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It has to end
#21
I have read these comments in full and it's nice to see nobody getting nasty or annoyed about what should be a civil discussion.
on New castle.
As per usual Jeff ran a great event.
i had fun but there was two issues that i feel need to be addressed for next time.
first open practice needs to be eliminated.
practice by class or at least tire type/frame type needs to be the rule and norm.
a great many of the issues resulted from what i'd liken to model t's trying to run with super cars DURING PRACTICE.
i was running a tiny wimpy mc49 and was dive bombed cut off and brake checked to many times to remember.
it got where when i was in a hairpin or the straight i routinely hung my arm out on the side i wanted to leave open for passes.


The second issue was mixing kart classes that are miles apart.
historic/mc49/over 60 (i think) and juniors were together.
the juniors had sticky tires and space frames. the over sixty had pipes and one historic was a mc101.
that made for an interesting grid to say the least.
i was lapped by EVERYONE including the jeff brown mc49 which ain't stock by anyones definition.
personally i was fine with all the karts the drivers generally blew around me in safe spots but to me i was a rock in the river and a safety hazard to the other drivers.
a suggestion would be historics and mc49 class seperate from the piped macs and space frames.
at least then the speed issues would be less of a hazard.

we had a couple of kids at new castle which pleases me..
Vico was excellent and respectful.
one of the other boys was not.
that boy needed to be talked to but there wasn't anyone i was aware of in Jeff's mix  serving that function.
if he had been talked to STRONGLY perhaps some of the problems would've been avoided.
i watched him knock into vico trying to spin or intimidate him.
same kid dive bombed and brake checked me several times both in race and practice.
i attempted to speak with the lad .
he felt his driving "was fine" and he explained he only looks straight ahead the sides aren't his problem.
Sadly that attitude will eventually get him hurt one way or another.

having been a promoter in the past i can assure you incidents happen. the problem is the promoter ALREADY has too much to do.
so policing driver behavior is often overlooked in favor of the event moving through it's schedule .
maybe we can work out some sort of person at each VKA event that is designated as an official track behavior cop.
let drivers know who he is and he can deal with the offending driver as far as speaking to him and warning him to behave.
only if his behavior continues should the promoter be pulled in to decide what's next.

beyond these small issues easily fixed i'd say Jeff Brown overall did a better than fine job.
i personally was happy to be back there again after all these years other duties kept me away!!

atta boy
Jeff!!!
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Dave L.
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#22
in case anyone missed my new castle post i'll say it here too.
Jeff pulled off a great event. there were some issues but Sh1t happens at races.

this discussion should be about VKA and how VKA deals with driver and track issues.
posting complaints about a specific events isn't productive and/or fair.
SO STOP USING EVENTS FOR EXAMPLES.
that is NOT A REQUEST i am speaking as the admin right now.
Start posting ideas to fix the issues for next time.

 THE CLUB needs to figure out how to minimize these problems.
so lets discuss how VKA can fix these issues and leave specific events out of the discussion.
if we can't keep this thread going without including events and promoters i'll kill the thread.
enough said
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Dave L.
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#23
I'm not trying to bash Jeff, he did put on a great event. I have helped promote several street races and know the difficulty. I especially like the hand shake line on the racetrack and told him so. There was some room for improvement of the organization and execution of order and he was working on that.

My rant earlier was the way I feel about his people I made direct contact with. And take this as you will but the race director ( the guy who was lining is up) seemed to have too much on his plate. I suggest there should have been a separate flagman for that corner and he could have been focused on line ups.

As far as the practice prosess, we did a split practice at Barnesville and I thought it worked great. Maybe I did not see the issue there if it happened.

Let me say this was only my second event, so I m new to the Vintage aspect and still have the mindset of running like I did back when. My wife has tried to remind me of this and yes my 48 year old body is also.
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#24
Yes, trying to talk sense into another driver when you are not in a position of authority is a real challenge.

I tried to do that at an event and a member of the offending drivers entourage physically assaulted me in the hot pit for "insulting" their driver.  Most of the bystanders that only observed the end of this incident in front of the race director were not aware of the sequence of events that led up to the end.

My suggestion as a potential way to help "police" bad behavior drivers is to do two things:

1.  Require all participants to serve a small amount of time as corner workers with yellow flags and radios in communication with the race director and his alternate(s).  This would enhance safety by having caution flags at the ready, and to report bad behavior drivers to the race director for counseling.  Yup, will require some additional organization and maintaining about 6 radios (4 plus a couple of spares).

2.  Establish a somewhat "formal" method for drivers to register complaints with the race director for driver "counseling".  This would include a published rule that the race director will listen to complaints, and that "bad behavior" drivers WILL BE DQ'D for a day or an entire event AT THE SOLE DISCRETION OF THE RACE DIRECTOR.  It will take very, very little discipline to make this work.  Once you DQ a single driver, the rest of the bad boys will likely toe the line.  I have essentially "DQ'd" myself when encountering out of control drivers, in that after one heat driving with the bad boys I simply decided that I would retire for the day rather than be on the track with someone(s) who were willingly putting me in danger.  If it is fair for me to essentially be driven off the track for the day, it is fair that the guilty parties get to have the same experience.

I truly believe that our entire sport is at risk if we do not get this under control.

Again, we all know what opinions are like......
Jim Waltz, West Sacramento, CA
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#25
Hey Duke,

Stick the shop photo you use for your avatar into a post so's we can take a closer look.

High res, please.

Ciao!
Jim Waltz, West Sacramento, CA
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#26
[Image: 0128172057_zps0vtdjeho.jpg]

There you go Jim.

Btw I received a call from Jeff yesterday and we discussed the issues and said he understands my issue and mentioned that he did not know of my wreck and apologized for not following up. Also he said splitting up practice is difficult and he did that in previous years only to have us drivers not follow the format.
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#27
Duke,

Thanks for the pic!  I like the corrugated metal wainscoting.  I'm jealous of all your room.  Nice shop!

I finally switched from MIG to TIG after watching Michael Edick graciously and beautifully do an at-track repair to my buddy Tim's GK 800 steering arm.  That was the end of MIG for me - especially when Eastwood had their nice TIG unit on sale for $750.  Still not an artist like Michael, but I love the control you have with TIG, and the lack of sparks flying everywhere.

As for the boys not abiding by direction, we just need VKA to act, and keep the black flag handy.  My suggestion about workers and rules will work, but you have to have the chutzpah to make a rule and enforce it.

Shop photo added for all to see more easily...


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Jim Waltz, West Sacramento, CA
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#28
ttt
Dave L.
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