2007 June Sprints

[jnortonjr]

Scott,

I agree. This is not an official issue it's a driver issue. When we go on the track we accept responsibility for the mechanical integrity of our car, our actions and how our actions affect other racers. That's why I let the entire field by knowing I couldn't make up 4 miles and I wouldn't want to mess up Tomasi or Coello's race.

That's only the small picture. The big picture is that we're not the only people making investments in this deal. We have crew, family, sponsors and spectators who want to see 20 FC's going down into 5 on lap 13 wondering who will go a little deeper. Not lap 1.

[Mike B]

Keith, the better pics are on the way. You'll get a kick out of this: when I was going through my spares looking for the bellcrank bearings, I found two brand-new Penske end caps, complete with Schrader valves and seals. Funny, huh?

Here's a question, maybe for Pete O. or Kevin K.: if Niki heeded the black flag, albeit not right away, why was he DQed?

[Brad Ellingson]

I believe he had 2 laps to come in....which he didn't. You also cannot serve your black flag under a full course caution.

[ncoello]

Hi,
I don't normally post, however I thought a few questions should be answered. First and formost this whole situation is not covered in the SCCA GCR, It is a rule in the supplemetary regulations created within Chicago Region. Second, the rule does not have a specifc number of laps you need to come in by nor does it even mention anything about carrying out your stop and go during a yellow.

Did I deserve a stop and go for my apparently horrible start, probably. I did come in to serve the stop and go in my first oppurtunity and when I came out I was last. No matter when I would have came in or during what track condition, I would have been last. You think that was good enough a punishment for getting on the power a few yards early?

Ok, so now I drive my @ss off and come from last to win the race only to get pulled into the black flag station and get handed a slip of paper saying I'm being moved to last again because of Rule IV.A in the supps. The rule that states you need to come in for a stop and go. It does not make any sense.I'm not sure the punishment fits the crime here.

SCCA is made up of all volunteers myself included, I'm very thankfull they are there otherwise I couldn't do this with my family, but some common sense and less ego would be nice.

Thank you for listening and congrats to Caldwell, Shafer, and Davis. I feel bad for Tomasi, he had a horrible weekend as well.
Niki

P.S. Boy that Hankook Series looks pretty interesting!

[Purple Frog]

What i read in that was Nicki went from the rear to the front in a race with lots of yellows. Pretty damn impressive car/driver combination.

[Chas Shaffer]

Finally back in Virginia and sort of surprised by the discussion.

I wasn't criticizing the officials in any way. The double yellows needed to come out and I still believe if a FCY is out the pace car should be out.

As for the split start, I was just expressing an opinion not asking for a change. Actually what I suggested was a grouping change. Split or no split someone will be unhappy. If there aren't any FCY's then the split works fine but that's not very likely. I understand Keith's point, basically it's the same point for the the leaders after a FCY restart. We run as qualified just about everywhere else though, I'm not sure why RA is different.

Kevin,
LOL yes the car really needs a paint job. I've probably gone as far as I can by strategically covering up big paint chips with stickers but it's clean, Rick only washes his car when it rains.

Niki,
For what it's worth Matt M. received a similar penalty in the Hankook series for jumping the start. I was very surprised they BF'd you and then DQ'd you. When you pitted during the first FCY I thought you'd be able to come back up through the field. After the second FCY I was looking for you in my mirrors. You flew by me like I was standing still. I'm not sure but I think they may have stopped scoring you at one point for not answering the flag. When you didn't go in for the black flag the announcer starting calling Tomasi in the lead even though you were. I would have pushed much harder to get back by Bobby had I thought you would get DQ'd. Regardless you had a great drive back to the front. I felt really bad for Brian as well.

[dc]

Boy that Hankook Series looks pretty interesting!

That doesn't seem to be an uncommon sentiment.




It looked like a LOT of familiar June Sprint faces were missing this year. That's too bad that there is a reputation developing for the way that the Chicago Region officials are doing things at this event, and it's not just FC.

[Keith Carter]

That doesn't seem to be an uncommon sentiment.




It looked like a LOT of familiar June Sprint faces were missing this year. That's too bad that there is a reputation developing for the way that the Chicago Region officials are doing things at this event, and it's not just FC.

I believe that the Chicago Region has been open to suggestions and willing to work with the drivers. I've noticed a change in recent races where they would solicit feedback from us and open to input. Even some of the workers at registration and tech I've seen crack a smile. If anything it's a lack of communication and not the officials who are entirely to blame. It's easy to Monday morning quarterback a lot of things after the fact, but a lot of things aren't in the rules for special circumstances and sometimes need quick decisions in order to prevent things from coming to a screeching halt.

Niki had the field covered with the exception of maybe Tomasi and it's a shame that a dominant triple-triple crown future would be shot down by a penalty.

