One of my SCCA pals sent this in-car from the Runoffs qualifiying session in F-Prod. Enjoy.
http://www.tangerineracing.com...t.wmv
(Right-click and save: very slow server...)

 

Good vid. I've seen it before and I can't adequately express my opinion of this in words.

 

WTF!!!???

 

It is very ugly over on the SCCA Production list that I frequent about this incident with many, many pages of unhappy people, threatened lawsuits, etc. So far no one has thrown down the "assclown" gauntlet.

The weaving Miata driver got a 12 race probation for this and the sentiments range from them needing to pull his license to he is just being picked on, and he did nothing wrong and all the other drivers are at fault. Typical of the Prod list, it isn't very pretty and there are a lot on poeple screaming from the top of their soap boxes.

Editted for spelling: WTF is "bpicjed"?


Modified by CRX Lee at 8:20 PM 9/30/2005

 

It surprised me when our pilot decided to pass the 'scrubber the clown' at the end of the back straight. Sometimes you just have to give the blind some room!

 

Amazing. I thought the "first" incident would be the last. Boy was I wrong.

 

O.K. hard to see flaggers in the vid. Were they green right out of the grid? Even so, the driver of the camera car was pretty agressive to nail the spridget so soon.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by CRX Lee &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">he is just being picked on, and he did nothing wrong and all the other drivers are at fault. </TD></TR></TABLE>
I would just LOVE to hear some of those arguments.

 

well, it was a qual session, so the track isn't green right out of the gate, usually standing white/yellows er somethin are shown at each station. but this doesn't mean you can't pass people on the first lap.

the miata driver has every right to scrub his tires like that. but he is also responsible for watching his effing mirrors and pay attention to what's going on behind him.

if it just happened once you can somewhat excuse him if he just wasn't paying attention. but after the first pileup behind him, and the MG or whatever it is passing him, there's no excuse for not knowing that someone is coming through.

you could make an argument for taking his liscense away for a year. i'd ask him what happened, and if he gave the wrong answer (like "yeah i saw em, but i'm putting heat in the tires and they ain't gettin through), i'd pull his liscense.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by CRX Lee &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">So far no one has thrown down the "assclown" gauntlet.
</TD></TR></TABLE>
I spoke too soon..."assclownery" showed up on page 5. Looks like about on page 7 they generally agreed to disagree after they noticed that those who were actually involved in the incident had all long since dropped out of the discussion.

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Geezer &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Were they green right out of the grid? Even so, the driver of the camera car was pretty agressive to nail the spridget so soon. </TD></TR></TABLE>
It was green flag as the cars left the pits so that is part of the arguement that this was all done under green flag conditions during a very short qualifying session for the national championship event. Had it been under yellow flag, things would have been different. Much of the final hash out says scrub under yellow with your eyes on your mirrors and don't use the entire track width.

It is agreed that the camera car (Porsche 914) was a bit too aggressive and played a big role in his contact with the Midget but the Midget also braked and swerved at that moment to avoid the scrubbing Miata and thus ended up in the path of the accelerating Porsche. The Porche driver apologized to the Midget driver and the Midget driver was not angry and served as a witness for the Porsche in the protest against the Miata.

 

Fantastic video.

Where's the other thread referenced above?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Chris F &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Where's the other thread referenced above?</TD></TR></TABLE>

http://www.coloradoscca.org/pr...art=0

 

Wow.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by CRX Lee &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
The weaving Miata driver got a 12 race probation for this and the sentiments range from them needing to pull his license to he is just being picked on, and he did nothing wrong and all the other drivers are at fault.
</TD></TR></TABLE>

I would never want to be on the same track as the guy with the Miata, period. He simply wasn't being situationally aware and wasn't paying attention. There is no excuse for that.

And correct me if I'm wrong, but it was an open qualifying session, right? That doesn't mean that you get to hog the entire track to do whatever you want with it. You have a responsibility to maintain a line that is reasonable you should be predictable. Erratic behavior endagers the lives of your co-competitors.

Right at the beginning I figured that idiot was pulling over to let the other guys around him, then he just veers right at them? He wasn't thinking or watching his surroundings and hence doesn't belong on the track.

If he's on probation for about a year though there is a good chance he'll do something else stupid during that time and hopefully have his license revoked.

 

Having finally seen the vid, I honestly can't figure out if he just had no clue about what was going on around him or whether he was being so selfish that he just didn't car. I'm clueless.

K

 

looks to me like he just assumed the 1st lap would be under full course yellow but never actually looked at any of the flag stations to make sure.

 

Well, the Miata driver (surprise! ) was scrubbing tires like a complete idiot with no regard for those around him. That said, the in-car driver was pretty dumb too, and in my opinion his karma just caught up to him especially quickly after nailing somebody else just because he can't be patient for 1/2 a lap.

Bleh. Prod. I'm glad somebody I know won this year at least.

 

That was nuts. What an idiot.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Knestis &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Having finally seen the vid, I honestly can't figure out if he just had no clue about what was going on around him or whether he was being so selfish that he just didn't car. I'm clueless.
K</TD></TR></TABLE>

I read quickly through the thread linked above and from what I gathered, this was not the first qualifying session of the event. In the first session, the Miata was once again the first car out but this time he took off in the distance leaving everyone behind. So I would think he probably ended up with a good time. Then to make it harder for everyone else, he decided to go really slow, bunching everyone up and then preventing anyone to go by. I find this a lot easier to believe than his defense that he was just warming up his tires.

 

i'm gonna go with the "he's an idiot" answer for the question. he was blatantly trying to mess with the 2 cars behind him. and he got some good speed up to stay in front of them. he didn't just weave back and forth to scrub, he did it DIRECTLY in front of them on at least 3 different occasions, one of which spun the porsche while the miata had gone to the OPPOSITE side of the track. i'd guess the miata owner was a moron.

 

if i were in charge he would be suspended. in this sport people can get seriously hurt not to mention loss of property. there should be a no bull **** policy when it comes to road racing. if X football player was doing something foolish and broke another players leg, i'm sure there would be hell to pay.

if the miata guy really was that unwawre, then i say its neglegence and he should recieve punishment just the same.

 

First, all qualifying sessions are green from grid in SCCA. Second, blocking is against the rules. Blocking is making more than one move to hold up a competitorm the Miata was blocking... Third, he was trying to hold up traffic to get a clean lap, childish...

Sure the Porche and the MG could have waited, and looking back should have. Had he done that and talked to the driver in the paddock afterwards, there would have been no damage. But I can say the conversation would likely have turned nasty. The drivers father is a lawyer who doesn't think his poop stinks. You saw the video, you tell me if this statement rings true from what you saw
"Marc was protested when someone ran into him on the pace lap. First the guy ran into another car, and then he ran into Marc. Marc was going from side to side to warm up his tires as he always does and as EVERYONE else does and the guy hit him..."
His father wrote it and it's published on the NESCCA web site http://www.users.fast.net/~nescca/runoffsdiary.htm day 8.

He got what he deserved..

 

That vid was crazy.
Guy *was* a bit impatient, but he did not deserve all the damage.

Who ever think that scrubing tires like that does a damn thing is crazy, thats just ridiculous, he looks so stupid. Scrub a bit of dirt off and go. Christ.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Ev &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">His father wrote it and it's published on the NESCCA web site.
</TD></TR></TABLE>
Did he also include a link to the video?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Ev &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">he was trying to hold up traffic to get a clean lap, childish... </TD></TR></TABLE>

This is the only explaination for his strange actions that makes any sense.

I don't think that impatient guy deserved to get his 914 smashed up like that either.