Forum: HoseHeads Sprint Car General Forum (go)
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looks like at least 7 cars failed to hear anything on the raceceivers and relied upon the track light to give them notification of an impending red flag.

Hmmm. Weird.

The greatest knowledge is to know that you know nothing
at all.

WOW; alot more cars went by Dover

Brian 

"TURN AROUND; MATE !"

This was a potentially dangerous occurance.

Officials deflected attention to that with a radio issue nearly 48 hours later.

That same light worked perfectly when Saldana was on the flagstand Saturday evening.

I felt Saldana was a scapegoat.

We filmed the light as much as the 1 and 2 turns.

We've never done that prior.

Even a flashing yellow would have been helpful.

Speed

This is a very helpful video. great shot of the light.

Sean,

Tucson.

!!SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL TRACKS!!
!!Get Well Shane!! 

after watching this video....i'd say the flagman needs a boot planted in his azz....and if there was an assistant,he needs it too....BUT....if the flagman was wayving the red....the wing excuse is void....Saldana needs the boot....just my 2sence worth....life's short,play hard

Sprint Cars Do It On Dirt!

I will always think that we can not do enough for safety in racing, and I think that black flagging him for not having a working raceciever was the correct call.

This video clearly shows that the track had some issues on getting the red out fast enough. However, it clearly shows that the green light was off by the time Joey got to the light. Green means go. Red means stop. What does no lights mean? Should we expect drivers to slow down if there are no lights on the track?

I was sitting directly above the Flagman. He never picked up a Flag when the accident happened. The crowd was aware that the lead cars needed to be warned, but the Flagman did not throw a flag of any color and the flags remained in the holders until after the incident was over. If the Flagman would of been on his game he would pulled out the 'Red' when the lead cars were coming out of turn 4, but he never pulled a flag out of the tubes. The fans near the flagstand were very upset that the Flagman did not do the right job..The Flagman never 'waved the red'..

We took this video. The flagging was poor so we concentrated on the ligh in front of us at turn 1.

The green went off, then nothing else occurred. I too thought Saldana was going to hit and hard.

He had been running the hi line and was stepping out fast. The lighting in the corners of this track

are less than I am used to. And some lights tend to blind my view. Joey held his line and didn't

wobble a bit. If the flagman did not see the accident, who turned of the green? I felt at the time

and still do, we are getting the run around.

Speed

All great points. I don't have the answer for how the racing with no lights displayed is or should be handled, but it's definitely something that should be addressed - and made universal across the board.

However - I personally do not think mandating a raceceiver as a tool to use under racing conditions is wise. The units are marginal at best, and while I think they make a great tool for lineups under yellow, unless the human making the call for a yellow or red under racing conditions is willing to step up and accept the responsibility of getting the call out in a timely manner, then how can you place the burden on a driver for a failure in the system. I point to the fact that 7 cars were (at minimum) on the front stretch or in turn 1 before the call for red was made.

I've seen it many times from the grandstands and from the sidelines - race controllers failing to have control of the race while the fans and the pit crews scream in vain for a yellow or red. All the gadgets and penalties on drivers won't prevent a tragedy if the people running the controls don't do their job.

Joey and the 57s team got F'd.

The greatest knowledge is to know that you know nothing
at all.

This video shows clearly what I talked about on another post. You can see how fast the leader was on it as he approached the crashed car. Also listen to the crowd, scary situation.

Playing devil's advocate here - The red light clearly was not on until Joey had passed it going into one. However, one of the main reasons that raceiver radios are used is for safety and to prevent these situations. Reports say Joey did not respond to radio communication, resulting in the DQ.

Does the punishment fit the crime? If Joey had slammed into Dover's car, people would view this differently.

JC

One man with flags, one man on the light button, both with good communication equipment on, drivers that start respecting red and yellow flags and lights.

Grady

. 

Having been there when my son captured the video, I knew the noise from the fans was there being upset with the situation of no light which could have become a disaster. They looked at the flagstand and booed.

Now there is talk of a radio issue. There wasn't when we showed them the video.

Many bloggers said Saldana was wrong for passing the red. They believed the announcer. The writer for the ASCS site wrote the same. Only due to this video is attention switched to radios.They are not broadcast over the P A system. I probably

wouldn't understand them well if they were. Noise of course on the front stretch would possibly

drown such out anyway.

This is not about Joey Saldana and the car owner of loosing fifteen thousand dollars. Unless you are them. It is about the safety of all on the track, including Saldana. I'd never wish to be a flagman. No way can one person watch an entire track. I am used to seeing two on the stand, plus corner workers with radios to the stand that also report incidents. Sometimes it appears to be the announcer who brings attention to the flagman. The announcer has a higher view.

Can you imagine our highway system using radio earphones to tell drivers when to stop? Lights are less prone to misunderstandings. Maybe Joey should have slowed when he noticed the green light out. Maybe he didn't notice. But he was racing and slowing often creates havoc on the track to other drivers. Those cars don't have mirrors. A light switch can have three positions only, plus an on-off located further away. Green could not go to nothing, or the race would be stopped until repairs were quickly made.

Speed

Safety must come first. It appears that the "belts and suspenders" (radios and lights) system did not work. Several drivers appear to have not heard the radio and the red light did not go on. It is fortunate that no one was injured severely.

I like the idea of the flagman having a button in his hand to activate the red light. With the dim lighting the red flag may not have been seen even if it had been raised. I don't know, should the race officials be red flagged?? The flagman could also use an assistant if they did not have one.

The race officials need to look long and hard at this incident and develop a better, more fool proof system.

smallgear

Curious if there was a radio check done on Sweet, Lasoski, or the other 4 cars that ended up in turn 1 - nearly a full lap after Dover flipped. Does anybody know?

Does the punishment fit the crime? The assumption that Joey would endanger not only Jack Dover, but himself as well???????? If Joeys belts had come loose, would he be allowed to stop on the track and rectify a safety issue? If the radio was a safety issue(despite the fact that Joey told them under red he could hear but not very well) why wasn't he allowed to stop on the track and fix a safety issue?

The only crime that was committed was the epic failure of the officials to protect ALL of the drivers on that race track and the knee jerk reaction in the tower to single out a driver and DQ someone for someone elses mistake.

The greatest knowledge is to know that you know nothing
at all.