FIRST PERSON/OPINION Via e-mail: Losing the “Greatest Job in the World” Back in the early 1990s I was a club racer like many Roadracing World readers. Over the years I made many friends in the small world of racers in the Southeast region. The more talented ones moved on to the rarified world of AMA Pro Racing. A couple of times I even helped crew for some of those racers at Daytona and got to know some of the AMA pit lane officials. After working on the grid for CCS at Daytona during the spring races in 1996, I was encouraged to apply to Ron Barrick for a position working grids at the AMA races. Although there weren’t any openings for that race weekend, Ron offered to let me work at the inaugural Homestead, FL race. I can’t begin to tell you how nervous and excited I was about this opportunity. To a small-time club racer, AMA Pro Racing was a Really Big Deal. I would be working for people I respected a great deal and I would be around the racers and crews that I read about in all the glossy magazines. From that first weekend at Homestead, through the next ten years, I was lucky to be able to work at most of the AMA Superbike races. Over the years I moved from one of Jerry Derhammers “grid squids” up to the Pit Steward job. A couple of years ago, I was surprised to be offered the Chief Steward job. I felt like it was both an awesome responsibility and the opportunity of a lifetime to be in enough of a senior position to really make a difference in the operations and safety aspects of race weekends. I was happy to be able to achieve some of the goals I set from the beginning. I developed a staff of workers who all worked several races instead of the one-race “volunteers” of the past. We instituted many new processes and procedures to smooth out the control of pit lane and race starts. There were also several times when I was able to “make things happen” to address rider concerns about safety issues. From the beginning, I looked at things from a rider/crew member perspective as much as possible. I suppose that may not have been the expected or accepted attitude of a full time official. Late last year, I received a call from Ron Barrick saying I would not be asked to work AMA Superbke races in 2007. Needless to say, I was devastated! I had been looking forward to working with the new management and had been asked if I would stay on as Chief Steward only a couple of weeks before getting that call from Ron. Due to the circumstances at the last Mid-Ohio race, I was not even able to say end-of-year goodbyes. Now I’d like to take this opportunity to say goodbye to all my friends in the AMA paddock. I will miss you more than I can say. So many times over the years different people have come up to me during a weekend to say “You have the greatest job in the world.” I would think to myself how little they knew about the work involved in keeping things running smoothly while dealing with all the issues that come up during a race weekend. Deep in my heart I knew they were right. It was great to have the opportunity to do a job I loved so much. Laura Perry Athens, Alabama FIRST PERSON/OPINION Via e-mail: Reading Laura Perry’s goodbye note reminded me of why she was promoted to the position of Chief Steward for the AMA Superbike Series. I know well the contribution she made to improving operations, communication, decision making and safety during her tenure there and she deserves our thanks. She wasn’t initially welcomed in the male dominated society she was asked to lead, but she (and the rest of us involved in the decision to appoint her) soldiered through, confident she was the right choice. She proved us right. Thanks Laura, hold your head high. It was a pleasure working with you. Scott Hollingsworth Columbus, Ohio (Editor’s note: Scott Hollingsworth is the former CEO of AMA Pro Racing.)