199 replies to this topic

[Jim Drago]

Steve
Thats funny! I have two as well, I account the same way. Didn't they pay me to send them to school last year?
Jim

[Andrew Charbonneau]

Im sorry dave, your car is right would you be willing to coach me for a few weekends it helped sparks i need the help

[gsparks]

after wathching video sparks mad a bad pass in high speed cornor and pushed jeff wide for no gain. alot to learn maybe the coach should come in on this one ploe to 9th race craft not speed. sorry young jetti warrior watch your own video you messed up he cornor for nothing but going backwards.
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LOOK OUT

[Ron Alan]

So does anyone know what the Stewards did as a result of the various incidents. Did they take any action?

This is the $10,000 dollar question. Discussion amongst drivers in this forum will change nothing until those who are in charge of enforcing rules enforce them!! Those who are willing to push the rules or flatout ignore them will do so until they are given a reason to follow them. As long as SCCA officials want to emulate the same path as our government looks at illegal immigration(that would be looking the other way!)bitching at each other is pointless.

That being said, hopefully they are watching, but just can't see everything. Everyone seems to run video. USE IT!! Help the officials out...yes you will be viewed as a little biatch, but if that's what it takes to keep the sport a little safer and everyone coming back, so be it. I hope some of these incidents HAVE been looked at but the results just not posted.

After reading first hand accounts here and watching N. Sparks video, as Cliff said, some get what's coming to them. In this case it's to bad Labonty had to take 3 other cars(Apparently Voytek would seem to be good collateral damage for most) with him. NASCAR guys get paid to put on a show and the man drama is acceptable(or will be until someone dies as a result...$10,000 fine? Be real). But I think everyone should agree that if you can't keep your cool driving around a 2400# battering ram for a $10 trophy, maybe you should take up golf! And I hope more than a few officials are willing to make that decision real easy for some!

My 2 cents. A spectator from a far...peace

[Andrew Charbonneau]

I like golf love the outdoors shoot i even went fishing during the runnoffs you point alan is golf over racing not a good comparison different adrinal rush My silver dollar

A spectator from whithin

[Andrew Charbonneau]

hey sparks how did you find my rental car pic very nice

[Jim Creighton]

Beats me why each discussion always goes back to the race officials. The comments from the left coast after looking at video are an example. This happened on the back straight at Road Atlanta. There's a worker station at the top of the rise, #8 and another at the bottom of the hill, #10. There is no way a worker could see what is happening between these two stations. The #8 workers are going to be looking the other way most of the time watching traffic coming and #10 would have not seen the cars. There's a half mile of 100MPH + track here. To get the Stewards looking at video, a protest would have had to be filed. As far as I know, none happened since we, tech, did not impound the cars involved. The bottom line is you guys are going to have to step up in person at the track and throw some paper. Everything said here has no official value. Man up!

Another example is I made an offer several days ago to do some exploratory tech at VIR after some of you complained about tech at Road Atlanta. I asked you to send me items to be checked. So far, I have received exactly zero items. Hmmmm! Again, man up!

All of you who race in SEDiv know Toni and I. We are at most of the Nationals and can help you with "paper work". I did one for a driver in another class on Saturday at Atlanta. If nothing else, do what we did years ago when we had a problem in production. We had a meeting and elected an individual to become the "enforcer". It worked! It took the personal out of it and everyone knew what was going to happen if problems continued. A number of engines were torn down (including Toni's). A couple of on track actions were filed (remember, ours was complicated by multi classes on track at once) Then, we went back to having fun.

[Matthew Wolfe]

I was speaking to a group of our stewards at our local convention and they told me that the current view of the SCCA is to have its members self police. This means if you have an issue with another driver you need to throw paper. Don’t expect the stewards to do it with out asking for it. This may be looked at as being a tattletale but it is the only way to fix it in the current SCCA culture. I asked why this is and they told me it was because the members didn’t like being picked on by the stewards so they changed the policing to a member responsibility. That being said they will still take action if they witness blatant safety issues.

[JRHille]

I will race with Nate Sparks any time. He is always clean, I didn't see anything wrong with his driving. Although I'm just another young over-eager driver..

[dmathias]

Mr. Creighton, et al, I like NASA's system - anyone, regardless of fault, must file an incident report after metal-to-metal. Then a review board comprised of officials and drivers review the reports to determine fault and assign penalties. What prevents the SCCA from instituting a similar system?

-Denny

[Andrew Charbonneau]

nobady said we would not run with sparks come on we all have too learn for other drivers take for example the kid who hit the crane at road america.

[Bench Racer]

take for example the kid who hit the crane at road america.

Drago's pal ^

[Lance Snyder]

There is one other station on the backstretch, black flag which is 9. Problem is you don't see much so if its right around the bend you wont see it and folks... turn 10 is swamped. Having worked there many a day I can say in a large field like this there is a lot going on in all directions. Looks these grab ass games took place in an area where 9 can't really see well and due to the angle its tough on turn 10 also.

