the first woman to win the Indy 500. I think that's what all aspiring, not all, but a lot of aspiring American drivers want that. My dad told me, we don't own a bank, so you need to find a new dream, which was fine. I was okay with that. And I was a journalism major in college, and my goal was to work for a race team. And if I couldn't be on that, If I couldn't be driving the car that won the Indy 500, maybe I could work for the team that did. But as a lot of people realize, motorsports is a very small community and you kind of have to know somebody who knows somebody who isn't related to someone in order to get an internship or a job or sometimes just even a chance. And so I actually found... I was working for MSR Houston when... or no, I had just graduated from college and was looking for a job and got involved with MSR Houston when I got involved as race chair. And so kind of the SCCA helped me get a full-time gig. Um, and I was at the track for, um, I think it was like 10 years, which it's a, like a motor sports kind of, um, It's like a golf country club, but for people that like cars. I used to have this spiel that I said, and I said it for 10 years, and obviously I forgot. It's been long enough, I guess. But I did their events and schools and kind of PR stuff, and then went and worked at Coda for their big events. And so I just kind of– that spiraled into– other things. And the biggest thing for me was like, I didn't know any of this existed growing up. And I think if I had known that I could herd cats and organize paperwork, which is a glorified way of saying what I do, I probably would have found more enjoyment in that than driving, which is wild. But I mean, I do enjoy the occasional going fast and I've driven race cars on occasion since I quit racing but I don't really have that like I want to get in the car and go race against people desire anymore so yeah I think it's kind of a weird it's like there's certain people that are destined to be kindergarten teachers and there's certain people that are destined to be high school teachers and they are not the same person and if they are they are very special

SPEAKER_00: 13:05

yeah definitely So you started with the race chair stuff, and it was kind of an unexpected surprise, it sounds like. Maybe it was something you hadn't planned to do, but it worked out well, and you've been doing it for quite a while now. And you started very young, which is pretty amazing. It shows what talent you had for it, that you were noticed so early in your career with all this, and you've ascended to such heights in such a short amount of time. That's pretty awesome, especially considering all... I mean, F1 and that's a big deal to just to go from, you know, the little club club racing to that. So are you able to kind of elaborate on on your current gig with SCCA? What you kind of do for them?

SPEAKER_01: 13:50

Yeah. So in 2022, I kind of stepped or 2023. I stepped back from full time on the road doing race weekend after race weekend and was kind of Like, what am I going to do now? And Eric Pearl from the SCCA approached me and said, hey, we've got this idea brewing and we need somebody really to champion it because right now it's just kind of getting passed around to whoever's got the time. And they were trying to help solve the age-old issue of We need volunteers to run races. And, you know, how do we find and how do we connect those people? So it started out as a, hey, here's this form that we have on the website. And I've kind of grown it into more of like a recruitment development type role. So because like with anything, I don't know how to just take it easy. Yeah. 180 with it. So If you go to scca.com slash trackside, you can enter your details. And y'all are very familiar with some of the emails that I send out because you both are in leadership roles within the SCCA. So thank you for your leadership. But if someone is, you know, listening and interested in becoming a Marshall, it's a perfect opportunity for them to figure out who those leaders are in their neck of the woods. So we get their zip code, we get what they're interested in, whether it's it's flagging or grid or starter or tech timing. And I think that's it. Stewarding? Yeah. Registration. We've had a few. Yeah. So pretty much the gamut of what there are. There's some miscellaneous volunteer specialties that every now and then people are like, oh, hey, I'm good at media. And so it's like, cool. We connect them with the region and then also tell the marketing department, hey, here's a potential asset if you're looking for somebody in that part of the country. But we try and connect you with the SCCA is made up of divisions. So there's seven divisions that kind of in more or less break the country up into different parts. And then within those divisions, there's regions. And sometimes they're as small as... I'm trying to think of... There's some really small ones, like Glen or... South Texas. South Texas borders, another one. And then there's some what they call jumbo regions, like Houston or... Colorado.

SPEAKER_03: 16:41

Colorado.

SPEAKER_01: 16:43

Colorado, like the entire state is one. So Utah, same thing. So they can be jumbo geographically or they could be jumbo with the number of people. But either way, you know, we try and pair you with some folks that can get you started. So we have divisional administrators, which kind of oversee that particular specialty within a division. I'm one of those, yeah. Yeah, I'm the DA of START

SPEAKER_03: 17:13

for Southwest, right?

SPEAKER_01: 17:16

So if somebody is interested in being a starter, you know, I would connect them with Jamie if they were in the Southwest division. And for example, if they were in Texas region, which is up by Dallas, I don't remember who, I'm trying to remember who the starter is. Is it Kevin?

SPEAKER_03: 17:36

Kevin Taylor, yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 17:37

Kevin Taylor. So then I would also copy Kevin on that email. So not only do you get to meet the person who can tell you about all of the events in your division, you can also meet that person who's in your backyard. And that kind of goes for all of the different specialties. A lot of regions also have volunteer coordinators, which Jess is the volunteer coordinator for Lone Star Region. And that person kind of helps be that extra kind of touch point to do that personal, hey, come out here, And just make them feel like they're welcome. The SCCA has an age-old saying of, we come for the cars, but we stay for the people. And so that's what we're trying to do is to build that camaraderie before you even get to the racetrack. So I've worked on kind of, I don't know, fine tuning and tweaking the emails so that not only are people getting the most information who are interested, but also those leaders have enough information that they can use to help bring that person in. Last year in 2024, I sent out, I used to know these numbers off the top of my head, like 750 plus emails. And Of those, I think it was like 169 people took the FNC online course and became members. So it's obvious that there's a growing contingent of people that are interested in marshaling. And we're just happy that we can, you know, not only give them a place to go, but also help build programs for them. regionally for the groups that are putting on races. So kind of with that, I've also developed some tools for regions that are out there trying to actively find new marshals. I was at the June Sprints this last weekend and the Chicago region has done their own program where they've created some posters and banners as well as t-shirts that the Corps of Marshals wear all in an effort to recruit new volunteers. And we assisted them with kind of designing that stuff, but they also used some of our turnkey items that we have available for regions. So really just trying to kind of build up the more or less capture that targeted audience of Hey, I watched Drive to Survive, and I really like F1, and I want to go work a race. How do I do that? And we say, here, go talk to Jessica. Go talk to Jamie, and we can get you on board with your next steps.

