All Alluminum Tour is OverYour safety is the real important thing here and I'm
glad you're okay.
If it happened to me, I don't know how I would react. It sounds like the car
is fixable, thank goodness.
The thing is, it's pretty dangerous to have vehicles of such different sizes
racing together. One slip-up and it's off into the weeds, the big car wins.
I'm still tentative in my dad's old restored TR3, I don't want to get too
close to anybody for fear of making contact. That Vette was not nearly as
agile as your sports-racer as you darted around him in the heat of battle. He
probably made a mistake and didn't whack you intentionally. If he did, he's
in the wrong sport. A handshake and apology would have been the sportsman
like thing to do. Either the Vette-guy was waiting for you to come over to
him, or was afraid to confront you, or both.
~S
----- Original Message -----
From: Bill Babcock
To: Steve Belfer ; Friends of Triumph
Sent: Sunday, September 09, 2007 4:50 PM
Subject: All Alluminum Tour is Over
I got squashed by a Corvette at Watkins Glen yesterday. Stupid beyond
belief--he whacked me in the back left corner trying to re-pass me in an turn
nine, and then tried to blame the wreck on me. I wound up pivoting on his
bumper, being shoved sideways down the track with a big ass 57' Corvette
rubbing my elbow and finally got shoved against the tire wall, which bent the
suspension mounts on the right front corner. He could of killed me, he did
indeed wreck the heck out of Peyote, and didn't have the integrity to even say
"sorry your car got wrecked" or "glad you didn't get hurt".
Weasel.
I've been on the guilty side of an incident like this once, and though it
was a lot less clearcut than this one (I hit a guy in the middle of his car
when I couldn't brake in time as he cut across a chicane),I stepped up and
apologized. Even paid for the guy's damage though I think it's wrong to do
that--we all assume the risk of damage or injury when we choose to race. I'll
fix my own car.
The stewards didn't "decide" on their action, which I take to mean they
wanted everyone cleared out before they decide to do nothing. They were
already making noises about "mitigating aspects" when I talked to them,
despite clear evidence like a big punt mark in the back of my car, a video
from Karon's Devin, and lots of people that saw the incident. I know the
corner worker on the scene must have been looking the wrong way--he asked me
what happened.
If I did such a bonehead thing I'd expect to get suspended, but the guy has
run with SVRA for years and I'm just a guy from Oregon that they may never see
again. They're the ones that will have to race with the weenie, I certainly
wouldn't set a wheel on a track with him again.
Anyway, the racing part of the tour is over. I'm making my way back across
the country to lick my wounds in Portland. we'll do a little sightseeing on
the way back and stop in Geneseo to pick up my motor from Uncle Jack.
I will, of course, fix Peyote.
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