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RE: Rules, Accidents, and Vintage Racing

To: "'kas kastner'" <kaskas@cox.net>, Editorgary@aol.com, fot@autox.team.net,
Subject: RE: Rules, Accidents, and Vintage Racing
From: Bill Babcock <BillB@bnj.com>
Date: Sat, 23 Jul 2005 13:47:11 -0700
Just shows how damned smart you are. 


Bill Babcock
Babcock & Jenkins

-----Original Message-----
From: owner-fot@autox.team.net [mailto:owner-fot@autox.team.net] On Behalf
Of kas kastner
Sent: Saturday, July 23, 2005 1:34 PM
To: Editorgary@aol.com; fot@autox.team.net; MGVR@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: Rules, Accidents, and Vintage Racing

I  want to point out that my message was sent over 30 days ago and has
nothing to do with the incident at RA, but was referring to several previous
messages concerning "cheating".
  ----- Original Message -----
  From: Editorgary@aol.com
  To: fot@autox.team.net ; MGVR@yahoogroups.com
  Sent: Saturday, July 23, 2005 12:20 PM
  Subject: Rules, Accidents, and Vintage Racing


  In a message dated 7/23/05 9:52:14 AM, owner-fot-digest@autox.team.net
  writes:
  > The solution [to problems like the BRIC incident} can only be when the
  > organizations state that a certain list of modifications is legal or
open, [and
  > others are forbidden}. There can
  > be no worse regulation than one that is not enforceable. (worse yet, is
not
  > TRYING to enforce the rules)
  >
  While the speed and power (legal or otherwise) of the cars involved in the
  BRIC incident certainly contributed to the intensity of the outcome, and
that
  power may attract a certain personality of driver to that particular race
group,
  I don't believe that this is an issue that can be handled by emphasis on
  rules.
  Much faster, more valuable, and more vulnerable cars than these, such as
the
  vintage formula car group, manage to have clean starts and relatively
  incident-free races by simply recognizing that the cars are faster than
amateur
  weekend drivers are capable of handling in difficult circumstances and
driving
  accordingly.
  The vintage formula car drivers also recognize that the pace lap and start
  are perhaps the most dangerous portion of the race. (Imagine a group of
fast
  formula cars having a multi-car pile-up like that at the BRIC. Open wheels
would
  cause cars to be launched in all directions, and period cockpits, roll
bars
  and gas tank configurations would make injury and death an almost certain
  probability).
  Consequently, as I understand it, there is a clear though tacit
understanding
  that no one starts "racing" (i.e. no passing) until the cars have spread
out
  a bit, generally after the first turn on most courses. That still leaves a
lot
  of track time left to show how fast the car is and how good the driver is,
  while avoiding the possibility of a truly awful situation at the start.
  Regardless of the legality and power of the cars, we need to focus the VMC
  discussions this fall on policies and procedures for pace laps and starts.
If it
  means that we no longer get to play Dale Earnhardt or Mario Andretti when
the
  green flag is dropped (or believed to have been dropped), that seems like
a
  small price to pay for the assurance of increased safety.
  Cheers
  Gary Anderson

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