SPEAKER_00: 20:28

Yeah, no, definitely. I feel like... The F1 thing is, I'm sure, a huge reason why there's been a lot more interest, for sure, especially with the licensing requirements and stuff like that. So I definitely notice, as the recruiter for Lone Star, we definitely get an influx around the time that those applications come out for the FIA stuff. But this is such a great plug right now for WECC.

SPEAKER_01: 20:55

Yes, it is. Go

SPEAKER_00: 20:56

ahead. I was

SPEAKER_01: 20:57

going to say, the The fun thing about being able to, you know, having the opportunities like F1 and not just one, but three. We also have Formula E and we have WEC in the US. But, you know, in order to get to where you can, you can marshal F1 because there's such a draw for it. Building up your raising resume is super important. And so, you know, starting with those grassroots events with your local region gives you that foundation. And then you can move on to, you know, WEC or even other professional like IMSA and IndyCar and NASCAR. Because I know a handful of their events. I know CODA in Chicago. And I think... I think the other road course events are kind of primarily staffed by recruitment through the racetrack versus a promoter type thing. But yeah, I mean, it's a fun opportunity to really grow as kind of a race fan. A lot of people laugh because I still enjoy going to races as a spectator. Uh, cause I can drink beer and sit around and I'm not responsible for anything. Um, which is very rare. So, um, I enjoy that, but I also get bored with it. You know, I do one or one or two races as a spectator a year. And then I'm like, all right, let's, let's go back to

SPEAKER_02: 22:31

being

SPEAKER_01: 22:33

behind the curtain and making, making things happen. So, but yeah, it's, it's been a fun, um, It's been a fun gig and I've added some kind of like data collection, streamline, I don't even know how to phrase that, which is why math is not my strong suit. But it's been nice to have kind of some data points that we can compare so that we can see, you know, how are we doing? Are we, you know, are we making contact and are we putting the people, you know, are people actually following through and coming out? So.

SPEAKER_03: 23:18

I can, I can tell you, you know, my motor sports career, I didn't start with driving, but you started in the admin side about the time I started marshalling. And, um, It was really a challenge to find out who the local people were back in that day. And it's so important now to make that onboarding as smooth as possible. And it's great that you're putting that energy there because that's where they're going to come from. And they've got to go through the SCCA. in the licensing bit to get to that Formula One spot that they see on television. And that's all well and good. Do you still see SCCA maintaining that integral piece and the development piece? Are we attaining through SCCA with the online course and the other development mechanisms? Are we building the roster? I guess is probably where I'm going with that.

SPEAKER_01: 24:25

I think so. I know that, for example, the Las Vegas Grand Prix promoters had an initiative with bringing in some local marshals for an informational session. And with that, we did some training and showed them demonstrations where they got to participate with people for both flagging and intervention, they extended a one-year SCCA membership to everybody. And so they all took the SCCA course. And then they ended up volunteering at the Las Vegas Grand Prix. Last year was the first year I was involved. And I believe we had just under 100 people participate. And the enthusiasm that those folks had was like energizing um you know they they were they were the best of the best as far as the applicants go most of them had kind of what i would consider to be more or less a a prepared background um there were a couple of like racers like a dad and his son had raced spec miata and they're like yeah this seems fun um so obviously They're tangentially experienced, but there were a lot of active and retired military or firefighters, whether they were volunteer or full duty. So in a situation like being trackside where Lord knows what can happen, it wasn't as... jarring and a juxtaposition of being in an office job. These folks, I would say, were more or less pre-qualified beyond just being just off the street. I know that a group of them caravaned over to Buttonwillow earlier this year. Some of them worked Long Beach. I think some of them worked Thermal for the IndyCar race. The cool thing about it is that know this group of people because we're we're breaking down those barriers of how to find out how to get involved that enthusiasm that they needed to break through the barrier is now enthusiasm that they're using to go to new events and continue to marshal like you know i think you spend all of your time and effort trying to figure out how to do this. And then you get there and you're like, Oh my God, I'm finally here. And then there's, you know, whatever other steps you have to conquer. And then you just kind of like burn yourself out on, on getting there. So if we can remove all of that, it gives the person the opportunity to use that enthusiasm in the role and actively participating and coming back.

SPEAKER_00: 27:27

Yeah. And we've, we've kind of alluded to this on the show in the past, like, You know, Jamie and I both had some extraordinary experiences at these big pro events that we would have never gotten had we not kind of done the legwork at the club level, right? Because, you know, Jamie, as a starter, you know that if, God forbid, all the technology went down, you would have to figure out how to land that plane. And they know that you would know how to do that because you've had to do it without technology at other events, right?

UNKNOWN: 27:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 28:00

So it's definitely a good promotion to kind of say, yes, you need to go work the small stuff to learn how it's done the old school way. Not that it would ever happen at all. The technology would go down, but you know what I mean. They like to have people that would know what to do if all hell broke loose in some way that, oh, this crazy scenario is happening. that person's going to know what to do instead of a person that just does F1 a million times. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but it's going to give you a broader perspective of having to do more hands-on stuff, right?

SPEAKER_03: 28:32

Well, too, if you think about the numbers, there's three F1 events a year, one WEC event, You know, the throw in IMSA and IndyCar and NASCAR around. I mean, that's really not all that many opportunities to marshal. The volume, if you want to marshal a lot, is in the SCCA's club events. Going to the majors, going to the Super Tours, you know, and doing those kinds of events. And that's where you're going to gain... The real experience, it's going to even move you up the F1 ladder because your first F1 event, you're going to be an intervention marshal, maybe a yellow flagger, maybe a blue flagger. Next time you might be TSP or with a little more experience, a communicator or eventually a chief post marshal. But to get there, you don't just do F1s. You've got to round it out with... the club level experience and practice so that you'll know how to handle those crazy situations that can pop up in a race weekend and be at F1 or SCCA or anywhere in between.

