This past weekend I was involved in a on-track incident at Beaverun with a fellow Honda Challenge competitor whom I think many people could learn a lot from in terms of sportsmanship.

I am referring to Ian Carpenter who drives the number #80 Integra LS H4 car that is a sister car to the one I drive and also the one which Andrew Zimmermann drives (#81).

Ian and I were running nose to tail the entire first half of Saturday's Midwest Honda Challenge/Small Bore class race. I qualified just five thousandths of a second ahead of Ian and we traded the lead back and forth several times.

With about 2/3rds of the race behind us I had a huge lapse in judgement and tried to dive bomb Ian in turn 1. Ian had taken a defensive line down the front straight and was sitting in the middle of the track in the braking zone. I ended up locking up my brakes and punting Ian off the track.

We both went off into the grass and I was able to get back on the track and back into second place ahead of Ian (his teamate Andrew got by both of us for the lead). I of course realized what I had done and slowed the very same lap to allow Ian to get back ahead of me but the damage had been done. I not only took him out of contention for the win but I also damaged his car to the point that he was struggling to stay ahead of me. I did push him quite hard the last two or three laps but I thought it would be very bad sportsmanship for me to re-pass another car that had damage that I caused.

The moral of this post is that I walked into Ian's trailer after the race fully expecting to get at least an earful of yelling at a minimum and possibly a stern protest or even a physical altercation. Knowing Ian I didn't not expect any type of physical altercation but I was fully expecting to be yelled at and of course Ian had every right to do so. I would likely have done so if the situation had been reversed.

I took my helmet along to attempt to slightly defuse any anger he might have with some humor (though I didn't expect him to find anything I said humerous). I told Ian I would put my helmet back on in case he wanted to slug me a few times. I also quickly apologized and told him I was there to take whatever punishment he wanted to "dish" out. I obviously deserved it.

His response somewhat stunned me. He said he wasn't mad and extended his hand out to shake mine for some good racing (obviously my punt excluded). I didn't quite know what to say but apologized at least a half dozen more times and told Ian that I had no problem if he wanted to protest me and have me suspended, put on probation or whatever. He simply said he needed to review the rules on how his loss of the race affected the championship and it there was a remedy within the rules to address the loss of points. He said he wasn't going to specifically protest me and that he wasn't mad but just disappointed with the outcome.

After seeing how things were handled in several other Honda Challenge races in the past few months we could all learn a lot from Ian sportsmanship in Honda Challenge. Ian doesn't post on this forum to my knowledge, but I just wanted to let everyone here know what a class act Ian is and what a great asset to Honda Challenge he is as well. If you are at any of the remaining East Coast Honda Challenge races please walk over to his trailer and introduce yourself. Ian is one of the most friendly HC racers in the paddock and I am sure would love to hear from any Honda Tech folks or future Honda Challenge racers.

The end result of all this was that both Ian and I were called to the tower to meet with race control. Ian and I filled out our incident reports and both agreed with how the incident transpired. I took full responsibilty for punting him off the track and costing him a possibly win.

The CCR clearly stated that I would be suspended for Sunday's race and possibly be put on probation for the remaining races.

Ian talked with race control and the director and explained that he didn't want me suspended for Sunday's race or put on probation. He indicated that the incident was caused by good hard racing with a moment of poor judgement.

I was most appreciative of this and decided that I had to in someway respond to this and take my lumps. So I proposed to the race director and Ian that I would take an immediate disqualification of my pole points and my third place finish. Ian agreed with this and pressured race control to accept this resolution instead of outright suspension.

The DSQ cost me the lead in the East Coast H4 Championship so the DSQ was not without consequence.

Lawrence Mansier decided that this was a good course of action since Ian and I were not arguing the incident and I took full responsibility for the incident.

