Roxanne Hutton’s mathematical skills and attention to detail are a boon at the racetrack. Not as a means to beat the odds, but as the official lap counter at Humboldt Speedway.
From April to October, Hutton and her husband, Gregg, are at the Speedway to help Ron and Rhenda Whitworth execute a flawless performance of dirt track racing every Friday night at their Humboldt track.
Hutton started in her position about 15 years ago while her husband raced his car.
“I was there, anyway, so I figured I’d give it a try,” Hutton said.
“Gregg said it was to his unfair advantage, and he was probably right,” she said. “If it was a close situation between his car and another’s, I probably leaned more in his opponent’s favor. He got cheated more than favored.”
Such is Hutton’s nature, not only at play, but also in work. Hutton is Iola City Clerk and has responsibility over the city’s financials.
Greg quit racing three years ago and now is stationed by Roxanne’s side up in the tower high above the track where he keeps an eagle eye for accidents or wayward debris that may call a halt to action.
Roxanne’s job is to count the laps each car finishes around the track during each heat and in the final feature race. If the race is interrupted at some point, racers also look to Roxanne to realign the cars according to how they each finished the previous lap, including the points they each have earned for passing cars along the way.
Each heat typically has six to 10 cars racing. The night’s feature race will have as many as 25 cars.
“Then we always have two people keeping track of the cars,” she said.
After her many years at the Humboldt Speedway, Roxanne said it helps to be familiar with the participants and their cars.
“The hardest thing is, if I don’t know the cars, I’m having to keep track only by their race numbers,” she said.
From her vantage point up high, Roxanne spots a car’s number painted on its roof.
Other obstacles to her job include keeping track of cars that “lap” other cars, how many opponents each car passes, and, of course, the order of who comes across the finish line.
A feature race entails anywhere from 16-20 laps, she said. The length of each heat is determined by how many cars are involved; one lap per car.