SPEAKER_01: 29:41

Yeah. And I think, I think leadership is leadership, right? So, you know, whether you're, you know, leading a corner at your local, you know, regional race or you become the flag chief, um, for your region or you're the CPM or a sector chief at a big event. And ultimately, you know, I mean, what was it? Five years ago, Jim Robertson was, you know, a flagger slash pit lane marshal. And, you know, he put in the work to become a region flag chief and all that that entailed. And he's one of the, what I call one of the training chiefs for USRM on the FIA events, because he is fantastic at keeping someone engaged while you're talking about boring things like meaning of flags and stuff that you're like, how do you make this exciting? Well, let's just let you do it. But no, I mean, it truly is. you know, it's practice of the muscle memory that you need to wave a flag at the moment you need to wave it. And dealing with, you know, I say multiple personalities, preferably not in one person, you know, multiple people on a corner. So yeah, I mean, it's, it's, I, I always laugh when I've volunteered at the runoffs when I was an employee. Well, actually I guess I did when I, when I worked for pro SCCA pro too, but I always like working grid because everybody comes to me and I don't have to walk around and say, hi, very kind of conceited thing, but it, you know, it's, I love grid because everybody's happy before they get there and then they may not be happy after their session. So I get to see them at their best. Yeah. But I remember walking into Indy the first year that I volunteered. I think it was 2017. And just kind of interacting with new people and folks out of the region. And I didn't realize that people didn't split races. And for those not familiar with that phrase, for an SECA race... It's a two-by-two rolling start. So when they come off the grid, the pole sitter typically chooses... Which

SPEAKER_03: 32:19

side

SPEAKER_01: 32:19

they want. Which side they want to start on. It's usually the side of the first turn. And there is someone from grid that points them one direction or the other. And... I mean, maybe it's because I race cars and it doesn't scare me, but like some people refuse to split because there's cars coming at them. And I'm like, it's kind of fun. I like it. Um, because some people don't talk on a radio because they don't feel comfortable doing it. And so all of these things, you know, whether that's because they've, you know, they're a new Marshall and they, they don't feel like they have the experience or they've never done it before and never felt like they could do it. Um, but those are the places that you, you get, you gain that experience. And, uh, I joke, I got the, I got the SCCA president in trouble because I invited him to come with me when I split it, the spec me out as an indie. And he stood behind me and was videoing it. Cause it's a really cool perspective. Um, well, you're not supposed to be videoing when you're Marshall. Uh, so technically speaking, I say that he, he was not in the wrong. Um, but the, uh, the camera caught us splitting. And so everybody on the staff had screenshots of him with his phone plastered around the office violating policy or whatever.

SPEAKER_03: 33:43

You're a rule breaker, Sydney.

SPEAKER_01: 33:45

I know. But no, just kind of, I learned a lot from Sydney other people from other parts of the country. And I always love hearing, and I'm sure y'all have heard stories of, you know, F1 marshals, whether like international marshals teaching, you know, domestic marshals things or, you know, sharing best practices and stuff like that. So that's the fun stuff about, you know, going around and getting that experience is, you know, kind of fine tuning what you do and making it the best that it can be.

SPEAKER_00: 34:26

Oh, yeah. We just talked about that with Denny on our last show about just all the different, you know, he's worked so many different Grand Prixs around the world and that's kind of one of those things. Like, you know, we can teach each other things, you know, especially if it comes to safety. You know, it's like, it never hurts to just suggest something, you know, if you think it might be, hey, we do it this way, might help you guys too. So, yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 34:48

Yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_03: 34:51

So if you know us, if you... If you're listening, of course, in 2025, the way most people listening to this podcast are going to know you is through your race chair work at the Formula One events. Uh, Sydney, Formula One in Miami, the Miami Grand Prix, um, as we record this now last month, even though it sounds, it feels like so far away. Right. Um, was your first in that role of, of being the race chair for F1? How did it go? What did, uh, What was your experience like being race chair in Miami this year?

SPEAKER_01: 35:30

It was a lot of fun. It was kind of a little bit of a barn burner going into it with the proximity of Formula E. But I stepped into the role for Vegas at the end of last year. And Vegas is a completely different animal than Miami. I mean, they're all their own individual events. And, you know, I'm a big proponent of we do something, we debrief on it, we figure out how we make it better, and we move on. And so moving on from some of the things that we learned in Vegas, we focused on trying to implement that. We did try to do kind of a local marshals training. It was a little bit last minute, a little bit smaller, but there was definitely interest. And so that was super cool to see. I'm a big fan of making sure that we backstop ourselves. So for Miami, Brian Gregory, who had been the longtime flag chief, stepped into the deputy role and Jim stepped up into the chief role. And so that was fun to kind of bring somebody along for that kind of, I don't want to say christening, but I guess that's kind of what it was. And just kind of seeing how Jim took that role and kind of made it his own. One of the things that I like to do is i'm big on communication and big on making sure that i provide we provide enough information ahead of time so that you can help yourself i also like saying you know did you read the material um because it's just satisfying because i already know the answer um in in scca world that's did you read the subs and i actually used to bury I would say if you, so for NOLA, I had special stickers and I think we only gave out like five, which means only five people read through the subs enough to find it. But it's like, if you see this, go to registration and get a candy bar. I need to do that in a coda or something where we bury something with

SPEAKER_00: 38:02

it. I think it was like five or six, the potato they had to mention.

