Cat Nat.....misc

[Dayle Frame]

Wow....what a weekend. The prod group was small but a couple of descent races in the pack. But those details pale in comparison to the monster cluster f*&^ that was the "wing n things" race on Saturday and the DOT and SM races on Sunday.

1. WnT: Multiple passes under yellow in crash incidents, a worker had to dive over the wall when two P1 cars raced through an incidnet (under WY) while he was attending to an accident victim. No regard for flag condition or worker safety. Appalling.

2. DOT: An STU barfed a motor in The Kink which set off a chain reaction with multiple cars into the wall and each other. One driver was cut out of his car and choppered to a local hospital. I have no word on his condition. A close friend told me he had some broken ribs and a few other injuries. This was mid pack and several cars were able to continue but a couple were toast.

3. SM: The SM guys out did themselves. After all the things I've seen SM fields do....this was the topper. They get waived off on the start BUT THE FRONT FEW ROWS STARTED RACING ANYWAY.....WHILE THEY'RE STILL UNDER FCY.....after half a lap of that the stewards had to BFA the session to gain control. Some drivers obeyed the flag condition and were going pace car speed. AND THEN A THIRD OF THE FIELD BLEW PIT IN and had to do another lap. So these brainiacs "missed" at least half dozen flag stations. The field came into the pits and sat there while the SCS had a chat WITH EACH DRIVER.....ONE AT A TIME. Frightening.....thank goodness nothing happened as a result but this could have been really ugly.

So here's some details about a fairly sedate and controlled pair of races with prod/GTL.

HP: Gauper and Trainer had a great battle Saturday for the lead all race with Greg dive bombing Bill at T5. The result was Bill's ECU konked out and he had to settle for second with Mark Brakke third. On Sunday Bill dropped out after a couple of laps and Todd Buhrer capturing second and Brakke third.

FP: A couple of great races. On Saturday Mike Hart and Mike Froh battled all race long with Froh coming out on top, Hart second and Mike Gnadt third. On Sunday it was Gnadt (woohoo, Sprite power!) on the top step with Hart and Froh behind him.

EP: Saturday was dominated by Jon Brakke with Rob Hummel and Steve "El Ciete" Smyczek behind him. On s=Sunday, Brakke dropped out after 1 lap and it was a Smyczek/Hummel battle with Steve winning, Rob second and Don Bunt third.

GTL: Jim Dentici started DFL and won Saturday with a last lap pass of Sargis. Steve won on Sunday without Dentici in the field.

Dayle

 

[David Dewhurst]

[/quote] 3. SM: The SM guys out did themselves. After all the things I've seen SM fields do....this was the topper. They get waived off on the start BUT THE FRONT FEW ROWS STARTED RACING ANYWAY.....WHILE THEY'RE STILL UNDER FCY.....after half a lap of that the stewards had to BFA the session to gain control. Some drivers obeyed the flag condition and were going pace car speed. AND THEN A THIRD OF THE FIELD BLEW PIT IN and had to do another lap. So these brainiacs "missed" at least half dozen flag stations. The field came into the pits and sat there while the SCS had a chat WITH EACH DRIVER.....ONE AT A TIME. Frightening.....thank goodness nothing happened as a result but this could have been really ugly.
Dayle[/quote]

And if there were any spectators at SCCA races the spectators would watch and enjoy "these guys that out did themselves", because they race wheel to wheel for the entire race, more so at the pointy end. The top five entering T13 viewed from the T5 stand Sat. or Sun. it was a guess whose leading now. They also out do many of the other race groups. Yes, I wish the same could be said about the production/GTL class.

 

[Dayle Frame]

David,
Don't even go there. Yes, the racing is close (that's what happens in a spec class) and there are some top shelf guys in the class. But the actions of this particular group on this particular weekend and this particular session were ridiculous. This kind of gross misbehavior is completely unwarranted. And you know it.

And whether there were spectators at the event is irrelevant. Yes, we all know how we're the Secret Car Club of America......but if newbies came to this event and saw this race.....they'd leave with a bad impression.

I've know you a long time.....you are too smart to try and defend the actions of this collection of drivers in this session.

