Tribute to all marshals
07/29/2011
It's time to turn our attention to the marshals. This article is a kind of homage - a public tribute - to all those men and women who stand somewhere on a race track weekend after weekend and guarantee the safety of the participants. They warn of dangers, stop following vehicles in the event of accidents, secure the scene of accidents, rescue drivers from uncomfortable situations, provide first aid to injured people, extinguish vehicle fires, help recover crashed vehicles, repair demolished crash barriers, clean up the road of oil, glass splinters and vehicle parts lying around. And they do this late into the night, for sausage and bread, while the ladies and gentlemen of the racing drivers' guild have long been dining elegantly on white tablecloths!
It was the same at the Steckborn - Eichhölzli hill climb in the 1950s. With a broom, floppy hat and in his "Uebergwändli", the marshal calmly and thoughtfully goes about his work, while the uninjured driver and the owner of the land first inspect the damage done to the land, including the destroyed "Pflanzplätz".
