This article is from the Motorsport FAQ, by A H Henry bspahh@midge.bath.ac.uk with numerous contributions by others.
You get a regional licence right out of the box, and can start
working races. The regional licence is your ticket to `basic
training' as a race official. You should expect to work at least 8
event-days a year (about 4 full races) for two years, and do decent
work, to get upgraded to a divisional licence. You will then probably
spend a great deal of time with a divisional licence, working a lot
of races, until someday, if you do very good work, you'll be
recommended for the national licence. National licence holders
generally serve as regional administrators and as chiefs of
speciality at races; they need to be able to `run the program', as it
were.
 
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