SPEAKER_01: 38:05

Yes, that's right. My question of choice was, What is your favorite form of potato? Yeah, we can cut that out. But crap, where was I? Okay. So one of the things that we threw together for Vegas at the last minute was a sector chief CPM LI meeting where we talked about not only nuances for the event, but also leadership qualities. And so I had a lot more time to prepare for Miami and really kind of refined the presentation. And, you know, it's, it's, it goes without saying that a lot of this stuff, people probably already know, but it's not a bad idea to remind them of, Hey, you're in this position because somebody feels like you're a leader and this is what it means to be a leader. And just, We all have strong points, and we all have parts that we struggle with, so I might be better at conflict resolution than you are, but you're better at organization, or probably y'all are both better at complimenting people, because that's the one thing I always have to remember. Tell people they did a good job. I always feel awkward when people talk about me and the good job I do. I'm just like, please stop. I'm fine. I'm going to go over here.

SPEAKER_03: 39:40

You're going to hate the end of this interview then, but anyway, carry on.

SPEAKER_01: 39:47

Luckily the video will not be seen. Um, but so that, I think that's something that we, you know, we, it was very well received. Um, by leadership within SF, uh, South Florida Motorsports and USRM and stuff. So that's definitely something that we're going to continue to refine and continue to, to share. Um, and just, you know, I, I had a really good time working with, um, Kim Kuzma McFarland, who was my deputy race chair. And, um, a fun fact that when I was at COTA and leaving, uh, to go work for SCCA Pro, I, uh, noticed the same qualities that I had in Kim and said, Hey, would you be interested in doing this? And I know she enjoys it, but sometimes I'm pretty sure she cusses me for what I've, you know, over

SPEAKER_03: 40:42

the years. Well, you know, I mean, I get in trouble quite a lot for stealing from pit lane. So Nadja and Tony are always on my case about stealing their pit lane marshals for start. And now I can be angry at you for stealing Kim from start because she moved from start. The first time I met her was when she was the, on the start team, the year Kimi Raikkonen won the, um, when the, uh, photograph Grand Prix for Ferrari so yeah so there you go but yeah that's the upward trajectory is so it's such a big deal because it's so meaningful for people who choose to do more than Marshall there are a lot of people who are very happy to just Marshall and work their corners every weekend but there are others who want to try new specialties and want to try new roles and it's great that you're making sure that those openings, I guess, are available and that those paths become accessible because there are a lot of people who need those filled and we need backstops in those specialties as well.

SPEAKER_01: 41:59

Yeah. The, I call it the Charlie Whiting effect.

SPEAKER_03: 42:02

Um, when,

SPEAKER_01: 42:04

when F1 race director, Charlie Whiting passed away, it was, I think it was like a Friday. He didn't show up for practice. Um, at the australian grand prix and um had passed away from a pulmonary embolism and it wasn't you know he was the race director but he was also the head of the single-seater department for the starter he was a starter he um pretty much was the track inspector for the united states and other countries um the list of what he did was beyond extensive. And what was crazy was like, even into, so that was what March, even into like November, I, my friends that were in the FIA were like, Oh yeah, that, I guess Charlie did that. And it was just this constant, you know, Oh, I guess that was his responsibility. And so I have been, I've had the pleasure of, of working for many different organizations and many different roles. And very rarely have I ever walked into, hey, here's what you need to do to do your job, or this is what I used to do, and you can make it your own kind of thing. I've had to write my own playbook every single time, pretty much. And every time I've left a job, I have tried to leave a playbook for the next person, just because like, why reinvent the wheel, right? Like, we all want successful events. And so that's what we're aiming for. And a lot of people take it as, you know, me, me coming to them and saying, I need you to find a deputy. They look at it as a threat to their, you know, you're going to take away my position. And it's like, no, we all get sick. Hopefully we all don't get hit by a bus, but it's a possibility.

SPEAKER_03: 43:54

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01: 43:56

And the last thing that we want is for people, your deputy who literally just shows up to the event and knows nothing to then be responsible for taking over a role that you could have easily prepared them for by including them in on the planning process. So I have a 17 month old baby and I told Kim, I was like, you're going to hate me, but you're going to get copied on every email because if something happens to her or my husband, I won't be there. Like, It doesn't matter. There was one time I probably would have picked racing over my husband, which you probably won't be surprised to hear. But now like my perspective has changed and my, you know, my family is number one in my life. So at the same time, I don't want to leave anybody out. So that's, you know, even I'm looking at it from a succession planning position. So I think that, you know, It's important, and it's definitely with the number of events that we have in the U.S. across all of the different series, we're going to run into conflicts, and we're going to need additional people. We joke that Jessica's the DH of race control. It's true.

SPEAKER_03: 45:27

It's

SPEAKER_01: 45:27

true. She gets called in. to be, you know, whoever. And she, she will be my race chair deputy at WEC because she's interested in that. And I'm excited because, you know, it's, it's another person that we can, we can add to our Rolodex. Do people even know what those are anymore?

SPEAKER_03: 45:50

I think they do to their contacts app.

SPEAKER_01: 45:53

There you go. Yeah, there we go. But yeah, I mean, I think that, It's imperative that we have that. And people get tired of doing this. They want to retire or they get burned out or whatever. And you don't want that knowledge to leave with that person when they do.

SPEAKER_00: 46:15

Definitely not. And I think, too, anyone that's going to be threatened, I think you need to think of it in a different way, which is you should be flattered that maybe this person might be usurping you someday, but you help get them there. So isn't that kind of a compliment to you actually? So. The

SPEAKER_01: 46:33

greatest compliment is in my opinion, there's having someone say, I, I can, I can follow you. I can, I can be your deputy and fill in for you. So I'm kind of doing that with, um, I've been, I'm helping with the runoffs, the SCCA national championship runoffs and, um, more or less an organizer capacity and everybody's like oh that's you know Deanna Flay again her big shoes to fill and you know she's been in the role she was you know director of road racing for like 10 years or something like that and I was like I'm you know I'm not filling her shoes I'm not taking over what she did I'm I'm continuing her work I'm transitioning into I'm I think my new title is special projects manager or something. So I'm not, you know, it's continuing the work and in a seamless fashion so that, you know, hopefully nobody knows that there's been a change in personnel.

SPEAKER_00: 47:42

Oh, definitely. Yeah. That's like the worst thing you could have. Right. It's like, we all want it to seem like behind the scenes, everything's, you know, as long as the public knows it's, it's all going to plan. That's, that's the important thing. Right. So to make it seamless, of course, you're going to make it easier on yourself to do that training and stuff like that. So.

