Getting His ‘March Madness’ At The Racetrack

Normally Rick Hartzell is right in the middle of March Madness – as an official working games during the frenetic NCAA men’s basketball tournament.

For the last two years, however, Hartzell has spent the tourney far away from a whistle. He’s been at World of Outlaws Late Model Series events instead, assisting his wife Jill George, the first female driver to chase the national tour.

Hartzell, George & son Jackson

A fulltime college basketball referee when he’s not fielding a dirt Late Model, Hartzell, 57, has officiated in the NCAA men’s basketball tournament 19 times over the 24 years. But last year an injury prevented him from working the tourney – and thus allowed him to attend two weeks of WoO LMS racing with George – and this year he declined an opportunity to do opening-round games in Tampa in order to be alongside his wife on March 17-19 at Columbus (Miss.) Speedway.

“With where we are in our racing deal, I felt it was important for me to be (at Columbus) with Jill,” said Hartzell, who owns the equipment that George is campaigning on the WoO LMS for the second consecutive year. “I had a good year, worked lot of games and was gone a lot since November 1, but like Jill said, ‘It’s time to go racing now.’ That’s kind of how I feel about it too. Working the tournament is fun, but I’ve done it plenty of times so I don’t feel like I’m missing out on anything.”

Hartzell, who has been a NCAA Division I basketball official for 28 years, worked nearly 100 games all across the country during the 2010-2011 season. Conference USA and the Big 12 were his first commitments, but he also did games in the SEC, Big 10, Mountain West, Horizon League, Sunbelt and MAC and officiated early-round games of the National Invitation Tournament in Albuquerque, N.M., and Wichita, Kans. In addition, on March 8 he worked the Horizon League Championship that was won by Butler, the Indianapolis school that will play UConn tonight in the National Championship Game.

Surprisingly, Hartzell didn’t spend much time in his team’s hauler watching NCAA Tournament games or even checking scores on his cell phone while he attended WoO LMS events at Columbus and tracks in Florida and Georgia the weekend of March 25-27. He actually enjoyed the separation from his regular job that the racetrack provided.

Rick Hartzell

“The one thing I really like about being here is that other than Tim McCreadie (a season ticket holder for Syracuse University basketball), nobody really cares (about the tournament),” Hartzell said during the Columbus weekend that took place as the opening rounds of the tourney were being played. “The guys we’re parked beside don’t even know they’re playing because they’re not interested – and that’s fine. Everybody’s got their own deal, and for me it’s kind of nice to come here and get away (from college basketball) when you’ve lived in that world all these years, all these months and all these nights.”

Hartzell, who has also worked as an athletic director at his hometown’s University of Northern Iowa (1999-2008), Bucknell University in Lewisburg, Pa. (1988-1999) and the University of Maryland-Baltimore County (1985-1988), would like to officiate college basketball games for about five more years. The 32-year-old George, meanwhile, is just beginning to make her mark as a women’s basketball official when she’s not racing and tending to her chiropractic practice; she worked 12 Division I games in the Mountain West and Ohio Valley conferences (in addition to Division III and Junior College games) during the 2010-2011 season.