In cooperation with the FIA Institute, NASCAR hosted its inaugural officials’ safety internship on 12-17 October featuring a week of intensive study and training at the NASCAR Research and Development Centre in Concord, North Carolina.

The programme was aimed at developing officials from countries in Central and South America, providing participants with knowledge and skills to educate others in their home countries.

Nine interns took part in the programme, which covered topics such as track inspection processes, extrication tools, fire suppression, emergency operations planning, radio communications and environmental concerns. Participants were able to gain first-hand experience by attending the NASCAR Nationwide Series and NASCAR Sprint Cup Series events at Lowe’s Motor Speedway.

Shawn Rogers, NASCAR Director of Business Affairs, said: “After a 73-hour week, from NASCAR’s perspective and the initial feedback from the interns, we believe the programme was a success. The areas such as safety equipment logistics, security planning, track inspection and maintenance, safety briefings, as well as overall communication seemed to be key areas of interest. The overarching theme was how to apply the concepts to their own style of racing and regulations.”

Tamas Zettner, FIA Institute Officials Training Manager, said: “The programme was a great success, and was conducted with high degree of professionalism. NASCAR also went to great effort to make everyone feel extremely welcome. For most of the trainees this was the first chance to be close to a big motor sport event and to participate in a high quality motor sport programme of this kind.”

The internship costs were covered by the Motor Sport Safety Development Fund and NASCAR. The initiative forms part of the Fund’s Officials Safety Training Programme, which aims to facilitate the development of officials from around the world and at every level of motor sport.