 A Behind The Scenes Look At The Imsa Safety Team
The International Motor Sports Association is the sanctioning body for the American Le Mans Series and many of the development series such as IMSA Lites, IMSA GT3 Cup, Star Mazda and Formula BMW Americas. IMSA officials oversee every aspect of race production from race control and tire markings to pit lane and logistics.
One group of IMSA officials that plays a vital role in race production is the event safety team. On any given race weekend there are at least 12 team members with an additional four members depending on the size of the track. This group consists of firefighters, emergency medical technicians, paramedics, extrication specialists, first responders and a chief medical officer (M.D.).
During a regular race weekend there are two safety trucks strategically placed around the track with four team members in each. In addition are the emergency dispatcher in race control, the chief extrication specialist and the doctor in the emergency response vehicle and a paddock/pit lane paramedic. Each of the 12 people is assigned specific duties but those also directly affect fellow team members so teamwork in crucial.
In Safety Truck No. 2 the usual suspects include Tommy Dunn, crew chief; Joe Jordan, firefighter and paramedic; D.J. Manger, firefighter and paramedic; and Bill McCombs, firefighter, paramedic and extrication specialist. Their combined experience in firefighting and emergency medical response totals more than 100 years.
Whenever there is a situation, the crew is looking for three things to report back to race control: the condition of the driver, how many cars are involved and what is the condition of the track. As the crew chief, Dunn sits in the driver's seat listening to both race control and the emergency dispatcher ready to react quickly and accurately to any situation that may arise. In the passenger's seat is Jordan, whose primary focus in an emergency situation is the driver of the race car.
"If the driver is injured, I'll escort him to the doc and then return to the scene to assist the others," said Jordan. "Whether it's cleaning up the track or helping to get the race car onto the rollback--we are all helping as a team and have to be versatile."
McCombs is responsible for grabbing the fire extinguisher and protecting the others. Manger assists all three of his team members in protecting the drivers, each other and the situation.
Each of the safety team members has another job with the majority working full time in emergency response and firefighting. These guys will be the first to tell you that in this line of work your team is your family.
"I was told this was a small family and the size has changed but the family aspect of it has remained the same," said Jordan. "Firefighters have a bond with two families, but we actually have three families--our real family, our firefighters back home and this family."
Because of the team mentality it is extremely important to get the right people for the job and at IMSA they look no further than John Zilles, extrication specialist, to make those choices. Zilles has worked in fire service, as an EMT, a paramedic and an EMS instructor for more than 25 years. He has worked in vehicle extrication for almost 30 years, has taught vehicle extrication in more than 40 countries on six continents and has been with IMSA since 1990.
"I think my staff of firefighters, EMTs and paramedics are the best in the business," Zilles added. "They get to work on our team because I've seen them in action at a track where the American Le Mans Series competes, or they have been recommended by one of our current staff. Either way, not everyone can do what we do. We actually see the incident and we respond so fast the incident is often still unfolding. It takes a very special individual to react quickly under the pressures of being on a race track with cars going by, often at speed. These guys are the best!" | 