Here is a solution, stop playing grab ass especially at parts of the track you know you can hurt someone at. Remember there is another human being behind the family with loved ones, you may hate his driving or a move he pulled in a corner but hurting him and taking out your buddies is a no-go. Don't be a buddy fracker. As an active marshall who loves this class id hate to respond to a driver hurt because someone decided to stuff him in the wall. You put us at risk, ev, ambulance and other response personnel can put at risk too.. think about it guys.

Nate, it was good to meet you, hope to see you out here more often. Thanks for the show at 7 guys, you managed to ensure I didn't have to do any paperwork on your group.

[dstevens]

Mr. Creighton, et al, I like NASA's system - anyone, regardless of fault, must file an incident report after metal-to-metal. Then a review board comprised of officials and drivers review the reports to determine fault and assign penalties. What prevents the SCCA from instituting a similar system?

"Thank you for your suggestion. The rule is adequate as written."

[Ron Alan]

I like golf love the outdoors shoot i even went fishing during the runnoffs you point alan is golf over racing not a good comparison different adrinal rush My silver dollar

A spectator from whithin

Pointing out the ridiculous with the ridiclous...every seen a really competative guy keep his cool at golf on a bad day?? As that F16 flew over did the sonic boom hurt your ears

Always enjoy your posts! A wit that is like the NYT crossword puzzle...some days you get it and some days you just through up your arms and say HUH? Some may not want me to encourage you but I say keep them coming! Keep on trucking AC!

[Jim Creighton]

"Thank you for your suggestion. The rule is adequate as written."

Said way better than I could have.

Thanks.

But, NASA is paid staff & SCCA is not. Not many SCCA Stewards would have stayed the three or four days necessary for all the "NASA Driver Reviews". Besides SM, there was the 5 Formula Fords that sought the same ground in turn one, all in by hook or tilt bed, the FE bump & run, the GT3's who didn't want to be passed, the SSB's who rubbed, etc.

Not a normal weekend. Must have been the full moon that was closest to earth in 40 years. Sure wasn't the prize money!

[Ron Alan]

I was speaking to a group of our stewards at our local convention and they told me that the current view of the SCCA is to have its members self police. This means if you have an issue with another driver you need to throw paper. Don’t expect the stewards to do it with out asking for it. This may be looked at as being a tattletale but it is the only way to fix it in the current SCCA culture. I asked why this is and they told me it was because the members didn’t like being picked on by the stewards so they changed the policing to a member responsibility. That being said they will still take action if they witness blatant safety issues.

If this is accurate then it explains things.

Jim C...I got someones attention which was the point. Of course officials aren't always looking the other way and of course not every part of a track or incident can be seen. I was being absurd to point out the White Elephant on the front straight. Between officials hoping drivers self manage and drivers unwilling to throw paper...the status quo will continue. Some are fine with this but I'd guess a larger majority are not. Sadly, it probably will take something serious to occur before this changes.

To quote a very famous person...my silver dollar

[pitbull113]

I personally do not want to fill out some paper work for every little incident on the track. If I have a problem with a driver on the track I go have a talk with him,if it happens again....well what happens on the track stays on the track. Turnabout is fair play.

[dstevens]

Said way better than I could have.

Thanks.

Before you thank me, you might want to battery up that sarcasm meter.

That's a standard SCCA blow off when something is submitted they don't intend to change. Some of them boys have a problem. Knocking guys off the track at 100+ and bitching about it on a forum isn't going to solve the problem. I've been in races where on two separate occasions over the course of a few years med-evac flights were needed. The first guy held on for about a week, never woke up. The other guy passed before the chopper landed next to the track.

[Riggins]

Hello fellow racers. Completely anonymous username so if I ever have the pleasure of racing against the folks named here, I don't end up in a lifeflight and they don't get shot by me when I get back to the track. This is for their protection as much as it is for mine.

Now Andrew, Jeff, Chains, Tucker and whoever else is in your mean girl club this week, don't act too tough cause in the end, you're racing a miata.

The mean girls have done a GREAT job of changing this issue from Labounty being an absolute idiot to whether or not you'd race with some kid who obviously races quite well. Better than me and I'm not ashamed to say so. And most of you have let them do so. No different than looking the other way when you were in middle school and the bullies ran amock.

The real issue here is Jeff L has pitted ANOTHER car at a dangerous speed. Not like this hasn't been done by him before:


Pathetic. Shame on anyone who sees what this guy is doing and not doing something about it. Shame on any SCCA officials on here waiting for someone to throw paper to do anything. These are people's lives being put at risk and some choose to hide behind rules, paperwork, and redtape BS. If that were you, your kid, or your wife in any of those cars that Jeff has wrecked, then would you do something?