When Tarin Finn was named SCCA® Worker of the Year for Flagging & Communications during the Mazda-sponsored ceremony that took place at the 2025 SCCA National Championship Runoffs®, she may have been the only one who was surprised by the nomination.
“I was completely honored,” Finn admits. “It was something I was not expecting. I was honored, shocked and completely grateful.”
This space met Finn two years ago, when we first documented her journey from SCCA Road Racing all the way to Formula One and points in between. At that time, she was already a year removed from being named the Marshal of the Week at the Miami Grand Prix, getting her photo with Max Verstappen, Fernando Alonso, and Carlos Sainz (though, unfortunately in that go-round, not her favorite: Lewis Hamilton).
Obviously, we could talk about the things she’s done during race weekends – the Florida Region races, the Hoosier Racing Tire SCCA Super Tour races, Formula 1, Formula E, World Endurance Championship – and that would be worthy enough of an SCCA Worker of the Year award. But Finn is also a worthy SCCA Worker of the Year for the things she’s done to promote her Florida Region, her specialty, her Club – even when she wasn’t trackside.
That starts with her role as Chief of Flagging & Communications for Central Florida Region, where she also serves on the Region’s board. In that role, she’s recruited dozens of new workers, many of whom wouldn’t have known how to get started without her help. Sure, she may have the lure of the Miami Grand Prix in her pocket, but no one starts there – they learn at SCCA races.
“It’s important to me because, number one, the sport needs it,” she says. “I know there’s a shortage nationwide of workers, and I’ve used F1 Miami to get more people in. A lot of people don’t know you can even be trackside. I try to tell them to show up, and they get hooked. It’s important to me because I love it so much, so I want to see other people enjoy it as well.”
What makes Finn truly special isn’t just how hard she works – though anyone who’s seen her in action knows she never stops moving – it’s how she works. She finds the joy and fun in every corner of the racetrack. Her enthusiasm for the sport is one that every Club member can relate to.
“I don’t always have a smile during challenging conditions,” she reveals, especially in Florida. “It’s hot [and] the rain sucks, but it’s just the enjoyment of being around my marshal family and my excitement and love of racing.”
Her enthusiasm reaches far beyond as she often travels to other Regions to support their events, always ready to lend a hand or wave a flag. That’s true in the Southwest Division, the Great Lakes Division, the SCCA Runoffs, the Freedom 250 in Washington DC, the Las Vegas Grand Prix this fall, or her first trip to Silverstone for the British Grand Prix this summer.
So much so, that even though she can’t make this year’s Grand Prix of Miami, she’ll still show up on registration day just to greet everyone.
“I miss everyone so much, I have to see them!” she says.
Wherever in the world Tarin Finn is, she’s a worthy representative of the Sports Car Club of America™, and a worthy recipient of the SCCA Worker of the Year in Flagging & Communications.
Want to get trackside, just like Finn? Head to scca.com/trackside to get started.
Photo courtesy Tarin Finn
