Conehead System

[Jack Smith]

I'm sure other people have used this coneheading system before, but I thought I would throw it out here anyway. We used it at Cambria and it worked great.

Depending on the course length, you designate the number of conehead positions you will need to cover the course. For the Cambria race we used three positions.

The three racers at the bottom of the order on the qualiying roster take their place at these positions, with the last racer on the list taking the bottom position. These racers conehead the first racers run. The first racer then takes the over the bottom conehead position, who in turn moves up one position as does the conehead above him. The top conehead takes his place in the qualifying line.

Our race was a single lane, this system could easily be applied to a dual race, just have the racers move into conehead positions in their respective lanes.

One of the biggest problems at races is the lack of coneheads, be they volunteers or racers. This is usually due to the amount of time one is asked to be a conehead. With this system your time as a conehead is limited to 3-4 runs, depending on course length. And it still allows you time to wrench on your setup, get a drink, visit the bathroom or talk smack to your competitors between your runs.

[Jonathan Harms]

This system worked quite well on the first day of the May 2004 St. Louis race. It was a single-lane course, probably 200 yards long, set on an S-shaped curve. After you finished your run, you coneheaded the bottom section of the course. After the next racer finished, he took your place at the bottom, and you moved up to the middle/top section. We used walkie-talkies to communicate the total number of downed cones to a third person at the top of the course, who then wrote them down along with the time. Nobody complained. It worked like a charm.

[Pat Chewning]

All of the Cascade races have used variations on this type of system.

It works pretty well because racers know the conehead rules and what to watch for.

-- Pat