Driver ejection,NHRA cover up at St. Louis

[Michael Beard]

This was obviously WAY past the finish line and not a case of excessive braking. I've had opponents hit reverse by accident in the shutdown area more than once. (once in eliminations, once in a qualifying run) On the elimination run, I got beat fair and square. I didn't complain, and my opponent busted his ***** to swap transmissions between rounds and continued on in eliminations, albeit on some slightly less than perfectly round tires.

A little common sense goes a long way.

[Lenny5160]

Originally Posted by Michael Beard

This was obviously WAY past the finish line and not a case of excessive braking.

I completely agree, but it depends on how closely the powers that be are watching and paying attention.

If you're in the tower eating a sandwich, and you hear Alan say "whoa!" which makes you look up and see smoke and a car crossed-up shortly past the finish line, it is probably easy to make the bad assumption here.

And no, I don't think any assumptions should ever be made in these cases. But we also know how much of a priority we can be in the NHRA world.

[HR9121]

I'm not saying the right or wrong decision was made but when's the last time they reversed a decision on anything. I think they are taught to make a decision and stick to it, just my opinion. When I watched the video, I can see why he made the call to the top end to DQ him.

[Mark Yacavone]

Originally Posted by HR9121

I'm not saying the right or wrong decision was made but when's the last time they reversed a decision on anything. I think they are taught to make a decision and stick to it, just my opinion. When I watched the video, I can see why he made the call to the top end to DQ him.

I was just going to make that point. To expound on it then, the DD DQ's him. They then tell the guy who was out, that he's in. Then the first party goes to the tower to make their case.
20 min. later the DD would have to say okay, you're in. Then he has to tell the guy who was out, then in , that he's out again, because all the other guy did was put it in reverse after the finish line , smoke the tires ,and cross over into his lane.
I've been around NHRA long enough to tell you it ain't gonna happen.

[Dan Lattimore]

Originally Posted by mark yacavone

i was just going to make that point. To expound on it then, the dd dq's him. They then tell the guy who was out, that he's in. Then the first party goes to the tower to make their case.
20 min. Later the dd would have to say okay, you're in. Then he has to tell the guy who was out, then in , that he's out again, because all the other guy did was put it in reverse after the finish line , smoke the tires ,and cross over into his lane.
I've been around nhra long enough to tell you it ain't gonna happen.

nope

[pmrphil]

The most important question is: was he/it out of control? Yes. Was it caused by excessive braking? No. BUT it was that action that endangered another racer (and himself) and should have been tossed, it really doesn't matter that it wasn't caused by braking, the point is he was OUT OF CONTROL and dangerous. Fix the shifter problem and go on. Lots more races to win, only one life to lose.

[Bobby Fazio]

Sorry to hear this, did the reverse lockout not work then?

Anyways I have a question somewhat related. At the Englishtown national event a few years back in Stock E2 I got a head start in the right lane and while getting chased by a fast car he got loose and came into my lane from behind. I was watching in the rear view the whole way. I wanted to cross over into the left lane to get out of his way but thought that would be terrible and confuse him if he was trying to correct. Would I have lost? The other thing was I kept my foot to the floor trying to get away from him and hopefully give him room to get stopped but if I would have went quicker than my dial would I have also lost? He did a good job and got it under control and it didn't end up being serious but after that race I was wondering was the race over once he crossed into my lane?