What does it take to be a race director?

I got to thinking about this the other day because I mean you know us bloggers we love to do race reports and usually part of the race report is not only reporting on our performance but on what we thought of the race itself.  I mean most of us have to budget for the races we enter and we want to get the biggest bang for the buck.  I've done my fare share of congratulating and complaining on here about races but I'm sure good or bad it takes a lot of work to put on a race.

I did a little bit of research on line and there isn't much to be found.  USAT has a certification to become a race director but they don't give you much details on what it takes ( I mean that's what the $450 class is for right?)  But I have volunteered before to help with a small 5k running race in the past and the very small part I had in helping I could see right away that the race director had to devote a lot of time into it.  So you have to worry about:

1.) Porta Potties you don't want to spend more than you have to on these but we all know if you don't have enough people will complain!
2.) Permits, depending on the township this could be a very long arduous process or just a matter of putting in the paperwork

3.) Police to block intersections and emergency crews for safety and paying them
4.) Volunteers to man all the stations
5.) Awards
6.) Advertising
7.) Sponsorships because I'm sure entry fees don't cover everything
8.) Shirts how do you order just the right amount and get them in in time
9.) Packet pick-up
10.) Timing
11.) Marking the course
12.) Transition set up (if triathlon)
13.) Trash clean up
14.) Aid Stations
15.) Liability Insurance
16.) Photographers

I'm sure I missed some important ones but my point being that I'm already tired just trying to list it all out!  I guess that's why sometimes when you take something like this on you pretty much have to treat it like a business to make sure it gets done properly.  And the fact that there's not a lot of info out there to help you.  I'm thinking putting in a lot of race and volunteer hours is the best way to get to know all of these things.  Would you ever consider putting on a race?  What are some of the things you would make sure you had as part of your race?