Mike Cotten you are the MAN!

[Rory McNeil]

Although I agree with the "you stage, you bought it" when it comes to not checking for the correct dial or index on the display board or score boards, and staging your car, thats YOUR fault for not checking. However, if you lose due to an equipment malfunction that is beyond your control, I can`t imagine anybody here would just shrug their shoulders and say," Oh well", and drive back to their trailer contended with that. What if you are a top bulb racer, and the top bulb is burnt out , or a bottom bulb racer, and the bottom bulb doesn`t work? I have personally had a ET slip that indicated that I qualified #1 by running more than 2 seconds under at a divisional race. Obviously some object must have blown thru the top end photo cells, since my 9 second ET (pretty good for a M/Stocker, eh?)was on the scoreboard long before I hit the finish line. If this would have happened in Eliminations, your damn right I would want a re run. Same deal with the DeFrank/Cotton race. If there was an equipment malfunction, totally beyound the racers control, I can`t imagine any racer would not request a re run, especially in a final round. I don`t personally know either Cotton or DeFrank, I have watched them run, and know they are both good racers, and I realize the pressure of any final round can be quite stressful, a re run even more so. I do feel badly for Mike Cotton, but I do think the rerun was the right call. That said, it will be interesting to see what happens in a similar situation in the future..