FYI - I was just reading the NASA rules which were recently posted on the NASA-VA site, and it says that rookie drivers (drivers with a provisional liscense) must have the letter "R" next to their car numbers on either side, and on the rear of the vehicle - at least 3" high. Rookies must also mark the rear of their vehicle with a large orange mark - at least 48 square inches. The letter R and the orange mark may be removed from the car with the permission of the race director after the driver has completed 8 races without incident. For the Honda-Challenge racers, it is up to Jim whether he wants to make that decision, or pass it on to me as Rookie Chief for the series.

Matt

 

Thanks for the info.. Off to buy an R and some orange tape

 

Prelude Type "R" yeah baby

Bryan

 

Oh no!

 

When us JMU guys get around to racing with y'all we're gonna wear dunce caps with a big R on the front. With matching bibs...

I am gonna be rallying the troops for flagging next week at our club meeting so I hope we can have you guys covered at every station (or at least half). Good luck Honda racers.

 

Since most of the drivers will be rookies and Matt is the only experienced one, Matt will be required to paint his entire car orange, and the rookies need not do anything.


Seriously, Honda challenge drivers need not worry about the R and the orange ball because they are all starting out basically together.


There are the words of Grumpy.

 

Please keep Jim Johnson, Chief of Flagging, updated on the flag worker situation.

Thanks,

Grumpy

 

I'm glad you posted that Grumpy. One of the things on my to-do list for today was "call grumpy to discuss rookie stripes."

I was thinking that since many of the drivers will be rookies to racing the first year, but some have ALOT more track experience than others, that we would use stripes, but leave that call up to Mr. Bookler.
In other words (and this subject was in another post), maybe someone like Shultz who is new to racing, but has years of track and car control experience does not get stripes. But Corey, who has proven he can drive well, but only has about a year of tracking under his belt, would get stripes for his first few (3 or 4?) races.
Basically it'd be a judgement call for Matt. Karl and I trust his judgement, which is why we asked him to take the Rookie Chief post in the first place.

Matt and I had talked about this a few months ago, and it's the route I'd like to take since it appears that it will be OK with Mr. Politi.
I know Karl is comfortable with this approach as well.

Matt? OK by you?

Note: I would like to just do the "x" on the rear bumper. The whole "R" thing is wayyyy too "scarlet letter" in my opinion. Not to mention the jokes arising from a bunch of Hondas with "Rs" on them.

 

I think an X on the back or what we used at summit point in Nov was three strips of tape like this \\\ on the back bumper.. Like in this photo

 

Basically "what RoadRacer and Grumpy said."

I mean let's face it - we've got a pretty substantial number of drivers here - and most of them haven't been wheel to wheel, ever. BUT...people like myself, RoadRacer, and Starnes (among others) have a lot of seat time.

What RoadRacer has described is the only thing I can think of that makes much sense - having our own race group where 90% of the cars have the sticker on them really defeats the purpose of the sticker.

--Karl, who is looking for the Honda "R" sticker...for the Suburban.

 

Let's not use an "X". "X" is for instructor. Three stripes would be fine. Matt can oversee who gets em and when they come off.

I still like the idea of painting Matt's car orange.

Grumpy (from the mountain)

 

We're working on it - we've got an all hands meeting on tuesday, and we are working on scheduling a worker clinic here before the event on the 16/17th as a refresher and for anyone who wants to flag this season.

-Ryan

 

Let's do stripes front and rear. I could care less what it says on the side of the car, but if somebody is coming up behind me, I would like to know if they are a rookie or not.

This makes sense to me. If everybody has the rookie stripes, it doesn't really mean very much. What this means is that I will need a lot of information from each participant to determine whether or not we should do stripes.

Yes, this is fine. I thought that our rules were being over-ruled by the NASA rules, which is why I started this thread. If Grumpy is happy with this, I certainly have no problem with the stripes idea, and I'll decide who gets them. FYI - before anybody gets offended, if there is any doubt in my mind at all, the car will get the stripes.

I think the "Type R" badge should be a part of the sticker package for the series. I've actually though about putting one on mine as a joke, but couldn't bring myself to do it.

Oh well, I'm off to the garage to re-do some sponsorship info. Sponsors RULE!

Matt

 

If a rookie is closing on you you have more to worry about than his stripes...


Just remember there are two basic rules in NASA-VA

Rule one: Grumpy makes the rules.

Rule two: When in doubt refer to rule one

 

Rookie or not, if the driver has a smidgeon of talent, I don't think my 1.5L CRX is going to hold off an H1 or H2 car on the front straight at Summit.


Matt

 

I am fine with all of the above.

Three diagonal stripes on the front and rear bumpers.
I'm thinking the stripes should be either white or black, depending on car color. Orange stripes on a yellow car (and there will be a few of them) aren't very visable.

So, it's final. The Rookie Chief makes the call. Three stripes front and rear.
Karl can add this to the ECHC rules to make it all nice and official.

Matt, email me so we can start planning how we will approach gathering background info for drivers you are not personally familiar with. I have a database of competitors, but we may have folks show up that aren't on my list. Shouldn't be anything difficult, we just all need to be on the same page.

I'm assuming you have some further sponsorship, congrats. I have some irons in the fire as well. I'm discovering that this whole honda challenge thingy is seriously marketable.

 

Davis Acura is my money sponsor. Meyer's Motorsport does all of the work on the car, so I just get special rates from them since I have their name on the car. It works out really well. I'm expecially excited about the Carlisle deal because for once the car will be seen by people who live close enough that my sponsors could benefit from the exposure. Most outside people wouldn't know that Davis Acura isn't just another Acura dealer, when the truth is, they beta test products for Comptech, have the best NSX mechanic on the east coast, and run 3 racecars in the northeast. As for Meyer's motorsport, well Burke Meyers used to road race a Civic, and was a factory sponsored motorcycle racer. Right now he is just working on drag race cars for rice boys, but he'd rather be involved with road racing. So both of my sponsors are good matches.

Matt

 

It'll make more sense as the series progresses. At least you won't find yourself writing a new rule 2 years from now if one is already in place...