Forum: HoseHeads Sprint Car General Forum (go)
Moderators: dirtonly  /  dmantx  /  hosehead

I would just for once, like to see guys on track STOP when the RED comes out.  I see it all the time at my local track.  Big or small wreck, when someone gets upside down, it should be a MUST for the drivers to STOP where they are, none of this getting in position to motion to their crew or whatever thay are doing.  STOP, NOW.  This has nothing to do with Bryan's wreck, it is just an observation I have made at numerous events.  These guys do not stop. The safety guys and gals either on foot or four wheelers have to be able to know that they can enter the track unimpeded by a guy still roling around.  I am venting because it has bothered me for a long time.  Back in my youth, I remember everyone STOPPING as soon as they saw the red, not coasting around to find a better place for the push truck to get at them.   I really do not know why they do this.  You would think that if it was them upside down, they would want their partners in crime to STOP, so safety workers can do their job.  I do not know the situation at Belleville, when the red flew or what.  Maybe tracks need to do a better job at making the drivers aware of dangers on the track such as better, bigger, flashing, strobing lights.  I don't know.  Has anyone else noticed this?  I do not need DICKHEAD comments as this is not directed towards Bryan's wreck, it is just that I have thought about it for quite awhile and his wreck just made me think about it more...

I was just texting my buddy about this. Why couldn't they have electronic shutoffs that are controlled from the tower?

Brad Doty addressed this on his Twitter.  If you cut the power to the cars they lose power steering and the cars don't stop on a dime....which ever direction they are facing or sliding the driver will not be able to have any control to change direction.  Sliding towards the cushion or the wall, you are hitting it.  POinted at another car and still carrying some speed, you are hitting them.  Unless you can kill the motors without taking control out of the drivers hands, it would do more harm than good.

I was very disappointed that Wayne Johnson wasn't DQ'd last night during the Cappi Classic when he was involved in teh accident yet drove all the way around the track and into the work area.  Track officials could have made a statement by DQ'ing him going into Nationals week.

I like and root for Wayne, but he should know better than to do that in my opinion.

Okay, so I am NOT alone in my thinking. Thank you.   It seems to be getting worse and it is allowed to happen.  Why have the red flagif no one is going to heed it.

Thanks for the information. Makes sense.

Here is a prime example of driving thru red flag incidents.  Saturday at Port Royal Dream race, Stevie Smith--of all respected drivers and one who certainly knows better--clearly drove SLOWLY from the TOP of turn 3 to the BOTTOM of turn 4 past a flipped sprinter and a second sprinter involved in the incident both of which were located BETWEEN turns 3 and 4!!!  Why would he do this...maybe he didn't see the red flag??  Nah, I'm quite certain he saw the crashed sprinters and was simply desperate to get to the inside rail in turn 4 where his car owner(Fred Rahmer), and mechanics(Freddie Rahmer and Moon Byers) were located.  Stevie knew it would not be an open red flag because it was in the first few laps of the A main.  Was he so desperate because he had gotten in front of Dewease who has been and continues to be nearly unbeatable and wanted to hear how he looked from his guys and where Lance was etc?  Either way it was wrong and had the event been a WoO or ASCoC race he'd have been docked atleast 2 positions.  I have tons of respect for that entire team, they are professionals in every sense of the word, but that sure was disheartening to see a veteran like Stevie do something like that.  I know others saw what I saw.

My buddy &  I looked at each other and said the exact same thing. The red was out, and he drove around the crash to the inside of turn 4.

John McCoy addresses this at every drivers meeting at Knoxville. Drivers are not to drive past the scene of the accident if they are able to stop safely first. All drivers are to stop as soon as safely possible regardless of where the accident is. 

As for Wayne Johnson, his top wings was damaged by a flipping car but he was not really pat of why the red was thrown. He was passed the scene before the flipping car came to a stop so he did not hamper rescue workers from getting to the crash. But by rule he still should have stopped as soon as possible.

The local track installed new flasing yellow and red lights all around the track.  Saturday night they still had cars passing an upside down sprinter while the safety people tried to scramble up the track.  A red flashing light should mean stop as quickly as you can.

I agree! The kings royal there was a red flag and a driver drove to the entrance of pit row.and got penalized 1 row.they need to do more to prevent them from doing this .either give a open red so cars can be inspected for damages.just my opinion.

auto shuts off will not work considering open wheel midgets and sprints are controlled more with the throttle then the wheel so shutting engine at wrong time can cause car to Loose control

In New Jersey, the State Police are at every racng event and you will not see drivers drive past red lights and or flags.  They might give you some slack if you go past the first one because of your speed you are at, but you better not run a second signal.  The State will pull the track's permit if the track does not enforce the red rule.  In defense of some issues, there are tracks that do not have red lights and also I think there should be some standard set as to where the lights should be located around the track.  The best is still the string of lights across the track, how many?  Depends on the size of the track, but I would say at least four.  But as it has been said before, it is easy to spend someone else's money

I saw a replay of Bryan's crash sat and cars were still running past his car after it came to a rest. I thought red flag meant stop where you are it.

if the universal penalty for not stopping IMMEDIATLY on red was 1/2 season AUTOMATIC suspention, how many would you see run reds. also in todays electronic world drivers looking for flags or lights is just plain STUPID,  a electronicly comtroled red light could fill their cockpit. however these changes would cost money so we are back to the same old problem GREED. 

maybe "done for the night" would be appropriate...

#ParkIt4theNight

Lincoln 1845 ft/.35 mile T1=118MPH 
Eldora 2287 ft/.43mile T3=135MPH
Port 2716 ft/.51 mile T3=TBD
Grove 2792 ft/.53 mile T3=135MPH
Selinsgrove 2847 ft/.54 mile T1=136MPH
"I didn't move to PA from El Paso in search of better 
weather." Van May

Thank you. My point exactly. I am POSITIVE that if one of those guys still motoring around, were UPSIDE DOWN, they would want the safety crew to get to them as soon as possible, so why in the world are they idiots and keep going? It boggles my mind. I have seen it done at my local track, Wilmot, for years, and at IRA shows at other tracks. Come on guys, STOP...............It's a RED, not YELLOW.......Is it ignorance? Stupidity? or just plain outright a lack of punishment to these guys. Maybe the rules need to be enforced for once.....

I agree with you completely Maddog53. 

There used to be a flagman out here at Grundy County named Danny Carter that used to climb out of the flag stand and get in a drivers face if he failed to stop immediately when the red waved. He gave you more than enough time to stop safely, but if you rolled too far he let you have it. There were several occasions where he blew up right in front of the stands and the spectators knew exactly why he was upset. You stopped or risked a black flag after the re-start.

As for red lights and what not in cars, most of the clubs that we have run with are using racecievers, so the drivers hear "red red red" most of the time when something occurs. I would think that it would be a rare instance where a driver was not informed.

Never hit stationary objects!

Seems like the track should be lit up like a Christmas tree when the red goes off to. Not a light on a post every so often.

Drivers cannot have any excuses. Maybe give a time limit to get stopped when the red goes off. They don't adhere to the rules, DQ them for the night.

even so, he WAS part of the crash in turn #1.  he drove the ENTIRE way around the track and into the work area.  The safety personnel on teh backstretch were impeded in their response by him continueing on the track (cars were stopped in turn 2 and on the backstretch).

First car to fail to stop under a red flag this week shoudl be parked for the remainder of the week IMO.