[quote=“mcmmotorsports” post=72972][quote=“catsailor” post=72971]
Incidents like this could be debated endlessly, but the fact remains that a rule was clearly broken and the penalty was applied.[/quote]
So then answer me this…if this is so clear cut and not subject to debate, why did your Regional Director rescind the original penalty?
If what you are saying is true, then this shouldn’t have been up to discussion.[/quote]
That is news to me, I just went back and found Chris’ post about his review. He is the series director and it’s his call, I’m not one to question that. All I do as Compliance Director is collect the information from the drivers, review it with the Race Director and check it through the rule book to see what needs to be done.
It is my opinion that a lead car should not push an overlapped car to one side or another especially to the point of forcing him 2 wheels off, I think the driver should give a full car widths room, but many would say that the lead driver is not “racing hard enough” if he just lets a car come up next to him that way. Others would say that the overlapping car is racing “to hard” if he sticks his nose in there and then is unwilling to move a little bit to allow the lead car room to set up for the next turn, which is pretty much how I feel about this incident, Rob needed to get left to make the next turn, it would not have cost Jeff anything to back out slightly and allow Rob the space to do so - so therefore I agree with the rule as it is applied. However, I didn’t necessarily agree with the penalty that the rule book said was to be applied, but again, we are supposed to simply follow the book. Remember, we have to act fast on these rulings so that final results can be released and posted - otherwise everyone gets in a tissy about “when are results gonna be posted?!!”.
I was on the receiving end of a very similar incident on the back straight at Road Atlanta. I was passing to the left of 2 cars that were side-by-side on the right side of the track. It was 9:30pm and a very dark night, it had been raining most of the evening so the track and grass were wet, I was not excited about going to the outside to make the pass but the two other cars were going considerably slower than I was and there was plenty of room for me get safely by. Unfortunately (I later learned that) the driver I was passing next to was no paying attention to his line because he was looking at the flag station to see if he was being black flagged, he later said that he didn’t realize he was fading left. I was along side him and saw him coming so I was moving left and thinking “oh shit, what is he doing?” by the time my left wheels left the track I was nosed ahead and his front left tire contacted the front of my door / rear of my front fender and sent me hard against the wall. I bounced several times between the wall and the edge of the track before somehow popping back on track with the car still running, and was able to finish the race. In hindsight I wish I had just hung back to see what they were doing, but that would have required me to slow down about 20mph. Perhaps if I had not moved left with him he would have simply leaned on me before realizing what he was doing and things may have been better. But I tried to follow the rules, and my instincts, and moved left in hopes that he would see me (not much to ask since I was nosing ahead) and start moving back to his right where he had plenty of room. No such luck. This was Chump Car so I just beat the hell out of the guy in the paddock… just kidding. Anyway, I still don’t see what is so difficult about the overtaking car giving a bit of room (thought I wish I hadn’t that night) he is the one that made the move and should be willing to give some extra space. IMHO.