49 replies to this topic

[Tyler Kicera]

Hille is a good choice.  But Kicera has that IMPRESSIVE resume on his mazdaracers profile ... so I am hiring Kicera on this one.

 

since you clearly love referencing it, I've given you a little credit now...

[JRHille]

Looking forward to driving the new track, and seeing what the new pavement is like on the old course.   I used to live about a half hour from this track so I have a lot of laps on the North course and on the kart track.  Really looking forward to staying at the track, sleeping in the trailer, and hanging out with everyone, instead of going back to a hotel. 

 

The Michigan crew is going to try to make it a little more difficult for Kicera but he has proven to be fast here and everywhere, will be a good race either way. 

[Jim Drago]

Looks like a really fun track

 

Tyler has been driving really well and has lots of laps there.. hard to pick against him.. 

 

Tyler

Justin

Marc Cefalo (in the noncompetitive red headed NA 1.8   )

[Danica Davison]

since you clearly love referencing it, I've given you a little credit now...

 

Hahaha I like it!

[Danica Davison]

I'm just trying to be a nice guy and get you more profile views.  It looks like you are getting a lot of them

[Tom Sager]

Looks like a really fun track

 

Tyler has been driving really well and has lots of laps there.. hard to pick against him.. 

 

Tyler

Justin

Marc Cefalo (in the noncompetitive red headed NA 1.8   )

 

It's an NA friendly track with a lot of high RPM sections. 

[Jim Drago]

Congratulations in order to shake and bake  Justin Hille and Mike Novak qualified 1-2 and finished 1-2 with Mike Mike Novak getting the new track record.  Congrats to Tyler for rounding out the podium. Good luck to all today

[Richard Astacio]

Argh these Northeast Majors are killing me, Easter Weekend and Mothers Day Weekend.....

 

I'm rooting for the over 40 club to win today...Let go Novak! 

[Jim Drago]

Congrats to Tyler and Mike yesterday, looked like  a heck of a race. Tyler won by .2 at the line, looked like multiple lead swaps.  Jason Kohler for P3, very nice!  

Justin tied up with a spinning car and Bspec weapon of John Heinracy who seems to make a habit of blocking out of class cars for some reason. 

[FTodaro]

Justin did the right thing by filing a protest, to be sure that at least there was a punishment for the bad conduct. Amazing to me however the number of posts on FB that people really do not understand the rules. I am assuming that most were non racers, I hope.

 

The last point i would make is that they should not wait for a protest to take action when 3 or more cars get taken out by an out of class chop. But we are making progress as it was not found to be a racing incident.

 

The last point i will make is that if this or any other driver have a history, there is a process where you an ask for a driver review, they will review past videos of issues with the same driver and can take action after that review even on races where no protest was filed. So if you have video's of the same guy doing bad things over and over save it and use it.

 

Edit,

 

i forgot to mention, some congrats, Justin had a nice win Saturday, with Mike getting the track record, and as Jim said it looks like Tyler and Mike had a great battle on Sunday

.

would like to hear some comment about what the track was like with the old section repaved, if they taken out the bumps on the Back straight?

[John Nesbitt]

...

 

The last point i will make is that if this or any other driver have a history, there is a process where you an ask for a driver review, they will review past videos of issues with the same driver and can take action after that review even on races where no protest was filed. So if you have video's of the same guy doing bad things over and over save it and use it.

 

...

 

 

Yes and no.

 

There are several hurdles in front of a driver review.

 

First, one or more concerned members must request the relevant Division Executive Steward to conduct a review.  It is entirely within the Exec’s discretion to decide whether to hold a review, what its terms of reference are, and who is on the review committee.

 

Execs are generally fair-minded, but each will have his own take on what rises to the level of needing review.  The requester(s) would do well to be able to present some evidence/history/video/etc. to justify their request.

 

 

Second, the committee (which is like a Stewards of the Meeting court at an event) has a lot of latitude is deciding how to proceed.  They can do as little as look at any evidence in the original request or as much as doing an in-depth search for incidents involving the driver under review.

 

There are very few driver reviews, so it is hard to draw firm conclusions, but I am familiar with a few in this decade.  I would say that most did not go beyond evidence presented in the original complaint, plus any current points on the subject’s license.

 

(Full disclosure:  I chaired a driver review four years ago.  We did considerable research beyond the complaint.  I think that made our review committee an outlier.)

