Gunners: the IUSF elves

They are the elves of the Little 500. They have many jobs and, some nights, only a few hours to complete them. They are the gunners of Indiana University Student Foundation, and they do everything surrounding race day.

For this year’s Qualifications, gunner Andrew Dafnos was in charge of changing the standings on the qualifications board. When the entire board was full, Sigma Chi qualified third. Dafnos had to move down 30 team boards, but he didn’t mind.

“I enjoy Little Five, and I enjoy the people I’m working with,” Dafnos said. “I do it because I have a passion for Little Five.”

Top-10 Jobs of a Gunner
1. Timing Qualifications and Individual Time Trials on a stopwatch
2. Putting two bikes and a water cooler in every pit
3. Waving a flag for faults
4. Setting up the parade before the race
5. Gridding and painting the infield
6. Calling in times
7. Running the Qualifications board
8. Running the ITTs board
9. Hanging up pit boards
10. Working as a lap counter on race day

Sources: The steering committee’s Katie Bukowski, Brendan Kelly and Connor Rusnack and Gunner Andrew Dafnos