Watkins Glen National results

[stonebridge20]

1. Treadway

2. Stokers

3. Maxwell

Just reported by phone from impound.

Treadway started 6th on the grid after 3 days of engine (same back up engine from the Sprints) issues that still are not straitened out. For the past 3 days the engine wouldn't pull more than 6200rpm's. The race started in a down pour after waiting 15 minutes on the grid for lightning to clear the area. Treadway went to the front on lap one and checked out as he usually does in the rain to win by 52 seconds over Gale Stokers in second and a very close Steve maxwell in third.

Mike "Gona have some phone bill this month" Agnifilo

[rick payne_75]

guess we should all check the long term forcast for oct 11th in topeka. if theres a chance of rain best stay home.

[Shep]

The .pdf sheet results have been posted to the NESCCA site here:

http://www.nescca.com/nescca_main/natresultsglen.pdf

[Garey Guzman]

Erik,
How was the Tatuus?

[Shep]

Hi Garey,

Hopefully without pulling too much of a thread hijack, i'll say the Tatuus was AWESOME in the rain, especially after the dim-witted driver remembered on lap 10 of 13 that, "hey, I should/can change my brake bias..." (I had locked up my front brakes several times, falling off the track at T1 - thank goodness they revoved the pea gravel! - and straightlining the Inner Loop/Bus Stop twice). Oh, IF ONLY I had figured that out earlier! This was my first heavy rain race (I'd run Watkins Glen in the rain and once in light snow before, but never where everyone was *racing*) and the sense of chaos was pretty incredible. Wild stuff. Congrats to Jeremy, Gale and Steve, and thanks to everyone in the garage who was so helpful in addressing my incessant questions.

Special mention has to be given for success in the face of incredible adversity... After clouting the outside wall at turn 11 during the secong qualifying session (broken wheel apparently) and destroying three corners, a header, and who knows what else, Charles Foster and his indefatigable mechanic Parker reconstructed the car overnight for Sunday's race. They were still thrashing on it while the rest of us were sitting out the rain storm in false grid. The officials wouldn't let Charles take his grid spot, so he started dead last from the pit lane, and proceeded to work his way to 17th in a car with "approximate' alignment settings. Not too shabby!

- Erik

[Mike Scanlan]

Speaking about bypassing the busstop chicane, which was done by several cars to avoid the time loss from a spin, I think a few figured out that you could save a 15-20 seconds by bypassing the chicane instead of spinning in the chicane like I did mid race losing much time and position. Mabye next year they should assess a penalty for doing this bypass and cars would no longer gain an advantage by skipping the chicane. Anyone in the Glen region want to pipe in on this subject.
Also, I would suggest that next year cars might want to skip the test day and save much time and money since new insurance regulations at the Glen mandate a black flag if just 1 car pulls off course no matter how far it is from any danger. The open wheel group got 6 green laps all day.

[Shep]

Hey Mike,

It appears that the rule is in the GCR, but wasn't in the Supps for the Glen Nationals:

GCR 6.8.3. Off-Course Excursions
The driver is required to follow the pavement or marked course during a competition, and shall not gain an advantage from an off-course excursion.
Unless otherwise provided by Supplementary Regulations, whenever a driver leaves an artificially marked course or an airport circuit with all four (4) wheels, he shall re-enter the course at the same spot where he went off, and cannot simply re-enter further down the course, subject to the directions of the Corner Worker controlling re-entry.

From the Supps for the upcoming Glen Region July Sprints (regional) at WGI
(there was nothing in the Finger Lakes Region's Supps for the 61st Glen Nationals regarding off-course excursions - I'll make sure it gets mentioned for the Fun One Supps and subsequent Glen National Supps):

GCR 6.8.3 Off Course Excursions – In the case of a report of a car taking the escape at the inner loop during qualifying the driver will be subject to loss of that qualifying lap. During a race, a driver will be subject to a penalty (stop & go, loss of position) if he gains an advantage by using the escape. Violation (four wheels over) of the course boundary line on driver’s left in turn one constitutes an off course excursion. An incidental violation, to avoid contact or an incident, with a safe re-entry, may be condoned, but consistent violations (2-3 or more) will incur a penalty at the discretion of the Assistant Chief Steward. Any unsafe re-entry on the race course will incur a penalty at the discretion of the Assistant Chief Steward.

The flagger at station 7 or 8 (whichever one's at the exit of the chicane driver's right) had a stop sign that the driver was to heed before proceeding back onto the course from the escape road. If you witnessed someone gaining an advantage by taking the escape road, you had valid grounds for a protest. I know in my two instances, I lost ground (slowing for the stop sign), and certainly didn't gain.

As for the test day, I couldn't agree with you more - it seems like people were on a mission to see who could be the first to fall off the track after a session was restarted.... I gotta say, mixing Vees with Atlantics and C/DSR's doesn't seem particularly well considered.

[stonebridge20]

Mike, I guess JT had a little too much front bias and straitlined the bus stop on the restart. He told me he came to a stop but couldn't remember the rule so he sat there and let 5 cars pass before he pulled back out. Funny part is he passed all 5 before the heal of the boot!

Agnif

[Mike Scanlan]

Noone was doubting the right guy won that race. My point was that it would have been a far greater penalty to have have spun the chicane on the restart and fallen to the back of 40+ car field than to have bypassed it (which was legal as the rule is written) and let 5 cars go by. If a driver had to sit at that stop sign for, say, 20 seconds every time he skipped the chicane, then it simply wouldn't be worth it.
Mike, have a great weekend coming up.