Additional info: The protest on Mark's car was due to the various plastic
body pieces that were missing. This included the chin spoiler, the plastic
engine undertray and the mud flap. The results form indicated that the
pieces came off from cone damage at the Pro Solo finale.
There is NO truth to this statement. The car arrived in Topeka with a
missing spoiler, an after market steering wheel and other missing pieces (I
personally inspected the car upon its arrival on Friday). The steering
wheel magically became "closer to stock" on Monday, the rest was unchanged.
That having been said, I also attempted to file a protest against the event
because one of my team mates has video of car 140 hitting a cone on what the
announcer (heard on the tape) declares his best time but also states he hit
a cone. The protest was not accepted due to the rule that the protest had
top be filed within 30 minutes. While there is such a rule, I also suspect
that the PC would be hesitant to allow the protest to effect the results for
fear of future implications. As for anything else, I did not have any
comment because I had no involvement.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Heyward K. Wagner
TEAM UNDERDOG RACING
Honda Civic Si - HS #48
www.teamunderdog.com
IMPACT GRAPHICS
Custom Automotive Graphics - Numbers - Magnetics - Static Cling
1-877-945-7446
-------------------------------------------------------------------
----- Original Message -----
From: Hollis, Andy <ahollis@origin.ea.com>
To: <autox@autox.team.net>
Sent: Friday, September 15, 2000 5:50 PM
Subject: re: Protest in HS
> Just wanted to add a little more factual data to the discussion. As a
> previous HS competitor, I know all of the involved parties and chatted
with
> them as this all went down. I also went over to the information tent to
> view the protest forms and PC results forms.
>
> Correction #1: To the person who claimed that the original protest was
only
> on cam timing and not ignition, and that the protestor was "pulling things
> out of his ass", you are incorrect. The original protest form lists four
> items to check, 1) Ignition timing, 2) cam timing 3) something about
vacuum
> hoses all being present and correct, and 4) head and block deck thickness.
> The second one also had some detail about checking cam cover, cam gears,
and
> other items that may allow for additional ignition timing to be gained by
> moving the indicators.
>
> Correction #2: The infraction was not just timing. The results form lists
> that the timing was out of spec and also that a vacuum hose was found to
be
> disconnected.
>
> Additional info: The protest on Mark's car was due to the various plastic
> body pieces that were missing. This included the chin spoiler, the
plastic
> engine undertray and the mud flap. The results form indicated that the
> pieces came off from cone damage at the Pro Solo finale. Seems logical.
The
> local Honda dealer did not have the parts. Mark aparrently arranged to
> borrow the parts from another competitor to statisfy the PC.
>
> On the issue of penalties, I learned something about the PC as lead by
> Protest Chief, Roger "the famous" Johnson. Roger is a big proponent of
> using the full range of penalties. This is in deference to previous
> generations of commitees that lived by the creed, "no illegal car should
> finish ahead of a legal one". Then, it became an issue of deciding
whether
> an infraction was "material" or not, and the degree had nothing to do with
> it. You still threw out "mud flaps" protests, but it left no range for
> other things. I personally agree with Roger's new stance, and wish it had
> been there when we had to deal with the Meiritz/Despelder CSP head issue
> some years ago.
>
> As for Gerry Terranova, I understand people's natural tendency to be
> skeptical of folks they've never head of. But before protesting, most
> people also consult others and if they did so, there are plenty of folks
out
> there that know of Gerry. I've run against him for over ten years, both
in
> Maryland and here in Texas. I'm sure Mark Allen knew who he was and also
> Russ Blume and Ron Williams. The latter have even run events he's been
at,
> albeit when Gerry's car was still ES. Gerry's quite a good seat-of-the
> pants driver and has more time in CRX's and Civics than I do. And that's
a
> lot. :-) I saw this one coming when the Civic Si moved to HS and Gerry
> decided to go to Nats. He's worked extra-hard this year and he really
> deserved this one. Way to go Gerry!!
>
> --Andy Hollis
>
> PS: Protests are a necessary part of this sport. Its how things get
policed
> and the process must exist and be utilized so that people all interpret
the
> rules the same way. I emplore everyone to give both protestors and
> protestees the benefit of the doubt and not jump to conclusions. And
> getting judgemental about it ("cheater!" or "weenie!") does not serve any
> positive purpose.
|