Lone Star Region SCCA® member Jamey Osborne has been a race fan since childhood. “We were the kind of family that would make the Indy 500 a national holiday,” Jamey says. “I was fortunate enough to marry a woman whose family was the same way. In fact, her family equipped everyone with super soakers, so if you got in the way of the TV, you got shot.” However, he grew up in El Paso TX, and there’s no racing in that part of the Lone Star State. He never had a chance to build a car – motorsports was just something he watched on TV.
Back then, he never would have guessed that in 2024, he’d be honored as SCCA’s Starter Worker of the Year Presented by Mazda.
Osborne credits being in the right place at the right time for his getting involved with SCCA. His family had moved to central Texas, and he took them to see a local Christmas light show. When they arrived, there was quite a line to get in, and the Sheriff’s Deputy directing traffic said the parking was full and “you’re going to have to park over at the speedway.”
The speedway was in fact Texas World Speedway, and he spent the rest of the night on the track’s Wikipedia page. He learned that the track ran races with SCCA, an organization that he then investigated.
The first thing he did with SCCA was attend an autocross intensive training course in Houston. He was hooked, and the next thing you know he decided to try marshalling, which he began in 2014.
His first event was a Moto GP, which he calls “the gateway drug to marshalling.” He set a goal for himself: to flag at the USGP at COTA that fall. He worked enough races and got to know enough people that he was swinging a yellow flag at the F1 race.
Jamey was again at the right place at the right time while working Turn 13 at Texas World Speedway with a gentleman named Chuck Nagel. Nagel asked Osborne, “Have you ever wanted to be a Starter?” His reply was, “Are you kidding?” It seems that Nagel was looking for someone to train as a Starter, and Osborne became his trainee. Between Nagel and Ray Orr, who became Osborne’s mentor, he earned his license as a Starter.
The first pro race he worked as a Starter was the IndyCar race at NOLA. On the stand with him was Paul Blevins, an IndyCar Starter for years, and someone Osborne had watched flag the Indy 500. It was, he says, an honor to work with him.
Now, Osborne is the Chief Starter at COTA and the DA for the Southwest Division for Starters. He has been on the start stand for going on 10 years – and loves it.
“It’s the best office you can have,” he says. “I’ve been to 15 F1 USGPs, and I’ve never paid for one of them. And I have the best seat of everybody there. I’ve met cool people and seen great races.”
Osborne enjoys being behind the scenes, and he’s now even a trainer, helping others grow in the sport.
When asked about other specialties, he says that he has been a Flagger and Starter, but is intrigued by Timing & Scoring, because the starter works closely with them. He’d like to learn Scrutineering, since it looks like fun to be in the garages. He also gets to work with Race Control at COTA and adds, “It's a great privilege to work with the safety team at COTA, one of the best in the business.”
There’s also a family connection to his work as a Starter: “One of my greatest joys in doing the Starter jobs I'm lucky to do at COTA and for F1, is that I'm lucky enough to be doing it with my son Eric. He's a National Starter as well. He's one of the best Starters in the country, and I've seen plenty.”
He also spreads the word to those who might not be otherwise exposed to it, teaching a course at Texas Lutheran University called “Behind the Scenes in F1.”
Otherwise, you could just watch him in the start stand – because he does it right.
Want to get trackside at SCCA road races (and maybe even pro races) just like Jamey and Eric Osborn? Head to scca.com/trackside and begin your own adventure.
Photo of Jamey (left) and son Eric courtesy Jamey Osborn
