It took more than a handful of years of working races at his home track before Jim Wheeler joined SCCA’s Glen Region, and he had a good reason to join the Club. “I’ve been working Flagging & Communications since 2004 in the Race Services, Inc., group at Watkins Glen,” Jim explains, “But it wasn’t until 2012 when I decided to join SCCA® to be able to travel around to other tracks and volunteer for pro events.” Thanks to the doors SCCA opened, Jim’s worked an impressive number of professional racing events, with his next one coming up fast.
“My first pro event was working the NASCAR race at Watkins Glen International in 2005, but my first pro event through SCCA was working the inaugural IndyCar race on the streets of Baltimore in 2012,” he says. “I was working Flagging & Communications for those events. My friend at the time and I were interested in traveling to other racetracks, and Baltimore is fairly close to my home city of Rochester, NY, so we signed up, traveled down together, and shared a hotel room.”
How many pro events has he worked? Quite a few.
“I’ve worked the IMSA Six Hours and NASCAR weekend at WGI every year since 2005,” he says. “I’ve done 12 Rolex 24 at Daytonas (2012-’23), three 12 Hours of Sebrings (2015, ’16, ’19). I’ve worked the F1 USGP at COTA since 2015, and the Miami and Las Vegas GPs. Formula E when they raced in Brooklyn (2017-’23), World Endurance Championship at Sebring in 2019, and COTA in 2020 and ’24. As well as IndyCar when they raced at WGI, 2006-’10 and 2026-’17. Plus Baltimore in 2012.”
Back to that F1 Miami Grand Prix race, in 2022, Williams driver Nicholas Latifi ended up at Jim’s flag station during one of the practice sessions. “Being the Chief Post Marshal for that flag station, it was cool being able to talk to Latifi and make sure he was safe until the boundary riders came to pick him up to return to the pit lane,” he recalls.
Aside from brushes with drivers, Jim also enjoys working pro events in part because it puts him trackside with other friendly workers who bring extensive knowledge of their own.
“Pro events are fun to work because you can be partnered up with visiting marshals from all over the world, so it’s nice to meet new people and make friends and make connections to be able to work international events in the future,” he says. “It’s also nice to be able to learn things or ideas from international marshals to see if something can be improved at your local track.”
Pro races also keep you on your toes for more reasons than simply doing a good job. “The other differences are that pro events get televised so you want to be on your ‘A’ game all the time so you don’t become the next meme on Facebook or YouTube,” he laughs.
Keep in mind, what Jim has accomplished is nothing you can’t also do. Thanks to SCCA’s training and certification system, you can begin your trackside journey today. For that, head to scca.com/trackside to discover how you can volunteer locally before perhaps lending a hand at pro races.
Before you do that, though, Jim has some advice for those eyeing pro races sanctioned by the likes of FIA or IMSA.
“Make sure you put enough training in to work pro events, spend time working Club events before working pro events to build experience,” he advises. “Read up on any reading materials the sanctioning body provides – for example, flagging protocols. FIA flagging rules are somewhat different than SCCA.”
Also, pro races can include working long hours in any weather conditions. “We’re usually shuttled to the track before the sun rises and we’re usually one of the last ones to get off track,” he says. “Get to know your fellow marshals, make friends and build connections. But most importantly, have fun!”
As for that next pro race on Jim’s schedule? It’s IMSA’s Sahlen's Six Hours of The Glen, taking place June 19-22, 2025, at (of course) Jim’s home track.
Want to join Jim on a corner of an SCCA or pro race? Head to scca.com/trackside to begin your own adventure.
Photo caption: James Wheeler (right) working a World Endurance Championship pro race.
Photo courtesy Jim Wheeler
