Fw: [F500] The rest of the bedtime story

[John Whitling]

Clint
Just to clarify, It wasn't me that was accused of doing a burnout. 
Another nameless competitor and not in my car either. I think the guy 
was just trying to clean off his tires. There were no marks and 
obviously no tire smoke. But thanks for weighing in with your opinion. 
I'm curious. How much time were you given to try to make weight back in, 
was in '99, when your (Jim's) wheelbase was a tad long? I wasn't there 
but I heard you were given numerous attempts. You didn't drink any 
fluids to try to make weight did you? Were you DSQ'ed when you couldn't 
make minimum weight? Should you have been DSQ'ed?

The unwritten rules you speak of are those of the behavior of impound 
before this year. That is, that impound doesn't want to pop someone for 
a few pounds of weight and so they will give you every opportunity to 
try to make weight, That has, clearly, been the unwritten rule in the 
past. Obviously that has now changed so I wanted everyone to know about 
it. I really don't think that anyone wants to be underweight, and 
frankly I cannot feel the difference in weight in my car till I get up 
around 25 lbs of difference. Had anyone been abusing the weight rule by 
filling large fuel tanks after the last run they would have been taken 
to task. My first step would have been to confront them about it and 
explain why what they are doing is not fair. At the next event I would 
have most likely protested them if the actions continue. If they win the 
protest I guess I start taking 5 gallons of fuel to grid, as the SCCA 
has determined is the way they want us to act.

I guess my point behind my post was that this sport seems to be taking 
itself quite seriously these days. Whether that is for the good of the 
sport is open to debate. I don't have the budget or time of a full time 
Winston Cup crew, or raod racing crew, for that point. While these are 
National events, I'm doing them to have FUN. When the fun goes away, so 
might I.

John Whitling

Clintmcmahan at aol.com wrote:

>I found this to be somewhat comic:
>As a warning to everyone, the SCCA has changed it's weigh in procedures. 
>Now when you're done with your last run you go right to the scales 
>before you get out of the car. That isn't what did me in a Toledo (I 
>think the generator wasn't running when I weighed my car, thus it was 
>inaccurate) but it is the result of that fiasco. So no topping off, no 
>celebrations, no anything. Just pull up to the scales and wait your 
>turn. Hopefully someone will know what your time was.
>You know I could understand and sympathize if these were unwritten rules that 
>no-one knew about, but as the written rules are still a major problem and 
>concern for some people to either read or interpret correctly is still a major 
>problem within this class (in solo2 anyway). Notice I said "some" meaning that 
>the people who like to run on a regional level generally just like to have 
>"FUN" and usually doesn't care to much for the rules which is fine because that's 
>what regionals are for. The other people who run on a national level take it 
>more serious and for obvious reasons, after all its NATIONAL LEVEL COMPETITION. 
>This requires certain things like making sure the cars are equal to the 
>highest degree to insure that it eliminates the car as much as possible and puts 
>the skill between the drivers. Given these facts, everyone has the same rule 
>books and get the same supps every year, neither one is serialized or changed 
>throughout the year without being publicly known as some very helpful competitors 
>keep us informed on these things like John (thanks). Given this, I don't see 
>where the confusion is coming into the picture with these rules that are 
>becoming better known as "Gotcha" rules. I thought it was common knowledge that you 
>couldn't fill your car up BEFORE you weigh in AFTER the runs have been made. 
>If this were the case, IM sure all of us would run two five gallon fuel cells 
>(one in each sidepod) and only run a gallon or so and fill in between runs 
>until we started to impound. Which before going to impound you could add as much 
>as 55lbs to your car (6lbs per gallon less a half a gallon to finish your 
>timed run safely) allowing you to make all three time runs with a car that weighed 
>55lbs under minimum weight but when you were put on the scales it would look 
>like you were playing fair game. See my point! EVERY rule that certain people 
>have been busted on in the last year was  WRITTEN in some form or fashion and 
>in the English language and made publicly known. Everyone else running didn't 
>have a problem passing through tech. Given that said, most of the people 
>(99.9%) that I have talked to on the road racing level both Nationally and 
>regionally cant figure out why there is so much controversy on a solo2 level with the 
>rules, well maybe the above statements in BOLD and ITALICS can better explain 
>first hand why and how things are the way they are in solo2 on a national 
>level.
>
>
>For a bunch of guys trying to have some fun in parking lot, this sport's 
>enforcers are starting to ruin it all. At DC we actually had a starter 
>try to DSQ an FM competitor for doing a burnout at the start area, on 
>his last run. A burnout, BTW, that left no tracks. At Toledo someone 
>was, I believe, DSQ'd for not having the correct Solo 2 sticker on his 
>car despite the fact that it had passed tech that way. Stupid stuff. 
>Doesn't anyone want to just have fun anymore?????? My legal bills are 
>mounting and my race budget (and interest) is depleting.
>  
>Again, these are all written rules and they are there for a reason, for 
>instance if you do burnout BEFORE you run the course that is two things done wrong. 
>First it is an unfair advantage in solo2 two "Preheat" your tires since you 
>start from a standing start. (This is also why they don't allow ANY tire 
>warming mechanism of any kind in solo2.) Given that, a burnout is considered 
>preheating your tires. The second reason that "stupid" rule is there for is in case 
>someone's throttle sticks and you cant get the car shutoff in time BEFORE you 
>car hits the person working at the starter position (that person stands only a 
>few feet away from the cars since we are supposed to be starting from 
>standstill). This has happened by the way. So as you can see, rules are there for a 
>reason no-matter how stupid you or I think they are, and its better to read, 
>understand and follow the rules than it is not to do so as some of us (including 
>myself) have found out the hard way. As for Chuck Voboril, I see were you're 
>coming from and hope that the board will make the rule more fair as your 
>written calculations have been confirmed (Horsepower ratings) by many of the 
>snowmobile guys I deal with as being correct, I know you already know that but I 
>wanted to make that publicly known for whats it worth. To whomever has the time to 
>read this stuff, I appreciate you taking time out of you're busy schedule to 
>read my thoughts and opinions on this matter. Thanks, Clint McMahan. 
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