Mari L Clements wrote:
>
>
> The last half of this last sentence was *not* supposed to happen. "Red
> flag all" was not supposed to be automatic. Only the cars that needed
> the red flag were supposed to get it.
But it did have to happen once the first car got flagged. Because it
stayed on the course heading to the finish, but at a much slower rate of
speed, and considering the interval between cars, the next car was then
flagged, and then the next. Because of this method, the following cars
actually were able to get most of a run in before being flagged.
>
> That is, if station 5--the last station--still had 1) course workers who
> did not have enough time to get out of the way or 2) a spun car that was
> not going to be out of the way, the car approaching should have been red
> flagged. That red flagged car should have then exited the course in a
> timely fashion (not at speed, but not crawling, either).
Right, but let me point out that this was not the scenario when I was
watching. What I saw was course worker(s) red flagging cars that were
within 4 turns of the finish, and the previous car was long gone, but
the course worker was replacing cones. Safety issue? I don't think so,
since the car was not close to the worker, who SHOULD be completed or
vacated that area by the time the next car approached.
Again, I was curious as to if this was intentionally part of Nats.
Locally, we don't redflag a car for a missing or downed cone. Seeing
that the course is incorrect is the driver's responsibility. But it did
occur to me that it also may mean that the next driver has an advantage
if the apex cone is missing, although it's risky to not have it called
on him.
>
> Several times, all corners showed red flag when only 2 should have and
> many times the car on course that was red flagged went very, very slowly,
> thus causing additional red flags.
Yep.
>
> OTOH, far better to red flag a car than to risk the safety of a
> competitor or a course worker, right?
Of course, but I did not see that as part of the scenario I was
watching.
Randy Chase (can I please put back my rerun and keep my original time??)
:-)
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