The book was closed on the subject and Ian and I had a fantastic race on Sunday similar in most respects to Saturday's race with exclusion of the turn 1 incident. We ran nose to tail the entire 20 lap race, traded postions several times and left the door open several times for the car that was fastest on a particular lap. I even gave Ian a point by on the front straight towards the end of the race when he got a huge run on me on the front straight. I didn't want him to worry that I would do something stupid again and it was clear he had me setup for a clean pass.

In closing I just wanted to commend Ian for his good sportsmanship and point this situation out to folks as a specific example of how on track incidents can be handled without huge drama when people act level headed.

It also helps when someone who clearly has commited an error that is largely their fault (in this case my fault) take full responsibility for it and sincerely feel bad about it. The words "I am sorry" or "I apologize" are too often said as a way to diffuse a tense situation rather than to show heart felt remorse. Ian realized both from my on track behavior after the incident (I waited half a lap for him to catch up and then pointed him by) and my off track behavior that "I am sorry" was meant as more than just a diffuser for what I had coming to me.

All of us have seen multiple times the arguing and physical altercations that frequently take place in the paddock at SCCA and NASA events.

At the end of the day we are all simply fighting for that $2 PIECE OF WOOD (or glass or metal as may be the case).

Regards,

Jon P. Kofod

Here's to Mr Carpenter

 

Bruno Junqueira needs to read this post!

Seriously though, I'm glad that things worked out for all involved!

 

ian's a great guy. a pleasure to race with (or against, as the case may be)!

 

Ian's defintaly A Class Act, Jon, Didn't he also help you get your car running your first weekend at CMP also?

 

Ian has helped Jon and I keep our cars going all season. Sometimes missing his session in order to keep our cars from dying! I would just like to publicly thank Ian for all his help this year and wish him luck with his championship quest!

 

He should have bitch slapped you.

Heh heh. Just kidding. Nice story of sportsmanship, thanks for sharing.

I dive bombed one of you guys on cold tires during the NASA VIR sprint in Feb and fortunately missed you as I slid across the nose . You took it very well when I apologized. Was that you Kofod?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Track rat &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">He should have bitch slapped you.

Heh heh. Just kidding. Nice story of sportsmanship, thanks for sharing.

I dive bombed one of you guys on cold tires during the NASA VIR sprint in Feb and fortunately missed you as I slid across the nose . You took it very well when I apologized. Was that you Kofod? </TD></TR></TABLE>

That was you...............I was searching the paddock for you..........I wanted to ...........


No actually it wasn't me I wasn't there.

Andrew is correct, Ian has helped both of us many times over. He knows more about racing and race cars then I'll ever know.

Regards,

Jon

 

Sometimes I do read this stuff
Jon the fact that you put this up for all to read further deepens my respect
for you. We need to remember we spend all this time and money for fun!!!!
We are all part of a fraternity , we love cars , racing and people .

Step back size up the move and be sure that you can pull it off .

that is easy to say and much tougher to do
forgiveness of mistakes is what makes it easier
none of us are good enough to go it with out mistakes

I think EC Honda Challenge is some of the most intense and well driven racing in the country . I'm proud to be a part of it

Ian

 

It was a pleasure to talk with Jon, Ian and Andrew Zimmerman all weekend. We had a couple of laughs on the false grid both days regarding hood pins (Jon and Ian), and we enjoyed some good bench racing along with a couple cold ones after the trophy presentation on Saturday. Congrats to Andrew for the win on Saturday, to Ian for a hard fought and well deserved win on Sunday, and to Jon for a great show of sportsmanship and self consciousness in his handling of the incident on Saturday.
Sam

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Outrun &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Bruno Junqueira needs to read this post!</TD></TR></TABLE>

"That's not fair!!!!"

Great story Jon, it is always great when there is that level of respect among competitors.

 

Jon,
I don't know you other than reading your post here on this forum. I have never read anything about Ian until today (at least that I remember).

I must tell you that respect you both for your maturity & sense of fair play.
If either of you ever make it to a NorCal HC race, beer is on me.