At the VIR North race, NASA Mid Atlantic Regional Director Chris Cobetto and Spec E30 racer Jon Allen had a contact incident.
Below is a note that Chris has asked me to post for him.
[i]I don’t necessarily want to cause issue where there isn’t currently but based upon my speech for the All hands meeting on Saturday I feel compelled to clear something up about this weekend. As you know when I race I remove myself from anything that happens within my race group. I am a driver just like everyone else and expect to be treated as such by the officials and fellow drivers. On Sunday there was an incident between Jonny Allen and me in the braking zone under the bridge at turn 7. I was running second and Jonny third directly behind me. Jon overshot a bit and impacted squarely his front to my rear (apparently enjoying the quarterback position rather than receiver). Anyway, the hit was hard enough to do some pretty decent damage to the front of Jon’s car but in typical rear-ender fashion the car in front (me) really had little damage. The hit was also hard enough that it knocked me off the track, allowing several cars to go by. Jon waited for me to return to the track and we continued on. In a heroic display of courage and talent I made my way back to second place but the race finished before I could reel in Jens.
The event was called into control but apparently when the drivers were interviewed JJ and Jim Politi had a miscommunication as to what actually happened, not realizing that I had left the racing surface as a result of the hit and that Jon’s car had suffered significant damage. The incident was a classic punt which carries with it a penalty of DQ. The officials ruled it as a racing incident under a misunderstanding of the incident. In reality this should have been ruled a DQ of Jon but was not. For nothing else that education I will say that at the point the ruling was made I knew it was wrong and as a driver it would have been my right to appeal the decision. I chose not to do so because Jonny and his Philly buddies had my wife locked in a closet…although it was a tough decision.
In this case we messed up and Jon was not penalized for something that was a pretty clear infraction. I’m not here to tool on Jon or my organization. The point of this message is to answer any question in anyone’s mind (if it was there) why there was no penalty for a very clear infraction. In very simple terms, due to miscommunication from the drivers and misinterpretation of the officials, the wrong ruling was given. I only bring this up because I think it is important for all drivers to realize that contact is not encouraged or condoned and will be penalized accordingly.
I love to race with all of you guys. It truly is the most fun I’ve ever had in a race car. From a driver’s perspective I would not want to be anywhere else and look forward to every weekend. As an administrator I want everyone to know that we do our best to keep things fair but sometimes we bow to human frailty. In this case I was on the bad end of the decision but I carry no animosity or anger. I have been doing this long enough to know that sometimes you’re the dog and sometimes you’re the tree. Over time it all washes out.
My best to you all!!! Go sign up for the Championships!!!
Chris Cobetto[/i]