Just to throw in my usually worthless $.02.
Tech made mention of inappropriate numbering on several occasions to riders with hastily applied colored duct tape numbers or red electrical tape numbers, but we never forbade them from going on the track, we would just warn them that if we got a complaint from the tower about their numbers, they WOULD have to change them. Those complaints did come too, on several occasions, and Jon would radio down and ask us to give the offending rider a heads up. It was a system that seemed to work for us at the time, but enforcing a minimum standard would be infinitely more plausable if we had a vendor on site that actually carried the appropriate numbers (in both black and red) instead of just shrugging our shoulders when asked where to get the correct style numbers. This is a great discussion and it has given rise to another question in my head. I know that the expert bikes require black numbers, but in some cases the numbers were painted on in a color matching the dark color of the bike (IE dark blue) to get more style points from the West German judge I'm sure. Would it be a no-go situation for that scenario?
As for the Tech 'checklist'? I think it would be a good idea as a reminder of what will be checked at Tech, but if it is expected that the Tech marshals will carry a checklist around each bike on a Saturday morning when there are bikes lined up down the paddock, I don't anticipate this as being helpful to the cause. On the other hand, having a billboard about 2ft wide by 4ft tall that could be displayed in a conspicuous place under the tent (on the fence maybe?) would be a good way to re-enforce our requests for further maintenance on the bike. It simply makes the rules interpretations more black and white and there would be less questioning of the request (they don't make us do that for a WERA race!). But after doing a couple hundred inspections, there would be no need for a checklist for the inspectors. My method and the method I taught Dave was to start at a point on the bike and do a lap around it, in my case I would start at the right side of the front wheel and work backwards around the bike and back up the left side to the front again. It quickly becomes routine and in my case I would physically touch the more important items as a way of ticking it off on my mental checklist. Even in cases where the bike didn't pass Tech because of some issue that was overlooked, we would make a judgement call on whether we required the bike to return for a re-tech or just leave it to the rider to fix the problem on an honor basis (which I would usually end up checking anyways when they went out for first practice hehe) and our judgement was usually swayed by the level of preparation (let's face it, it's easy to see which bike was prepped maticulously and which was tossed together over a case of beer) and the perceived honesty of the rider.
As for the kill switch issue, I think it is a good idea to mandate a check. I know it could be seen as an inconveniance by the GP riders who need to do more than push a button to start the bike, but if I'm a corner worker running towards a downed rider and his bike is peeing out fuel with a stuck throttle singing along at about 12k, I think I might find it convenient to be able to hit a kill switch that has been tested.
Just my $.02
On another note, I have seen and heard many thanks for the volunteers and the work they put in, but the thanks need to be expressed in both directions. It has been my experience that 99% or more of the riders and their pit crews have been more than pleasant and cheerful to deal with and in most cases they were genuinely thankful when we pointed out something that was missed in the preparation because these checks are done to ensure the safety of both them and their fellow racers. I was also very impressed when they would just stand quietly beside their 'steeds' waiting for us to muck our way through the dozen or so riders ahead of them and I would also like to thank those folks for their amazing patience.
This is also a good time to publicly thank people like Dave Sushynski and Juan and Everett and Norm and Justin and a select few others whose names escape me at the moment (at my age, I'm usually more happy to remember anything than I am dissappointed for forgetting something). If it weren't for their generosity with their time and their helpful nature, heaven knows I'd probably still be standing under that tent slogging through inspections. MUCH thanks to everyone for making our life pleasant and it is because of people like you that it is easy to raise the hand when volunteers are called for.