This is my rookie year and I just had my fourth and most enjoyable race weekend yet. Three sprints, two of them in the rain (this was all at Mosport). Anyway in the last race I was hit heavily enough in the right rear to cause me to almost go into the wall between turns 3 and 4. Thankfully I managed to regain control and continue to finish my race.

After our race we were all directed to the impound where I had a chance to inspect the damage. There was really only slight cosmetic damage to the quarter panel and passenger door. At the time I was trying to determine which car had made contact with me based on the paint colours left on my car. I didn't find out until everyone was leaving the track to go home which car it was.

The question I have is should the driver that ran into me be expected to drop by just to acknowledge that we had contact and say sorry? I don't care about the damage but I personally would take it upon myslef to approach whoever it was I made contact with just to see how everything was. Just wondering if this would be considered normal racing etiquette.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by TPB &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">


The question I have is should the driver that ran into me be expected to drop by just to acknowledge that we had contact and say sorry? I don't care about the damage but I personally would take it upon myslef to approach whoever it was I made contact with just to see how everything was. Just wondering if this would be considered normal racing etiquette.</TD></TR></TABLE>

I think its a good idea to always do this. Was the tap not seen by a corner worker?

 

I couldn't tell you if a corner worker saw it but a crew member of one of my buddies saw it. He's the person that actually told me which car it was that hit me. Apparently the car turned into me. I can't substantiate this so I'll be talking to the the driver at the next race weekend to get his side of the story.

I'm just really disappointed that a fellow racer wouldn't just come up to me to at least acknowledge that an incident took place. No hard feelings, blah, blah, blah and put it behind us.

 

It is up to the individual personalities of the drivers themselves. You would hope the guy would at least make some gesture of sportsmanship (and not a middle finger gesture) to talk but when you force it upon someone then there is always risk that it will be taken the wrong way from planned. Strong words, fisticuffs, and even protests have broken out over the simple words "What happened?" Whenever something like this happens, the guy may not have realized the level of contact, may have thought it "one of them racin' deals", may have thought you did bad by him earlier (that you didn't know about) and he was treating you with your own medicine, etc. I haven't a clue as I was not there but just remember that there were two different drivers hard at it in the heat of battle so there probably are two totally different perceptions. If as you say it isn't really that big a deal to you, you might as well want to keep it that way and just realize that you have learned a lesson about racing or at least that guy.

In 2000, I was in a borrowed ITS RX7 at Mid-Ohio and on the first lap a guy hit me side to side three times before he finally spun me sideways on track and luckily traffic parted and I didn't get hit by 15 cars that came through in the next 20 seconds. I spent the rest of the race trying to catch up to my qualifying spot, he had ruined my race. I saw it on tape from a car behind and it was a blatent and repeated turn-in on me where there was no gan to be had. So I went over to see his car damage (mine was caved in fender/door/quarter panel) and maybe ask what happened. He had some of my paint and I had his but at first he didn't acknowledge that there was any contact at all then later he would only go as far as saying that he "didn't see me" although we were dead even side by side for a quarter mile and through the keyhole at M-O. To him, it was a non-event and metal to metal contact to him was something that happens periodically and that was all. Big issue to me, non-issue to him and that was all it was going to be. Now I stay clear of him on track and grumble as he drives past in the paddock. No need forcing the issue.

On the otherhand, back in '96 I was hit and knocked off track and out of the race lead by a driver with a bad history on a no-chance pass. I have never been so angry on track and daggars flew from my eyes as I chased him down and I rejoiced when he spun and DNFed. In the paddock after the race, I passed him going back to my paddock and I stopped and yelled a blue streak at him which was very out of my character but I was PISSED! A week later, the car ahead of me on track showed me video footage in his rearview mirror clearly showing that the guy came about one foot from me but never actually made contact with me although I just knew for sure that he had pushed me. It turns out that I had gone off on my own in his presence without contact. My own perception in the heat of battle did not match with the reality that the video clearly showed. It was nearly a year before I saw the guy at the track again and I went up and apologized and ate crow for my uncharacteristic tirade and he forgave me. We learn lessons from all kinds of situations.


Modified by CRX Lee at 8:41 PM 8/16/2005

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by TPB &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">The question I have is should the driver that ran into me be expected to drop by just to acknowledge that we had contact and say sorry? I don't care about the damage but I personally would take it upon myslef to approach whoever it was I made contact with just to see how everything was. Just wondering if this would be considered normal racing etiquette.</TD></TR></TABLE>

It is possible that he came by looking for you and didn't see you. Or, left very shortly thereafter. But yeah, that kinda sucks, I'd be looking for closure.

 

I personally do not acknowledge contact after a race. Although if I thought the other party's damage was severe I probably would at least see If I could help fix it and make sure the driver was OK.

Of course this is me, and others are different.

In your case, you feel as though you were hit heavily and almost hit the wall (very scary moment), but all the other driver may know is that he caused slight cosmetic damage and think it was no bid deal/racing incident.

 

If there is significant damage, if I cause it, I would always offer some help to fix it. I hit Tom Paule last year because oversight, and I offered my help and did.

Ryan Flaherty hit me hard because of brake failure on the last Buttonwillow race. He came over and insisted to pay for the damages, which he did. And I really appreciate it.

This kind of things make me respect the individuals more and I think it is the right thing to do.

If I get hit/rub and it is insignificant (no big damage) I really don't mind if he come over or not. But if I caused it, I would.

 

I think the same way as Andrie. If it is just racing, well, crap happens. If I cause damage, I like to talk to the person. I got together with someone @ the crossover. I went over & offered assistance & some $$.