How I took Tommy Archer to school... or I'm such a dumbass
05-24-2010, 09:59 PM
#1
The Penguin King
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How I took Tommy Archer to school... or I'm such a dumbass
This weekend, I was instructing for VR at the Viper Days event at TWS. First advanced/instructor session of the day, I give the first of two cars behind me a point by on the left coming into T15 (the first turn off the main straight going CW... 135+mph entry). I watch the car pass me on the left, and all of the sudden a black Corvette flies by me on the right. 3-wide going into arguably the most difficult turn on the track.
After I got off the track, I talked to two other instructors who had similar experiences with the same car in that session. So... another instructor and I headed over to seek out the driver. I was pretty hot about it, and when we find him, and he takes one look at me and says "did I do something wrong?".
"Yes, you passed me on the right without a point while another car was passing me on the left. I know you're a better driver than I am, but you had no idea what I was going to do, and I had no idea that you were going to be there."
The conversation heated up a bit, but during the course of it he realized what had gone wrong and said "We have to use point-by's? I thought it was open passing. I'm really sorry. I screwed up"
He had not heard the passing rules correctly. I was fine with him owning the mistake, as it was clear he was sincere. We shook hands, agreed everything was cool, and I walked away. As I was walking away, someone walked up to me and said "do you know who that is?".
Me: "Nope".
Him: "Dude that's Tommy Archer".
The guy was super cool about it. After I talked to him, he went to Dave and told him he had screwed up and was sorry. Sunday, I went over to him and said "How about we do the introductions over?". He and I talked for about 10 minutes about driving & instructing. He's a great guy, and I developed a lot of respect for him from the experience. Cool to meet a guy like that and find him to be humble and friendly.
After I got off the track, I talked to two other instructors who had similar experiences with the same car in that session. So... another instructor and I headed over to seek out the driver. I was pretty hot about it, and when we find him, and he takes one look at me and says "did I do something wrong?".
"Yes, you passed me on the right without a point while another car was passing me on the left. I know you're a better driver than I am, but you had no idea what I was going to do, and I had no idea that you were going to be there."
The conversation heated up a bit, but during the course of it he realized what had gone wrong and said "We have to use point-by's? I thought it was open passing. I'm really sorry. I screwed up"
He had not heard the passing rules correctly. I was fine with him owning the mistake, as it was clear he was sincere. We shook hands, agreed everything was cool, and I walked away. As I was walking away, someone walked up to me and said "do you know who that is?".
Me: "Nope".
Him: "Dude that's Tommy Archer".
The guy was super cool about it. After I talked to him, he went to Dave and told him he had screwed up and was sorry. Sunday, I went over to him and said "How about we do the introductions over?". He and I talked for about 10 minutes about driving & instructing. He's a great guy, and I developed a lot of respect for him from the experience. Cool to meet a guy like that and find him to be humble and friendly.
05-24-2010, 10:33 PM
#3
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LOL.......handled like gentlemen. Perfect.
05-25-2010, 09:52 AM
#7
The Penguin King
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Trending Topics
05-25-2010, 10:16 AM
#9
The Penguin King
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J/K
05-25-2010, 10:34 AM
#11
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