SPEAKER_01: 47:59

Yeah. The greatest thing is when there's race cars on track, because that means that my job, right.

SPEAKER_03: 48:05

That's a good way of thinking about it. Yeah. So, you know, Sydney, you've, all this talk that we've been talking about and America and SCCA and all that stuff. You have some shoes you fill with the FIA to tell us a little bit about your workload with the, uh, the folks from Geneva.

SPEAKER_01: 48:28

I have the pleasure of attending the stewards training back in 2020. It was right before the world shut down. I actually got to go to Geneva. That was really cool. Um, I never really had considered being a steward. And I actually went, it was like a steward and race director combined. And I went because I was the championship manager for F4 US and FR Americas, which are certified, FIA certified series on the road to F1. And kind of going so that I could understand like a rule set and making sure that everything was, in line with what the FIA was teaching. And it was really cool to see kind of more or less behind the curtain with who was the names that you hear about or read about when you look at F1 decisions and things like that. Former drivers that are there that are driver stewards and that kind of thing. So it was, it was pretty cool. And I was very surprised at how, I don't want to say successful, but like we would have, you know, a scenario where they're like, what would you do? And so I'd think about what I did and then they'd read the decision. I was like, Oh, that's exactly what I thought. Okay. That's weird. Because I had no formal training up to that point. I just kind of, you know, I'd been a driver for, immaturely, and then I'd watched how others operated. And I didn't really think anything came of it. I didn't take the steward's assessment or anything like that, because I just felt like I was there from a research standpoint. And then I think it was 22, I did it virtually. And both Dennis Dean and Steve Pence, who are SCCA stewards that also, I think Dennis has stepped back from his upper level FIA stewarding, but was a former co-chair for F2 and F3. And Steve is doing, I believe, F3 this year. But they both were like, oh man, you should really take the assessment. And I'm like, all right, whatever. And about that time, Tim Mayer asked me to be the national steward for, I think it was the W Series. Was it, when was the first year of Miami?

SPEAKER_03: 51:09

22, yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 51:11

Okay, so that was the first year that I was a steward. And so I took the assessment and I took it like, you have, it's a timed, you have like 45 minutes to do 35 questions or something. And you can do, it's open book, but if you have to look up answers, you're not going to answer all of them in time. And, um, I chose to do it literally like three hours before the deadline. Um, and it was an hour before my husband was going to go qualify for a race and everybody's in the motor home changing. And I'm putting my headphones on trying to take this test and I'm just like, whatever, this seems right. Um, And I passed, which I was very excited about because I literally, I just started a new job and I didn't really have the brain capacity to study. And so I felt like at least I've passed, I've qualified enough to do the W Series. And unfortunately they folded before the end of the season because I was supposed to do that again at CODA. But instead I got to be a steward trainee in the room for F1, which was really cool because that was, you know, a direct example of, you know, what we had been taught through training and just kind of seeing how it all worked was, was a lot of fun. And that experience led me to, you know, I think I was the default because there were scheduling conflicts, but I got to do Formula E the next year. And I love doing, being a steward for Formula E. It's a lot of fun. The stewards team is awesome, but the racing is always just freaking cool. And that's a lot of people are kind of like, ooh, it's electric racing. It's not real, but it's, I mean, if you've watched it and if you've been around it, it's really hard to not, kind of really enjoy it so that's kind of like on the stewarding side of things maybe one of these days I can pass the test high enough to go be a international steward but it'll be a while because I don't I have no real desire to leave the baby long enough, and she's not old enough for international flights yet. But I've kind of stepped up with, I guess, the crash course in terminology for the United States. So the FIA is the main organization, and there's– national sporting authorities or ASNs around the world. And the ASNs are kind of responsible for, say, for example, at a Formula One race, ensuring that the promoter has met the requirements that are outlined in the International Sporting Code, specifically Appendix H, if you're interested. And so when I was... freshly postpartum. I think it was like two months or so. I have a picture of me on the phone with the baby asleep on my shoulder. But I got a call from Tim Mayer asking if I could kind of help revamp the USRM and United States kind of training program for the FIA events. And, you know, in the US that kind of exploded, we went from having like, I think we had like We had one F1, and then WEC came, and then FE became a world championship, and it was all within like a year. And then they added Miami, and they added Vegas, and so now suddenly- And WEC

SPEAKER_03: 55:13

came back.

SPEAKER_01: 55:14

WEC came back, so now there's five events. And it's a lot, and it's regionally- They're in different parts of the country, so it's not like it's the same kind of leadership at each event. We have had some kind of consistency across that, but we felt like there was some room for improvement. And so I started on that last year, and that led me to the Las Vegas race chair position. And we really got to do some cool things in Las Vegas and really kind of refined our training in a way that I think it's really unique how you've got more or less 500 people that come together for four or five days to execute this huge event. And sure, you might know some of the people that you're standing next to, but sometimes you don't and you meet them and you have to suddenly just work together like you're a well-oiled machine. And so one of the things that we we did in Vegas last year was we made everyone go through training as a post so that you're you know, that kind of team building started while you're learning about the cars and learning about each other. Oftentimes the support series for events fluctuates when it's an IMSA supported support series, they bring their own safety team or usually actually the safety team that is working the event are IMSA, most of the IMSA guys, but They're used to having the safety team respond as opposed to the interveners, which is what Formula One and F1 Academy are accustomed to. However, sometimes they stop like in an opening and race control is like, hey, can you just get that car off the racetrack? We don't want to send a safety truck. And one of them, I don't remember who it was that said that. And I was like, okay, well, like, let's just get a you know, a Porsche or in the case of Miami or in the case of Las Vegas, let's get a Ferrari challenge car. And then I got all of this like, well, what are you doing? You know, y'all aren't going to, marshals aren't going to be loading these cars. And I said, no, but how many times have you asked for assistance? Oh, that's true. And I was like, and we're not training for that. And that's why it takes so long. And that's why you get frustrated and you wish you said the safety truck in the first place. So yeah, I reached out to Ferrari Challenge and they're like, yeah, we can have a car and we'll send our technical director. And I was like, well, that seems like overkill, but cool, whatever. Greatest decision ever because he spent the time with each round of training and said, here's where the, you know, fire bottle switches. Here's where the ignition switches. Here's how to put the car in neutral. Here's where to take the body work off so that if the Motor is on fire, and this is where you spray. And sure enough, car is on fire during practice or qualifying, pulls off, backs into an opening. The intervention marshals get the driver out, push the extinguisher, turn the car off, do all of the things. I mean, there was a fire. They knew exactly what to do. And in like three minutes, had the whole thing squared away, and we never went yellow.

