We receive many inquiries as to how to become a pylon judge. I should probably start out by giving the average tenures for Pylon Captains, which averages approximately 24 years, and for Judges, which averages approximately 14 years. As you can see, our turnover rate is extremely low. Don't let this discourage you however. Many times, situations occur that require some of our judges to have to miss being on the pylons, so we do have a need to draw from a list of reserve judges. Once we draw from this list, we do our best to insure that these new judges remain on the 'sticks' for the week. There is one rule that we adhere to adamantly. We give consideration only to those individuals who can commit to the entire week to be a judge. If you feel you can commit to the entire week, we will gladly do our best to get you on a pylon.

What do you need to bring?

Since we don't know what our specific needs will be, we encourage EVERYONE to be prepared to be on the race course all day. You should plan on bringing food, snacks, plenty of water, soft drinks, shade if possible or whatever you feel your needs will be. Keep in mind that we've been in every possible weather situation you can imagine so be prepared for any thing from sunny, hot days to cold snowy days. One caution, however: there is ABSOLUTELY NO CONSUMPTION OF ALCOHOL of any form allowed on any of the pylons during qualifying or race times during the day. If caught consuming any form of alcohol, you just bought a one-way ticket off the field never to return as a judge - PERIOD. All of your credentials will be immediately revoked. This cannot be stressed enough. However, we party hearty at the end of the day so keep your stash on ice for the end of the day. Race participants spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to be able to play in our sandbox. We need to be cognizant that we don't have any impaired judges.

What about training?

Virtually all of your training will be on the job training. You will be assigned as an observer to a pylon captain who will guide you through the various steps in becoming a pylon judge. Pylon judging involves much more that insuring aircraft pass to the outside of the pylon. There will be more details regarding this once you are assigned to a pylon. There's no need for lots of detail here. Once assigned, you'll be required to walk the pits to insure you can identify the race number of each aircraft depending on the type of class involved and where the race number is located on each aircraft.

Meeting Places

We usually meet behind RARA's headquarters on the Army Guard Road (on the west side of the field). Monday, we meet at 6:00am to distribute credentials for both judges and vehicles; otherwise we meet at 7:00am to discuss the day's upcoming activities. If you are a prospective judge, you will want to insure that you arrive by 6:00am on Monday. Immediately let the Assistant Chief Pylon Judge know you have arrived. Once we know the positions we need to fill, we will call your name and make the assignments as called. If you don't advise anyone of your presence, we can't assign you as needed. If you're not called during any day of the week, don't be disappointed, keep trying and eventually you'll be called, if needed. Also, be sure to attend each day's meeting to insure that the possibility of being assigned isn't lost.