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F1 New Blocking Rule?

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#21
Jim Boemler

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Thanks Dean -- some good items worth considering.

#22
Caveman-kwebb99

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You really wanna know? OK, but I'll start with the disclaimer that I'm a NASA official, so I'm biased. This is also my opinion based on observation from racing with both organizations for about 6 years, not based on data and stats.

I think there are two main factors and a couple of smaller contributing factors.

1) I believe the NASA rule of making it every driver's responsibility to fill out a Contact Form if there is any contact results in more incidents being reviewed and discussed. This is different than the SCCA approach in which incidents are only reviewed if a) a corner worker calls the incident in or B) one driver formerly protests the other. I believe the NASA approach is more instructive for casual racers and raises the awareness of the rules and what they mean across the board. My experience has been that it gets drivers talking to each other, also. The more drivers know each other the more likely they are to cooperate with each other rather than dogmatically "exercise their rights according to the racing room rules".

2) The second main factor, particular to our region, is that SCCA attracts a larger number of cars at this point, so the pure density of spec miatas probably results in more incidents. If NASA had 40-50 cars instead of 20 at each event, maybe we'd see more incidents. I don't think so, but I don't know for sure.

Other contributing factors:

- In my region, NASA brings drivers up through HPDE, so they learn to drive the proper line and acclimate to driving on the track before they ever start racing. SCCA lets a driver go from never-been-to-a-race-track to licensed racer without ever getting ANY in-car instruction and in just one weekend. NASA (in our region, at least) makes you complete four race days without any incidents of any sort - including wheels off or spins - before you are off probation and get a race license. In SCCA, you just have to not get DQ'd for a few races before you're signed off for a license.

- In our NASA region, we have a drivers' meeting every race day. That brings all the racers face to face, and we talk about any incidents that happened the prior weekend or the prior day. In our local SCCA region, they only have one class drivers' meeting per season, and that's usually dominated by a specific topic. There's no other mechanism that brings the drivers together, face to face, to talk about the racing or racing incidents.

- In our NASA region, we create a designated paddock space for each class which has the effect of forcing the drivers closer together physically for the whole weekend. Again, I firmly believe that you treat people differently when you know them, have borrowed tools (or beers) from them and have interacted with them off the track. NASA flat-out does a better job of this in our region.

I don't agree with how all the NASA racing room rules are written, but like I said above (and Brian said originally), I think the quality of the racing and the amount of contact has a lot more to do with the mentality of the drivers in the class and how you bring the drivers together than it does the printed words in the CCR.

Again, just one guy's opinion.

Cheers,

Dean


Dean all very good points and in fairness, there is much less "taking advantage of the written rules" at the front of our regions NASA fields, it seems to me most of that is taking place in the middle of the pack. I experienced it several time, 2 seasons ago when I was a solid mid pack racer. I never understood it then and still really dont understand it now. I always thought there was no reason for it, driving a defensive line is one thing but turning down on someone just because you can is sensless. If you want to get to the front you have to start driving and thinking like a front runner. Most front runners know they are not going to win every race, and there is always a next race. They mostly know each other and have some level of respect for their competitors, even if they do not like each other.

My rule has been to treat others as I would like to be treated. If someone beats me I congratulate them. If I hit them I go talk to them and if I am at fault I appologize. I can still remember starting out 2 seasons ago, two of us had done the NASA drivers school and raced the weekend gotten to know one another a fair bit, and then we see each other at a "very quality Drivers Ed 10/10ths Motorsports" run by racing guys. Were we ran litteraly side to side through corners for a straight hour running off line, on line making over under moves etc. etc. Long story short the other guy ended up running into me making a late pass in one of the corners, he was so bummed about hitting me. I knew he didn't mean to and likely would never hit me again as he learned something from that move. I got out some beers and we drank them together and celebrated an awesome day or learning some real racing techniques. I had a dent to fix but I knew that it could happen and it was well worth the risk for the reward of learning.

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#23
dtfastbear

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I couldn't agree with you more, Kyle. If everyone had the mentality that you're racing with, the racing room rules would become somewhat academic and we'd have better, more competitive and CLEANER racing throughout the pack.

One point I want to make - my manifesto above isn't meant as a ding on the local or national SCCA, it's just a promotion for some of the things that I feel make a positive difference. These are things that either Jerry has implemented in NASA on a national or local scale or that I, personally, promote as the Norcal NASA spec miata director. Once again, just my opinion!

Cheers,

Dean

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#24
racinglawyer

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WOW you guys must be paid a heck of a lot more than me to race.I thougt Amature racing was for fun....Whats the purpose of running somebody off the race track...to gain a few positions..heck maybe even win...If you play by the rules and use common sense then we all have fun and save money in racing, if not then we join the group some of you described.

When you have a choice of whether to be Right or KIND, always choose to be kind...It makes for a better world.

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#25
Jim Boemler

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When you have a choice of whether to be Right or KIND, always choose to be kind...It makes for a better world.


I think you're about to be disbarred... ;)




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