Dayle

 

[Matt Blehm]

3. SM: The SM guys out did themselves. After all the things I've seen SM fields do....this was the topper. They get waived off on the start BUT THE FRONT FEW ROWS STARTED RACING ANYWAY.....WHILE THEY'RE STILL UNDER FCY.....after half a lap of that the stewards had to BFA the session to gain control. Some drivers obeyed the flag condition and were going pace car speed. AND THEN A THIRD OF THE FIELD BLEW PIT IN and had to do another lap. So these brainiacs "missed" at least half dozen flag stations. The field came into the pits and sat there while the SCS had a chat WITH EACH DRIVER.....ONE AT A TIME. Frightening.....thank goodness nothing happened as a result but this could have been really ugly.
Dayle

And if there were any spectators at SCCA races the spectators would watch and enjoy "these guys that out did themselves", because they race wheel to wheel for the entire race, more so at the pointy end. The top five entering T13 viewed from the T5 stand Sat. or Sun. it was a guess whose leading now. They also out do many of the other race groups. Yes, I wish the same could be said about the production/GTL class.

Just because they race close and hard does not preclude them from doing so safely and within the rules. at least a third of the field broke MAJOR rules and that needs to be addressed.

 

[R. J. Sorensen]

Regarding race 1 red flag, heard driver with broken ribs transported by surface ambulance. Another driver transported by Flight for Life. Prognosis "positive".

Someone with factual info please correct me, or provide specifics.

RJS

 

[David Dewhurst]

3. SM: The SM guys out did themselves. After all the things I've seen SM fields do....this was the topper. They get waived off on the start BUT THE FRONT FEW ROWS STARTED RACING ANYWAY.....WHILE THEY'RE STILL UNDER FCY.....after half a lap of that the stewards had to BFA the session to gain control. Some drivers obeyed the flag condition and were going pace car speed. AND THEN A THIRD OF THE FIELD BLEW PIT IN and had to do another lap. So these brainiacs "missed" at least half dozen flag stations. The field came into the pits and sat there while the SCS had a chat WITH EACH DRIVER.....ONE AT A TIME. Frightening.....thank goodness nothing happened as a result but this could have been really ugly.
Dayle

And if there were any spectators at SCCA races the spectators would watch and enjoy "these guys that out did themselves", because they race wheel to wheel for the entire race, more so at the pointy end. The top five entering T13 viewed from the T5 stand Sat. or Sun. it was a guess whose leading now. They also out do many of the other race groups. Yes, I wish the same could be said about the production/GTL class.

Just because they race close and hard does not preclude them from doing so safely and within the rules. at least a third of the field broke MAJOR rules and that needs to be addressed.

How about the two of you jump all over those from race group 1 that pilled in at the Kink after the yellow and debris flags were fully flying................. Their black flag cut the race to about 5-6 total laps.

 

[Scott Sanda]

Dave, have you ever been the 2-8th or so car into a blown engine in the kink? I have, and was lucky to escape with only a stain.

Those guys didn't pile in. You are talking about a 15 to 20 second total time period.

That's like saying the guy who crashes into a spinning car is at fault because he didn't slow down enough to avoid the spinng car.

That's a far cry from ignoring a waive off, and then ignoring the ensuing black flag.

 

[Matt Blehm]

How about the two of you jump all over those from race group 1 that pilled in at the Kink after the yellow and debris flags were fully flying................. Their black flag cut the race to about 5-6 total laps.

Without being witness to that particular incident, I wont' begin to comment/judge.

But for a group of cars to miss a big NO head nod and see the next several turns still holding up double yellows? pretty egregious I'd think. THEN for 1/3 of the field to keep driving on a BFA while they're watching the front of the pack fight it out after a called off start and remaining double yellow? yeah, that's pretty farking idiotic. Common sense says that if you saw the called off start, watched the front idiots take off, then the course to go from YY to BFA.. You should know what's next.. c'mon man..

 

[disquek]

I'm curious, were any/all of these SM BFA runners punished? If not, why not? And if not, why do we expect this to not happen again?

In vintage, where I think they are typically far more lax than the SCCA in punishing for mistakes (queue someone who thinks the opposite), I've very recently seen all offenders who ran on a BFA DQ'd (they were not released after entering pit lane).

I think that SM all too often is given a pass for outrageous misbehavior when it happen en-mass because the regions and Topeka think with their short term financials rather than about long term strategy ... and then wonder they why things slowly slide downhill .....

-Kyle

 

[David Dewhurst]

Dave, have you ever been the 2-8th or so car into a blown engine in the kink? I have, and was lucky to escape with only a stain.

As a matter of fact yes, but not a blown engine. The yellow was out pre Kink, a car behind mine, me right hand up waving, safely on the brake, the incident car had not finished moving at drivers right wall, dirt across the track, the car behind blew by between me and the crashed car like I was standing still. An impression memory for sure.

