Mid-Ohio Midpoint

[Steve Bamford]

I have two videos from the back of the pace car. It was moving, never stationary once it entered the track. The cars passed it at speed. This was fully reviewed by the stewards before any action was taken.

I had written something else here but feel I should discuss this with the staff of the series in person instead and have since adjusted my post. I do not agree with the decision but the Stewards are put in a tough place by this as the rules are clear we are not allowed to pass a pace car.

This part I will leave as originally posted as I feel it still can add value:

Suggestion going forward is you implement a max speed for FCY in the series when not behind pace car that requires cars to come down to it by the 2nd FCY station. Kind of a VSC.

[Steve Demeter]

Not there but in general, most pace car drivers seem to have no clue as to how fast F2000 cars need to go just to warm tires, brakes etc. This is especially true in club racing. It is not uncommon to have to come to a complete stop on the pace lap top avoid the guy in front of you who had to stop cause the pace car was going at a speed more appropriate to showroom stock.

I think that pace car drivers should be required to undergo training on how to do the job. After all, Stewards do and they do not hold your life in their hands like a ham fisted pace car driver. And as far as stopped or moving, 10 mph in a F2000 car is stopped.

[DaveW]

...Suggestion going forward is you implement a max speed for FCY in the series when not behind pace car that requires cars to come down to it by the 2nd FCY station. Kind of a VSC.

In a club National race 15 years ago or so, the stewards at Road America put out a FCY, but never brought out a pace car. That action cost me a chance at a win, since the car in front of me slowed way down and lost contact with the pack which had not slowed down.

So, unless speed can be monitored for everyone, a speed limit under FCY might have unintended consequences.

[Steve Bamford]

In a club National race 15 years ago or so, the stewards at Road America put out a FCY, but never brought out a pace car. That action cost me a chance at a win, since the car in front of me slowed way down and lost contact with the pack which had not slowed down.

So, unless speed can be monitored for everyone, a speed limit under FCY might have unintended consequences.

Good point Dave. How about set speed for the leader then? Everyone else slightly above till they catch up?

[DaveW]

Good point Dave. How about set speed for the leader then? Everyone else slightly above till they catch up?

That sounds like it would work, as long as the leader complied.

[problemchild]

I don't think you need more rules. We have had flag and pace car rules evolving for over 50 years now. The organizer just needs to evaluate conditions, such as slow pace car, or certain track features, and modify their operations accordingly. When 5 top drivers all don't understand the procedure, then the procedure was poorly executed or poorly communicated.

I witnessed the incident first hand and have a totally different version than the tunnel vision version recorded by the camera. Modern cameras don't lie, but they do provide a distorted picture that has minimal context or reference. Unfortunately, our sport is increasingly dependent on these cameras, which provide such a narrow perspective. Yes they prove there was a window of track that the offending driver was targeting, but they lack the overview to tell if the defending driver was entitled to that space, or if the offending driver could ever have stayed in it. In this case, I thought the leader was slow to react initially, but all drivers otherwise acted correctly.

[Ben Beasley]

Here's in car from Sam's point of view Sunday's race. In car shows pace car appears to be nearly, if not stopped. https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B5L...ew?usp=sharing

[Steve Bamford]

Good job and thankfully Sam was able to avoid me when I spun following Trent in turn one. That was close.

I'm still not really sure what we were expected to do with the safety car as you can clearly see he was barely moving and we only had one station FCY prior to the safety car so of course we were traveling quick as we were racing to that point.

Hopefully there is a meeting to discuss this Thursday with the drivers involved.

[Parker]

Here's in car from Sam's point of view Sunday's race. In car shows pace car appears to be nearly, if not stopped. https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B5L...ew?usp=sharing

WOW, that was hair raising! Thanks for posting and congratulations on the win.

[Jnovak]

A really nice drive Sam. Scary stuff with the pace car.

[Steve Demeter]

Scary at least two times.

Good job of saving your own life as well as the others who managed to spin in front of you Sam.

The guy in the blue car who tried to make it 3 wide at the start was a tad over optimistic.