If there is a downside to his job as a ticket taker at Gate 3, Belle Isle, it is that sometimes he has to be a bad guy. Terry Kettering, a board member of Cleveland's R.E.V's, started out as a volunteer in the Championship Racing Magazine booth. He now helps to organize almost 600 people who pitch in to assist in staging the race at the Burke Lakefront Airport. Their efforts for the 1999 event started in February. Volunteers, some of whom spend hundreds of hours working for no pay, are rewarded with meals during the race weekend, T-shirts, pins and a party when the event is over, as well as other bonuses.
Most people come back year after year.
Prizes include goodies donate by the CART teams. It is often these local organizations that staff the Media Centers at the various events. Chuck Obendorf has been the Media Center Manager for the Grand Prix of Cleveland for the past six years. One of his perks is the task of picking up the race winner right after the on-track TV interviews and transporting them to the victory ceremony and then on to the press conference. It is exciting to be able to talk to them one on one, if only for the few minutes they ride in my golf cart.