SPEAKER_02: 58:53

Wow.

UNKNOWN: 58:53

Wow.

SPEAKER_01: 58:54

And none of that would have happened if there hadn't been someone to say, this is how all of this works. That success has actually led IBSA to say, no matter what, we're sending you a technical director with a car. You want two cars? Sure thing. We'll make it happen. Which is what we had two cars and the technical director in Miami. So that was awesome. But yeah, just that kind of stuff of looking at, you know, how do we fine tune, you know, one of the things that we saw out of Miami is oftentimes, and I think everybody's guilty of this. I know I'm guilty of it. And on the SCCA side, when I tell region and divisional leaders, like when you're talking to somebody who's new, you can't use lingo. You can't say GCR because people don't know that means general competition rules. You've got to say the rule book. And so I would like to work on, and hopefully we have enough time, or at least I think we do, for the USGP. I want to put together kind of a 101 class for both flagging and intervention so that the newer marshals, the less experienced marshals, and even the seasoned veterans can take the course and understand the foundation that we're building so that when they get to the event, they can roll into their team and feel confident and step into training. And when someone says something that is a buzzword, so an LIM, I mean, shit, it took me forever to figure that out, you know, It's a lead intervention marshal. Oh, okay. A TSP operator. I think it was like five years before I realized that that was track side panel.

SPEAKER_03: 1:00:47

I don't know that I've ever known what that TSP was.

SPEAKER_00: 1:00:50

Jim said it was track safety panel on our podcast. And that was the first time I had ever heard that. And that was two months ago. So I also took me a long time to learn that one too.

SPEAKER_01: 1:00:59

But those are the kinds of things where like we're just around it. And so we know that that's, that's a role and they operate the panel, the TSP panel. But so that's what I'm trying. I feel like because all of this renewed and new interest in these different specialties and these different events, we kind of have to make sure that our lowest common denominator is brought up to the highest common denominator in that way. And people aren't going to say they don't understand because they don't want to be embarrassed. They don't want to put themselves in the position of feeling like there's a target on their back because they don't belong there. And I think that's It's unfortunate that people feel that way, but it happens everywhere, right? It doesn't matter what situation, if it's racing, if it's school, if it's work, you're going to fake it till you can make it. And we want to make sure that they don't have to do that so that they're ready to go and be a helpful part of the team.

SPEAKER_03: 1:02:14

Yeah. That's really cool. So one of the other things that you're involved with is one of the FIA's really cool initiatives. I've been following them on their socials for a long time. It's the Women in Motorsports Initiative, and it is really neat. Tell us about that.

SPEAKER_01: 1:02:34

So I got involved several years ago, a friend of mine, Sylvia below, who is the VP of sporting for Las Vegas Grand Prix. Now she's also the race director for F1 Academy. She's been the race director for F2 and F3, and she's been a FIA steward for years. We, it's terrible. I can't even remember. We met, she was working for Carlin and, It might have been 2019 because FR was racing with IndyCar that weekend. I think that was the first time we met in person. But she got me involved and I was featured in different jobs that are outside the norm of driver, engineer, the visible role. And the SCCA has a women on track program called SCCA Women on Track. And I was the staff liaison for several years. And then when I stepped away from SCCA full time, that went to another good friend of mine, Andy Albin. And Andy called me at the beginning of this year. And she's like, so now that Allie is, you know, a year old, and my daughter is And you have your life back. And I'm like, yeah, no, that's not, but okay. I get where you're going with this. And so I have, I volunteered to be the road racing chair or for the chair of the road racing committee. And I haven't, I haven't done a lot. I've been a little overwhelmed, but we're, we're picking up speed, but we're doing some kind of, you know, more like, awareness type things of here's an opportunity for women to get together and chat and, you know, see that it's, you're not going alone, basically. We've done photos at the past couple of super tours and we're looking to do some stuff at the runoffs. And then we have scholarships available for people that are interested in coming to the runoffs who have never come before. So just kind of, you know, making space for women to, you know, find their people within the SCCA. And in all of the program areas, there's different committees. And Solo probably has the largest, most active group. They do like a social during solo nats. And there's like one year they did bingo and all kinds of cool stuff. And I was like, that's awesome.

SPEAKER_03: 1:05:26

Solo, by the way, is the SCCA word for autocross.

SPEAKER_01: 1:05:30

There we go. See buzzwords that not everybody knows. Thank you. Autocross is racing against the clock in a parking lot with a bunch of cones. And I stuck at it.

SPEAKER_03: 1:05:42

Um, It's fun, though. It is way fun. That's the only driving piece I've ever done. It's the only driving piece I could ever afford. I came in third, and I was the third car in my class to run. So there you go. But you know what? It was a blast.

SPEAKER_00: 1:06:01

And they know how to throw a good party, too. Yes, they do. Shout out to Spokes and Sasko and all them in our division. They always have award-winning parties at these things.

