27 replies to this topic

[Johnny D]

Johnny,

 

Driver qualed 17th after getting a single fair lap and a car that was struggling with a misfire. 17th wasn't good enough. I didn't like the qual format of pregrid positions being set  by the finish order of the last in region race. This policy favors local drivers who already have an advantage. The work around is to pull over immediately in the hot pit when coming off pre grid and sequence when you want or with your qual partner.

 

The driver did not crash out in T1 first lap. Driver was involved in an incident in T1 and continued.

Driver was in Sundays race. Started 14th. Driver again came into hotpit with a misfire. Push started the car after making a repair , rejoined the race and eventually retiring the car with the misfire not fixed.

 

Things went terrible.  Yes I bitched about the format, and that stands by itself regardless of how terrible our race weekend went. I withheld saying: sorry I had a bad weekend, because I don't like to use an excuse for my poor behavior and blame it on having a very bad day. Whether I have a bad day or not does not forgive my lack of manners while in your house.

 

Make sense?

 

I'm glad you set the story straight, sorry about the mis fire. Not sure you would of qual'd any differently ,if we did a SoCal qual, I assume it's just show up,pull off, find a spot and go,

but that's just my opinion.

Better luck next time.

 

J~

[Jamz14]

Johnny,

 

The format wasn't what impacted our qual time. Never said it did. I was the impact to our qual time by not presenting a car that was capable of a faster time that day.

 

The point however was that it does not welcome out of region drivers. It does advantage in region drivers by giving them the best opportunity (not guarantee) for having a clear track. An advantage that the in region drivers don't need as much because they already have an advantage of driving their home track. If the idea is to not have to have drivers coming to pregrid earlier and earlier to get a good spot, then a simple random placing of grid positions would work. But that isn't the reason. The fast region drivers don't want that. Why? Because there is a possible slight advantage to the fast guys to take the track first for qualifying. An advantage that a fast out of region driver does not have. They have to pull over and hope they time the re sequence well.

[Jamz14]

I'll tell you what I was watching right above the Indy corner and it was awesome ( 60 ) cars  flying down thru there down shifting three wide ( charlie Hayes - Tristan Littlehale ) over under  lap after lap ( Roy Flumer ) using his dirt track experience. Jerry not afraid to try stuff at any race ! it's his house , I personally don't have a problem with it . James and Pete... I'm sorry it didn't work for  you guys  like Ron said I enjoy you guys very much and look forward to running a lot with you.  

The point is being completely missed that it is not about whether it was more fun to drive and to watch. It is about whether or not officials artificially impacted a race. Officials are there to apply the rules and ensure that a race has the highest chance for the outcome to be what it is going to be. Not to create artificial situations that impact it.

 

Every time I watch a race on TV where a driver drives his best and builds a gap only to have a yellow flag come out and regroup the field I feel bad for that driver. A driver that might have just been able to lap a couple of guys and take them out of the equation should a yellow come out. But we accept double yellows as a necessary evil for racing on closed circuit courses and to be able to enjoy our experience with the highest safety possible. No problem. But why would we ever do it on purposes and for no reason in a real race? There are some social reasons for doing so but there is no good race reason for doing so. Have you been watching stadium super truck racing this year where there is a mandatory FCC to regroup the trucks to make it more exciting for spectators and to make the guys at the back feel like they are more competitive than they are? I don't watch anymore to see who wins. I only watch to see trucks flying in the air over jumps. Turned it from a race to a show. Which is fine, but tell the participants that and give them the choice to be a racer or a performance artist.

[Jamz14]

I really have to just stop looking at this thread. I am easily baited as catfish in a Mississippi pond.

[Pete Million]

I totally James

[Pete Million]

we not racing dirt track cars, I believe they are sports cars

[john mueller]

I have no dog in the race but have an opinion based on trying stuff in SoCal to 'spice things up".

 

I love the skip Qual for a 50min race - that is brilliant!!  But, changing track config mid-race/session is stupid.  I'm cool with having different configs Sat & Sun but within the same session is a very bad idea.  Further evidence that NorCal NASA is more concerned about something other than putting on a real racing event.

[Ron Alan]

I really have to just stop looking at this thread. I am easily baited as catfish in a Mississippi pond.

Yes, and you don't follow your own advise! 

 

 

Johnny,

 

The format wasn't what impacted our qual time. Never said it did. I was the impact to our qual time by not presenting a car that was capable of a faster time that day.

 

The point however was that it does not welcome out of region drivers. It does advantage in region drivers by giving them the best opportunity (not guarantee) for having a clear track. An advantage that the in region drivers don't need as much because they already have an advantage of driving their home track. If the idea is to not have to have drivers coming to pregrid earlier and earlier to get a good spot, then a simple random placing of grid positions would work. But that isn't the reason. The fast region drivers don't want that. Why? Because there is a possible slight advantage to the fast guys to take the track first for qualifying. An advantage that a fast out of region driver does not have. They have to pull over and hope they time the re sequence well.

You are 100% correct...NASA NORCAL qual grid does not favor 1st time out of town attendees the first day. It also doesn't favor local attendees who missed the last event, or those who DNF'd in the last race or those who may have had a big off and finished 10 spots back from normal. It's not perfect...but it is predictable! It also avoids the practice of 2 hr ahead lines of cars that there is no where in a typical NASA NORCAL weekend paddock to stage! This has been the norm for years here and gets no complaints. 

 

So now that I said "predictable"...you and others have 100% valid points on why the "curve ball" has unintended consequences.