[Mr. Kurtz]

Well, today I had a rather unique opportunity to attend Tony's winter meeting with his entire staff for TTD. It gave me a different perspective on just how much actually goes into planning these trackdays, and how much training goes into the instructors and control riders who work at them. I found it pretty interesting, so with Tony's permission, I'm gonna share some of what I learned.

First off, apparently organizing and being a part of these events is real work, but it seems to be work that Tony and his staff actually enjoy. The meeting lasted from 10AM to 4PM, and was of course on a Saturday, yet no one seemed to mind being there. There were agendas handed out, notes were taken, it had the atmosphere of a relaxed college classroom.

The entire morning period was dedicated to a structured, but open, discussion about instructor and control rider's roles and their responsibilities. Time was spent discussing who would be best left to handle which duties, what those duties entailed, and how best to accomplish the objective. I was impressed with the fact that even though Ken & Tony have been doing this a long time, they were open to suggestions by anyone on the staff, at times even choosing to develop those suggestions and put them into place. It became obvious that although Tony has a working formula, there is a receptiveness to new ideas, in an effort to improve anywhere possible. Tony's Track Days is apparently a growing organization, still exploring ways to get better. To someone who has attended their dates for years, this may not be a surprise(having seen an evolution each year), but for a relative "newbie" like me, it was refreshing to see that there is an atmosphere of wanting to always look for ways to improve.

After a lunch break, the curriculum shifted to "teaching the teachers." The entire afternoon was spent with Ken and Graham refreshing, explaining, and teaching the instructors on how to do their job most efficiently. He outlined methods he has developed, and took feedback from the entire group. It became clear to me that these instructors weren't just fast guys giving you advice, like you may get from your buddies in the garage. There is a "method to their madness," a specific knowledge set that has been discussed and analyzed, which they have practiced and learned through countless laps around the track and countless conversations within their group. I was doubly impressed by the fact that only half the people in the room were "instructors," the other half "control riders," yet the coaching skills were taught to everyone so that they could all be on the same page and better able to help other riders.

All in all, I was a fan of Tony's days before this(duh), but after seeing what goes into making the entire event over the entire season run the way it does, I've got an entirely new respect for the whole organization. I've seen firsthand the difference between Tony's days and trackdays run by other organizations, and now I've been lucky enough to see how that difference comes to be.