SPEAKER_01: 1:06:12

And if you've ever had the interest in driving, I would definitely say go check out a solo or autocross because it's super fun. The other organization that is a little broader is Women in Motorsports North America, which was founded by Lynn St. James and Cindy Sisson. They also do a summit at the end of the year This past year it was in Indy and they're doing it again in December here in Indy, which is pretty cool. And it's a really, I mean, they, they do a lot with recognizing drivers and bringing attention to, you know, sponsorship efforts and things like that. There's awards and scholarships, but probably one of the coolest things that I get to be a part of is during the WEC weekend, Bosch has a, I can't remember the full title of it, but it's, it's a, it's a one day kind of immersive event that you apply for. And it's for college, I believe it's high school and college age women. And they show them around race teams and, and, the media and just kind of all aspects and so I get to I get to give my race control tour spiel which is a lot of fun and last year one of the girls had a really good idea had a really good question and I since have used it whenever I do my race control tour but it's what happens in here when something happens on the racetrack and so it's a really cool way to kind of explain what everybody's job is in race control while you know what you see on tv is you know a car that's you know hit the barrier and this is what happens in this room and so it's a really good way to explain what everybody does um but last year we were you know, they were asking about, you know, how do you balance being a mom and working in motorsports? And so it was really fun to be able to kind of show them that, you know, you can do more than one thing. And I don't want to say you can do it all because you can't, but you can try. Over

SPEAKER_03: 1:08:42

time you can do a lot.

SPEAKER_01: 1:08:44

Yes. Yes. And, and just kind of, you know, picking and choosing and prioritizing, you know, How do you prioritize things? What are the things that you need to look at to make those decisions? So that's been a lot of fun. And I spoke on a panel during the Women in Motorsports Women with Drive Summit last year, just about kind of how you deal with various column speed bumps. in motorsports and what it's like being a female in a male-dominated world. And, you know, I've been lucky that I've had some amazing mentors to work with who've been, you know, they don't see that I'm female. They see that I'm talented at what I do and give me the space and the ability to go out and do it. And, I mean, I've had... you know, my fair share of obstinate people. And it's funny, like you had mentioned earlier that I started this pretty young. You know, a lot of what I had, the struggles that I had growing up, I don't know if they were because I was a woman or because I was young. Because when you're 21 trying to tell a 50-year-old what to do... It could be one of, it could be both. But it, you know, it's, I'm happy that I can, I can, you know, show people that you can get somewhere, you know, if you want to be there. And, you know, yeah, it takes hard work and it takes time, but, you know, overall, I think that the visibility that these organizations are bringing to motorsports, you know, they're the ones that are showing the, you know, 10-year-old Sydney that, hey, there's more than just driving. So if, you know, you like to, you like the paperwork and the organization, there's this path that exists. And I think that's kind of, you know, it's fun and it's exciting that, you know, even guys don't even know that this, like I have guy friends, they're like, so what do you do again? And I'm like, I heard cats. I mean, it's a good, it's a good description. It

SPEAKER_03: 1:11:29

is.

SPEAKER_01: 1:11:30

It's way more than that, of course. But, but yeah, no, I mean, I think, I think any, any way that we can show whether it's women, whether it's, you know, it's kids, like, STEM programs in general, like, Hey, this is, this is something that you can achieve. You know, there's space camp. So kids can go learn how to be an astronaut. You know, we need race camp so kids can learn how to, no, we don't need kids. Coming

SPEAKER_03: 1:11:59

next year to a racetrack near you.

SPEAKER_01: 1:12:03

But no, so it's, it's been fun. And I, I'm looking forward to WEC this year. The, the, Um, women will have their, um, event with Bosch and then, um, I think we're, I think SCCA women on track is we're doing some stuff for the runoffs. And then I think we're going to have, um, a presence at the women with drive summit too. So it'll be fun.

SPEAKER_00: 1:12:31

Awesome. I'd love to, uh, crash that Bosch thing. If I could swing by at WECC. I wouldn't stay the whole time, but I'd love to pop in and see kind of what they do. That sounds pretty cool.

SPEAKER_01: 1:12:42

Yeah. No, we'll bring them by to race control. And then I think I went over to the media center and that's where I did like the Q and a type thing. So if things are running smoothly, we'll just.

SPEAKER_00: 1:12:57

Okay. Contingent upon that.

SPEAKER_01: 1:12:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 1:13:01

Gotcha. Well, that's probably a good, good place to wrap up. What do you think? Anything

SPEAKER_03: 1:13:08

we haven't covered, Sydney, that is amazing in your world that you want to share? I

SPEAKER_01: 1:13:15

don't think so.

SPEAKER_00: 1:13:16

Any shameless plugs you want to make on anything?

SPEAKER_01: 1:13:20

I already dropped the scca.com slash track site. But yeah, no, I think I'm good. That's awesome.

SPEAKER_00: 1:13:30

Well, thank you so much for your time. I learned a lot, and this was really great. And I think this really... promotes our cause of getting the information out there for all the marshall's new and new and old whatever you know relatively speaking as far as how long you've been doing this not age-wise but yeah

SPEAKER_03: 1:13:50

yeah sydney davis yeagles one of those really remarkable people in motorsports and it's been an honor to sit and visit with you for this so hourish and uh always great to see you and it's always a pleasure to work with you sid and uh looking forward to seeing you actually i won't see you at weck but i'll I'll see you at COTA for the USGP.

SPEAKER_01: 1:14:15

Awesome. Looking forward to it. Thank y'all. Thank you. See ya.

SPEAKER_03: 1:14:23

I told you she was cool. Sydney Davis Yagel is, you know, we're sitting there chatting and I was just thinking it takes every kind of personality to, to make a race event work. And Sydney's got a, so many pieces that have to be in the right place. She's able to think on this meta scale about everything that happens and all of that experience you just heard about comes into play in her role as race chair for these events. Cause she knows how race control works and she knows how the stewards room is going to work. And she knows how the Marshall meetings have to go. She knows how, uh, Everything has got to come together with the promoters and the track and the physical plant and the media. And she's just like the perfect person for all of this stuff. It's just amazing.

SPEAKER_00: 1:15:21

Yes. And she's going to kill us for complimenting her, I'm sure. Oh,

SPEAKER_03: 1:15:24

she's not here. We can talk about her all we want.