 

 

Third, there may not be much evidence on file.  Each event’s documentation tends to be ephemeral.  As much as we would like all documentation to be scanned, stored, and searchable, the reality is closer to the final (warehouse) scene from Raiders of the Lost Ark.

 

This is a why it is so critical to file protests.  Only by doing so is there much hope of generating a continuing record around a driver.  I was not at Pitt.  I cannot comment on the facts/fairness of this incident, but the reprimand and point will stick to the driver’s record.

 

 

So, bottom line, filing a protest is the best way to help build a case for a driver review and for the review committee to take action.

[Tyler Kicera]

would like to hear some comment about what the track was like with the old section repaved, if they taken out the bumps on the Back straight?

 

Thanks everyone, it was one of the most fun races I've had.  We must have swapped the lead 12-15 times, sometimes multiple times per lap.  RM didn't tell the true story - I'll try to have video up in the next day or so.  

 

I really didn't think the old track being repaved would make much difference, but I was wrong.  No changes to the South track or sealer.  There is still tons of grip there, and this track really rewards drivers on 7-10 HC tires.  I was on 4 HC for the race Saturday and coupled with my blown LR bearing, just had no pace.  The car would bind badly in the high compression corners and esses.  You simply could not drive it into corners hard enough or carry enough speed to overcome the bind.  I don't want to speak for Justin, but it looked like he bolted on some 5-ish HC tires for Sunday and struggled.  

 

You can carry a lot more speed into the uphill right-hander just after you come onto the North track.  This amplifies the run all the way to the last corner, which you can carry a lot more speed through as well.  No bumps on the back straight, but the transition from South to North is still very bumpy on an inside line.  As you'll see in my video when I post it, I nearly lost it there in the Sunday race.  Turn 1 is virtually unchanged.    

[Danny Steyn]

Yes and no.

 

There are several hurdles in front of a driver review.

 

First, one or more concerned members must request the relevant Division Executive Steward to conduct a review.  It is entirely within the Exec’s discretion to decide whether to hold a review, what its terms of reference are, and who is on the review committee.

 

Execs are generally fair-minded, but each will have his own take on what rises to the level of needing review.  The requester(s) would do well to be able to present some evidence/history/video/etc. to justify their request.

 

 

Second, the committee (which is like a Stewards of the Meeting court at an event) has a lot of latitude is deciding how to proceed.  They can do as little as look at any evidence in the original request or as much as doing an in-depth search for incidents involving the driver under review.

 

There are very few driver reviews, so it is hard to draw firm conclusions, but I am familiar with a few in this decade.  I would say that most did not go beyond evidence presented in the original complaint, plus any current points on the subject’s license.

 

(Full disclosure:  I chaired a driver review four years ago.  We did considerable research beyond the complaint.  I think that made our review committee an outlier.)

 

 

Third, there may not be much evidence on file.  Each event’s documentation tends to be ephemeral.  As much as we would like all documentation to be scanned, stored, and searchable, the reality is closer to the final (warehouse) scene from Raiders of the Lost Ark.

 

This is a why it is so critical to file protests.  Only by doing so is there much hope of generating a continuing record around a driver.  I was not at Pitt.  I cannot comment on the facts/fairness of this incident, but the reprimand and point will stick to the driver’s record.

 

 

So, bottom line, filing a protest is the best way to help build a case for a driver review and for the review committee to take action.

 

John - thanks for posting this - your contributions to this forum have been exceptionally valuable and help us understand what happens behind the scenes. Many thanks

[Tyler Kicera]

When it was all said and done the number was 17

 

http://youtu.be/3TM3RE5F0M0

[38bfast]

Very nice job Tyler

[Bench Racer]

WOW,  tenacity. Well done guys.

[LarryKing]

Now THAT'S how to edit video. Don't need the whole race, don't need 2 minutes on the grid, just the good parts.

 

If we could drop the god awful music it would be perfect.

[Tyler Kicera]

If we could drop the god awful music it would be perfect.

 

different strokes for different folks

[Craig Berry]

That was FUN! Thanks for the video Tyler!

[Alex Piku]

Now THAT'S how to edit video. Don't need the whole race, don't need 2 minutes on the grid, just the good parts.

 

If we could drop the god awful music it would be perfect.

 

Tyler, after you change the music, maybe you can help get those punk kids to stop riding their damn skateboards on the sidewalk!