The yellow flag words "slow down" and I would believe yellow/red strip indicates the same, require some teeth. Because not only SM drivers don't slow down. 130 mph and car slows to 110 mph at the no vision Kink.

Looking at finish and Q times the first two cars out at two laps were approx. equal Q time, the next three cars out at lap two were five to fifteen seconds slower in Q. Not being at the Kink and I believe I heard which car's engine blew it's understandable how the second car got caught up, but it seems the next three cars were not immediately into the deal before the flag was thrown.

 

[Dayle Frame]

I'm curious, were any/all of these SM BFA runners punished? If not, why not? And if not, why do we expect this to not happen again?
-Kyle

Prod/GTL was G3, then lunch and SM was G4.....they finished just before I left so I'm not sure. I went to the SM forum and there was no thread for the event and, therefore, no mention of the situation. The official results don't show anything abnormal.

With RA being 4+ miles long, part of the headache in all of this was that they were already behind schedule while race one was under BFA. So to catch up, they took most of the time out of the worker lunch break.....how unfair is that? Why not shorten each race by a lap, have no victory laps, etc. Grumble, grumble.......

Here's my solution. Since 70% of the SM field either ran off without a start or blew the BFA, I'd suggest that all of them need to work a corner (so they can get a flag refresher course) before they get their license renewed.....but that's just me.

One more thing....for only having 22 cars, the prod/GTL field had some really exciting races throughout the pack. And no metal to metal contact......good, close, hard racing.

Dayle

 

[David Dewhurst]

I'm curious, were any/all of these SM BFA runners punished? If not, why not? And if not, why do we expect this to not happen again?
-Kyle

Kyle, the following are comments only.

Were any officials punished this year after the VIR SM crash as the green flag was dropped when oil dry was not removed (IIRC FF lost an engine in previous session) from the track from starters stand and beyond.

Another rule, don't remember the exact rule, all crash damage is to be noted in log book. Any punishment to officials for not following this rule.

If we look around there are more issues than SM drivers.

 

[David Dewhurst]

I went to the SM forum and there was no thread for the event and, therefore, no mention of the situation. The official results don't show anything abnormal.
Dayle

Good friend Dayle, please search a bit harder. :mrgreen:
Try thread, "Road America Majors July 25-26th Smack". Dave Wheeler monitors the corner workers radio and he stated what he heard. Other drivers from the SM race group also chimed in.

 

[Greg Gauper]

As Dayle indicated, it was a small Prod field but lots of racing action amongst the different classes, especially on Saturday.

Had a great race with Trainer both days and managed to bring it home in front both times.
Saturday's race came down to a last lap dive bomb where I managed to use an F-prod car for a pick.
Sundays race was close early but then Bill lost a half shaft at midrace.
With four laps to go, paranoia set in on my part as I thought I heard some funny noises (still gun shy after losing the crank pulley at Gingerman) and backed off just enough to hold on to the win.

Race #1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AuGufNg7Tz0

Race #2
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z06QS-ItsUQ

 

[disquek]

Dear David,

These are comments also.

I think you're a jack-a**.

I'm not going to take further bait from you.

-Kyle

 

[David Dewhurst]

Dear David,

These are comments also.

I think you're a jack-a**.

I'm not going to take further bait from you.

-Kyle

Dear Dick Head, you are most likely a really nice guy. No bait, just facts. Can't handle facts don't respond.

David

 

[disquek]

I've seen lots of facts in this thread. None from you.

Honestly, why are you here? Think twice before you answer...

You are defending a group of people that put our volunteers in material danger due to either their incompetence or their lack of concern. Which is ok? Are THESE the people you want to call your kin?

Consider that some of the offenses of SM are not worth defending. SM has become a world unto their own (for many, not all) and that world is one of self indulgence and lack of respect for the club and it's members (cheating and contact - and now this sh*t).

-Kyle

 

[NE14PRODRACN]

Morris Wosley and the remainder of the skinner's union would be flippin' in their resting places if they saw what was going on today !! GO TURQUOISE MIDGET !! :applause: :applause:

 

[Greg Gauper]

Actually, the Turquoise car is Mike Hart's beautiful Turner.
Mike Gnadt's Midget is the dark blue car.

BTW - The top five in FP on Sunday were Mike, Mike, Mike, Mike .....and Gerry :lol:
Gerry Lamb had carb issues on Saturday but found his problem and was running strong on Sunday before a shock broke.

 

[David Dewhurst]

Honestly, why are you here? Think twice before you answer...
-Kyle

I'm not into exclusion.

I hold no scorn towards fellow racers.