SPEAKER_00: 1:15:26

But yeah, such a multi-hyphenate with all the stuff. I'm not going to say how old she is because I'm pretty sure we're the same age, so I won't reveal it. But just for her to have, out of respect, of course, I can't imagine having been a race chair at the age she said she started. I mean, that's like, holy crap. That's a lot of responsibility in the back of your head. she was handpicked to do that. I mean, that's saying something right there. And, and then being handpicked by Tim to go do the IndyCar stuff in Houston, all that kind of stuff. So it just goes to show. And she's so laid back to, you know, it's like, there's no, she's such a chill person and has so much stress to deal with. And you would never know, you know, even killed. Yeah. So no, it was so cool to have her on the show and it's, it's so cool that we, you know, know her and get to work with her quite a bit throughout the year. Yeah,

SPEAKER_03: 1:16:20

she's an important person to all of the events we do. I'll bet there's a few people listening who signed up through the scca.com slash trackside link, you know, and that chain of emails that begins with that, which you and I both get from Sydney back to that person. welcoming them to SCCA in the world that we talk about. And we love to spend our weekends doing, you know, that's, that is the level of detail. You know, she's not just an FIA steward and to hell with everyone else. It's, you know, all the way from these brand new marshals, brand new drivers, you know, and, and just her nurturing spirit. nature just fits right into what she does on the motorsports world. I, I know we're gushing, but Sydney is that kind of person and, you know, and, and it's really cool that, that she was able to sit down with us and tell us a little bit about her and her history. Cause you know, at the next Marshall meeting you go to, if you're an F1 Marshall, she'll probably make an appearance and she won't say much. She'll wave and say a few words, but, but that's an incredible person that you ought to know about. And that's why we thought we'd have her on the show.

SPEAKER_00: 1:17:43

Yeah. My first memory of her was 2018. I was an intervention Marshall at USGP and I remember her getting up and she was the race chair that year also. And, uh, telling everyone what bus or tram they needed to go on, and they were all like fruit names. Do you remember this?

SPEAKER_03: 1:18:00

Yep, I do. Banana Tram. Exactly. I always remember the Banana Tram.

SPEAKER_00: 1:18:04

Banana Tram, which probably should be a band name. But anyway, that's my random... I remember stupid crap like that, and that's one of the things I remember is her getting up and telling everyone, okay, don't forget, you're on the Blueberry Bus or the Banana Tram, whatever it was. So, yeah, she's all over the place with all this stuff as she talks about, but such a... cool person to know and you know you mentioned the nurturing nature i do remember a few years later when she was talking about the f4fr stuff i think it was and it was some event dakota when they were here and i think it might have been that scc pro standalone event they had or one of them whatever it was and she was on the broadcast standing down below the podium kind of with her phone just beaming at the kids that were up on the podium as if they were her kids even though they were like almost her age but you know

SPEAKER_02: 1:18:57

like

SPEAKER_00: 1:18:58

she looked like a proud mom at the time like so proud of them and what they've gone on to do and so yeah no totally I have lots of

SPEAKER_03: 1:19:07

I have lots of memories of Sydney, you know, just in getting to know her and all that too. My first memory of Sydney was when we were at the NOLA Motorsports Park. She was in the registration booth. And I had gone out to work. It was my first pro event on the start stand. And, um, actually, no, it wasn't the pro event that was, uh, about a month before the IndyCar event. Um, it was, uh, the super tour that was going to be at Nola Motorsports Park and she was handling the registration. And I remember we just sat and talked and I remember thinking, well, this is Sydney Davis. And, you know, it was, I had seen the name. I knew who she was. who she was, but she was just so cool, you know? And I was just like, she's talking to me, you know? And, but I knew that she was a big name even back then. And so it was just kind of funny because that's always how I kind of will, part of me will always think of Sydney as, you know, that person in the, in the registration booth at the NOLA motor sports park. And it was hot and we were going to do the voodoo. What did they call it that year? The Voodoo Tour or something, something. And it was, you know, Super Tour. And it was my first time in a big event to start. And I was really excited, but, you know, still kind of freaked out about everything. And she was just so cool. And the way we went to a great weekend. Oh,

SPEAKER_00: 1:20:33

that's cool. And she was back with us this past time at the NOLA Super Tour. And as our race chair, which was very cool of her to do that. And She also, as you mentioned, has a six-degree black belt in registration, so we were all very grateful to have her there for all the weird situations of people that didn't read the SUPs, as you mentioned, or whatever it was. Her daughter was there who's about a year and a half old, something like that, and so she was quite entertaining. We were joking that by the end of the weekend, Allie's probably got a divisional registrar license at this point for keeping us all entertained with the helmets. A driver would walk in with their helmet helmet to get the helmet sticker and Allie would just light up like love loves helmets it was just so funny I guess but anyway

SPEAKER_03: 1:21:20

so yeah we gush but Sydney is very very cool we hope you've enjoyed getting to know her please if you walk up to her and tell her that you're going to introduce yourself and say hi please let her know that you heard her on the podcast because that's something that kind of is a win for everybody but I guess we'll wrap this one up Jess it's been fun as always

SPEAKER_00: 1:21:46

yeah definitely

SPEAKER_03: 1:21:48

We'll see you next time. the F1 US Grand Prix right after that. I mean, it's just going to be a crazy year. I can't believe 2025 is already half over.

SPEAKER_00: 1:22:28

Yeah. It just flies by. It's nuts. But yeah, we got tons of racing left for the rest of the

SPEAKER_03: 1:22:34

year. We sure do. And lots of podcast ideas too. And oh, we've got a couple of fun surprises in there too. Boy, are we going to have some fun with a few of our guests. We'll not spoil all the surprises. We'll save them for you because we'll lock them all down and get them on tape for you. But anyway, we hope you've enjoyed listening to this podcast with Sydney Davis-Yagel. And that's going to wrap up another episode of the Trackside, the podcast for marshals. This podcast is copyright of its owners and creators. And though Jessica and I are employed by Circuit of the Americas, nothing we say represents an official opinion or endorsement from the circuit or any of the clients or series we might mention. Every opinion you hear on this is that of the speaker of the word. So there you go, folks. Hope you have a great summer. All right, see ya.