[cff96]

Something needs to be done about the consistency of penalties handed out by the officials. We were at Road America the week before (a regional albeit) and two Spec Miatas jumped the start and ignored the black flag for several laps. Their radio communications were bleeding over one of the offical frequencies on our scanner and their crew told them not to come in - repeatedly. The drivers never came in. Finally, the powers that be stopped black flagging them and handed out the penalty after the race was complete - 1 finishing position each. (I talked to the drivers in impound and suggested they choose frequencies a little further away from the offical frequencies so their conversations would remain private.)

Then the Sprints rolls around and Coello get's DQ'd when he actually served his penalty.

I believe that none of the Coello's run radios - so the driver wouldn't have known if the Atlantics got a start or not - and he would have relied on the black flag to know to come in.

We were watching the race from the top of the bleachers at turn 5. What happened on the restart where all the Atlantics were almost at a stop at 14? Did the pacecar slow down? Did the leader slow the field down? Should this have been looked into by the officials?

Bottom line - why is there such a difference from one week to the next in the same division? Is this a difference between regionals and nationals, a difference between Milwaukee Region and Chicago Region, the region's personnel, or is there no easy explanation?

Cindy

[swiftspeed]

Nick,

We got some Hankooks with your name on them for Mid-O. Come on down. The more the merrier. Plus they pay to for podium finishes!

[Tom Maycock]

I'm not a steward, and I won't try to play one on TV. But I did want to make a few points:

1) The "stop and go" penalty for a jumped start was spelled out in the Chief Steward's letter to the drivers, which was part of the official supplemental rules for the event.

I'm open to suggestions for a penalty that would be preferable. Docking a competitor one finishing position guarantees that they can't win. A stop-and-go tends to be more severe, but at least leaves open that possibility, as we saw in this race.

Also, keep in mind that we are now faced with 30(!) classes of competition, which required expanding the weekend to 9 race groups. That means our volunteers were staffing a hot track from roughly 8am to 6pm all three days, minus a short lunch break. Given that time pressure, you really don't want to just "wave off" a start and send everyone around for another lap if at all avoidable. We are faced with tough choices here.

2) The supps specified that drivers must respond to a black flag by entering the pits at the *first* opportunity.

We can look at changing that language, but I really don't think there is much ambiguity there. To me, that means the first lap after you get the black flag. If Niki had done that (or even a lap later), a bad day would have instead been a story for the ages. And I suspect everyone up in race control would have been thrilled for him. Really.

4) Chicago Region SCCA is very definitely open to any input and suggestions any of our competitors or volunteers may have, about the Sprints or anything else. We try very hard every year to make the Sprints the best it can be for competitors, volunteers, and spectators alike. Sometimes the needs of those groups are in conflict, but we do the best we can.

The planning for next year will start in about a week, when we hold a big post-event meeting to discuss what went well and what needs to be done better in 2008. I would certainly welcome any constructive comments you might have. You can find all the key contact info here:

http://www.scca-chicago.com/contacts.html

I would suggest directing comments to myself, or to Mike Smith, our Comp. Committee Chairman.

5) Regarding split starts, it's interesting to see arguments here against split starts, while in another thread on this forum, we're getting bashed for not having a split start. Again, tough choices sometimes.


Thanks for listening,
Tom Maycock
Regional Executive
Chicago Region SCCA

[Ian Lenhart]

Run the formula fords with the formula continentals and run the Fomulas Mazdas, FB, FE, with the Formula Atlantics.

[rickb99]

Well, that sorta caught my attention here when it was said ".... isn't spelled out clearly in GCR."

I don't have a copy here and the "Grrrr" SCCA PDF won't open for me today. Obviously been doing a lot of flagging the past 3 years so I hear a lot of radio talk concerning drivers being BF'd. I know the way we work it in the Northwest region and although this is from the ICSCC rule book, it pretty much follows SCCA and I KNOW SCCA here does this-

1. Closed Black
"Any driver who, after having been given the black flag warning, fails to acknowledge to the starter by hand signal within 2 laps of the warning shall be disqualified." (editorial note - unless the CS desides not too)

Note: That's ambiguous too. By my read Starter can give you the black on 2 consecutive laps then you have 2 more laps to acknowledge it. i.e. within 2 laps of the warning for a total of 4 laps. Interesting arguement there.

2. Open black with number displayed
"Unfurled with competitors number. Driver may be disqualified. Complete lap at reduced speed and return to designated area. Any driver failing to report to the designated area within 2 laps of the display of the unfurled black flag as described shall be disqualified.

Now the issue of a "jump start". Again not sure what the SCCA GCR says. But in ICSCC (usually close to same as SCCA) it's a one lap penalty and the cars crew must be notified IMMEDIATELY.

Regardless, if it was a DQ for lack of acknowledgement, not going to black flag station within 2 laps or a DQ for jump start (if that was the rule in effect) driver should have been TOLD that when reporting to the BF station. Not after the race.

But from a race earlier this year, what do you do with a driver that completely ignores the black flag for FIVE laps? Well, you let him come out with his group in the next session of course. I'm still wondering about that one.