Offseason Playbook, Part 4: Building a Strong, Resilient Safety Crew

You can have solid training, reliable trucks, and clear protocols, but at the end of the day, it all comes down to people. When something goes wrong on track, it’s people who step off the truck, run toward the problem, and make decisions in real time.

Parts 1–3 of this series focused on skills, equipment, and systems. In this final part, we’re going to talk about the People behind the helmets—how you recruit them, develop them, keep them, and take care of them so they’re ready to do this year after year.

The offseason is the best time to work on this. The pace is slower, emotions aren’t as raw, and people have a little more bandwidth to think about where they’re headed.

Why the People Side Matters Just as Much as Gear and Training

Motorsports safety is demanding work. It’s hot, loud, and stressful. You’re on your feet for long stretches. You see people on some of their worst days. And most of the time, you’re doing it on top of a full-time job and family life.

If you don’t pay attention to the people side, you’ll feel it in a few ways:

• Turnover and burnout

• Short staffing on key nights

• Friction inside the crew

• Slower, sloppier responses when it counts

On the other hand, when you invest in your people, you get:

• A crew that trusts each other

• Faster, cleaner responses

• Better decision-making under pressure

• A culture that attracts the right kind of new members

The offseason is your chance to be intentional about that.

Recruiting the Right People (Not Just Warm Bodies)

Most safety teams can always use more help. The temptation is to say “yes” to anyone who shows up. But who you bring onto the crew matters as much as how many.

Use the offseason to tighten up what “the right person” looks like for your team:

• Core traits you want

  • Coachable and willing to learn

  • Communicates clearly and respectfully

  • Can function under stress without shutting down or blowing up

  • Shows up when they say they will

• Red flags to watch for

  • More interested in access and status than in doing the work

  • Ignores safety rules or tries to shortcut training

  • Creates drama or tension in the group right away

You can also use the offseason to do a little intentional recruiting:

• Post on social media about what you’re looking for and how to get involved.

• Invite potential recruits to an offseason training night or open house.

• Talk to local fire/EMS, race teams, and track staff about people who might be a good fit.

The goal isn’t to build the biggest crew. It’s to build the right crew.

Onboarding and Clear Paths for Growth

Once someone joins, what happens next? If the answer is “we just throw them in and see what happens,” you’re leaving a lot to chance.

Offseason is the perfect time to define a simple onboarding and advancement path:

• New member / Probie

  • What they’re allowed to do and not do on race night

  • Basic skills they must learn first (PPE, radios, basic fire behavior, scene safety)

• Regular crew member / Operator

  • Comfortable working on the wall/trucks under supervision

  • Knows truck layouts, basic tools, and standard responses

• Senior crew / Technician or Specialist

  • Can lead small tasks, mentor new members, and handle more complex jobs

• Officer / Command

  • Runs the scene, talks to race control and EMS, and makes the big calls

For each level, write down:

• Required skills and knowledge

• Minimum time/experience

• Who signs off on the promotion

Then use your offseason training (classroom, video review, tabletop scenarios) to help people move along that path. When people can see where they’re headed, they’re more likely to stick around and invest.

Building Trust and Team Culture on Purpose

Trust doesn’t just happen because people wear the same logo. It comes from shared experiences, clear expectations, and how you treat each other when things go wrong.

Offseason gives you room to build that on purpose:

• Set expectations clearly

  • Attendance, communication, safety rules, how you handle disagreements

  • Put it in writing and talk it through with the crew

• Do a few non-race activities

  • Low-key team nights: food, go-karts, bowling, whatever fits your group

  • Shop nights or work days where you wrench on trucks together

• Include families when you can

  • A simple family night or open house goes a long way

  • When spouses/partners understand what you do and why, they’re more likely to support the time commitment

You don’t need to turn it into a corporate retreat. You just need enough shared time and clarity that people feel like they’re part of something, not just filling a spot on the wall.

Talking About the Hard Stuff: Mental Health and Tough Calls

This part doesn’t always get talked about, but it matters. Some incidents stick with people. Sometimes it’s the big, obvious ones. Sometimes it’s something small that hits close to home.

Ignoring that doesn’t make it go away. It just pushes it underground.

Offseason is a good time to:

• Look back at the season and name the hard calls

  • Give people a chance to talk about what bothered them, if they want to

  • Make it clear that it’s okay to say “that one got to me.”

• Remind the crew what support exists

  • Peer support inside the team

  • Any formal resources you have access to (EAPs, counselors, chaplains, etc.)

• Normalize taking care of yourself

  • Sleep, hydration, fitness, and stress management aren’t just “nice to have”

  • They directly affect how you perform on the wall and how long you can do this work

You don’t have to turn every meeting into a therapy session. But you should make it clear that mental health is part of safety, not separate from it.

Recognizing Effort and Progress

People don’t stay just for the work. They stay because they feel seen, valued, and part of something that matters.

Offseason is a great time to:

• Look back and recognize what went well

  • Highlight good calls, improvements, and people who stepped up

  • This can be as simple as a few minutes at a meeting or a short write-up shared with the crew

• Tie recognition to your advancement path

  • Pinning ceremonies, new helmet stickers, or other visible markers when people move up

  • Make those moments matter; they reinforce the culture you’re trying to build

• Ask for feedback

  • What worked this year?

  • What didn’t?

  • What should we change for next season?

When people feel like their voice matters and their effort is noticed, they’re much more likely to keep giving you their Saturdays.

Bringing It All Together

By now, you’ve seen the pattern across this Offseason Playbook:

• Part 1: Sharpen your crew’s skills

• Part 2: Dial in your trucks, tools, and gear

• Part 3: Tighten your protocols, communication, and playbooks

• Part 4: Invest in the people who make it all work

You don’t need to overhaul everything at once. You just need to pick a few things in each area and actually do them.

If you can use the offseason to:

• Be intentional about who you bring onto the crew

• Give new members a clear path from Probie to seasoned operator

• Build trust and culture on purpose, not by accident

• Acknowledge the mental load of the work and support your people

• Recognize effort and progress in visible ways

…you won’t just have a safety crew. You’ll have a team that’s built to show up, year after year, when it matters most.

That’s the real goal of the offseason: not just better trucks or tighter drills, but a stronger, more resilient One BadAss Safety Team ready for whatever the next green flag brings.