Quote:
Originally Posted by Jeff Kempton
Disclaimer: my interpretation only (but I was there next to the cars).
While pre-staging, Dave accidentally rolled too deep and lit both bulbs. He realized his mistake right away, and with the Courtesy Staging rule in mind he grabbed reverse and backed out. Ron in the meantime had prestaged before Dave backed clear of the stage beam, and with three stage lights lit at the same time the Autostart countdown was triggered. Before both cars could fully stage the timer ran out, triggering the reds.
After what was likely a throrough discussion in the tower the decision came down to allow them both to run the pair. As what transpired was a direct result of trying to comply with the Courtesy Stage rule and the timeout was an unfortunate by-product, I think that NHRA made the right call.
I'll repeat, this is my interpretation only of the event as I saw it.
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Thanks. I would tend to agree about the call.
Apparently, this is one of the flukes that can happen with Autostart, which I was never a fan of. It's part of the reason why we're not allowed to deep stage, even though the pro's can.