Randy Chase wrote:
> It must be very frustrating to spend all this time and money to be at
> Topeka, to think you really have a shot at winning, specially as a
> rookie, then to have it all gone because of some course worker's
> inattention. I know it's all part of racing and stuff happens...but that
> bites.
Two interesting incidents from today. The first I witnessed in the
first heat. A C Mod driver had a "complaint" that there was a downed
cone on course during his run and it was counted against him. As we all
know, if you SEE a downed cone on course, you STOP for it so that it
doesn't count against you. Dunno who the driver was, but all we could
say in T&S was... "duh!"
The second was related to me by someone who worked the South course near
the finish. A car spun out on course near the finish and stalled out.
No cones were hit, but the car was off-course, facing the wrong
direction (90 degrees left) and not running. Just as the workers were
about to throw the red flag for the next car, the driver got the car
started and moving, so they didn't. In his exuberance to get the hell
out of the way, the driver did hit a cone. (the apex cone of the zig-zag
before the 90 degree left at the finish, a very relevant cone) Not only
did he hit the cone, but he took it with him. But he was gone, and
there was no safety concern. The next car was red flagged so that the
missing cone could be replaced.
The question was raised... should the red flag have been thrown? I
haven't looked it up yet, but as it was explained to me, the rule book
calls out use of the red flag to stop a car on course for safety
reasons. Personally, I feel that the flag should have been thrown
because allowing the next car to complete a run on an incomplete course
would be unfair. But if the rules don't say we "can" use the red flag
in such a manner...
I thought it was an interesting question.
I argued that the safety concern was for the worker that had to run out
and replace the cone before the car came by. But since the course
worker was not out on course replacing the cone (as he did not have the
cone to replace), and all course workers know better than to run out in
front of a car... this was not really a safety issue.
My rulebook is still in the car. Anyone wanna look it up?
--
Loren Williams | Homepage - http://home.kscable.com/shad
'94 Saturn SC2 | Wichita Region SCCA - http://www2.southwind.net/~scca
|