spg993tt

dudes, that was so not a big thing at all. you see it all the time. not in pca, but elsewhere, you see guys rubbing on the front straight into turn you, guys flying off locking up, smashing doors, wrecking cars. he pinched the guy down maybe a bit too far, but there was plenty of track for him just not the line he liked. so he should have gone to th emiddle and kept yonks pinned to the left. he had pole and it was his choice. he went half way down the straight to keep p3 behind him and then realized he needed to get over. im not saying i would hav edone it, but ive been pole a few times and you definately have a tough decision, keep p3 back or push p2 wider. this is absolutely not a hanging offense, just a smidge aggressive for pca. and he got self penalized. done and over.

gums

DTMiller

Ugh. That. Sucks.

Racerrob

Looks to me that you cut the RF on the metal and the car pivoted around it. That was not a light hit, did you get hurt?

gums

Not a scratch to me, thanks Ark, but the same can't be said for the car. I did take a quick look at it today and all four tires remain inflated. The fronts are toed way out, obvious broken tie rod, but I don't know if that's from the impact. Still mysterious.

Racerrob

Frank, I know many of us appreciate your willingness to share these experiences, thanks. Few questions: looks like a halo seat but can't see which one? Did your head stay contained or did your helmet get to the cage or net? Hit your arms/hands on the wheel or door?

Streak

No no no, i've written the chairwoman and asked her to review Yonks fitness for club race licensure. I have encouraged her to have Daniel sit out the Watkins Glen event so he can reflect on what he's done.

rstrahota

Sorry this happened... That was a very nice looking car. But glad you were not hurt. This is a crazy sport, thats for sure...
ds

sbelles

Did you also tell her that it's blatantly unfair that Yonker is so fast. We should redistribute some of that speed to the rest of us in the interest of fairness.

ninjabones

fun races are always a difficult decision... take the most dangerous part of any race (the starts), do it at the end of a long day (after towing, and a full day of practice sessions) when fatigue sets in, multiply it by typically three starts, and then throw in a bunch of inexperienced (rookies) racers into the mix. Definitely have to assess the risk/reward ratio. if I'm new to the track (like lime rock this weekend), or struggling with getting up to speed (not that uncommon), I do the fun race... otherwise, I sit on the sidelines. And, yes, I do appreciat the "pay it forward" concept and giving back to help the rookies.

danielyonker

I am a proponent of the fun races simply because you get to practice the most daring part of the race, the drop of the green flag. Position and time can be gained at the start, and those with less experience and/or less confidence can get eaten alive. The key is to be able to read what others are doing, digest the track conditions, and race aggressively within your skill sets. The only way to increase your skill sets is to practice.

I have over 100 race starts between PCA/NASA/SCCA and I still make dumb *** mistakes, as evidenced by my video posted earlier.

Streak

I will follow up with her on this. I may also suggest she hold him out of the VIR contest as well.

As for the Fun Races. Mixed emotions. I've never had an incident but I have seen some doozies.

That being said, I often to them because I appreciated the veterans who took the risk for my first Fun Race. Rookies need to know what they are in for Saturday morning

Der ABT

Been hit in 3 fun races .....makes them No fun ....people seem to have heightened aggression on a practice start..I completely agree with practicing but it's like racing in the rain for me now....it's not me I have to worry about...it's the others

I think doing a better job of calming people down on the practice starts would help...but I have no advice on how to do this....

Weston Dillard

I kinda doubt it was PCA. Masons maybe?

Big kudos to all the volunteers and drivers for making it a great weekend. I sure was happy to be in a warm tower though.

West

gums

this is the second time I've wrecked with a halo/containment seat and I would only advise racing with one. Both times I was well aware of the head and neck protection and how well it functions. I'm not even a slight bit sore, everything worked as designed and I was back at work on Monday, most importantly.