I Was Seventh!

https://www.youtube.com/embed/Zyr6VDaaWJE

An oldie but a goodie popped up on my suggested videos to watch today. Sit back and enjoy a racer's nightmare on grid.

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Ed Higginbotham wrote: An oldie but a goodie popped up on my suggested videos to watch today. Sit back and enjoy a racer's nightmare on grid.

argggggggggggggggggggh... I'd have popped an aneurysm.............

Those collisions could all be prevented if they had the new warning devices such as on the new cars. Collision warning, lane control, blind spot warning.

7th out of anything is good to me. I've always been a mid pack man. I'll never be awesome. I'll never be 1st place. And I'm ok with that. (Not saying it couldn't happen, but the 6th-1st place guys would need to have severe diaheria and not show up) great job on 7th.

Been there, wanted to kill the volunteer official........

oldeskewltoy wrote:

Ed Higginbotham wrote: An oldie but a goodie popped up on my suggested videos to watch today. Sit back and enjoy a racer's nightmare on grid.

argggggggggggggggggggh... I'd have popped an aneurysm.............

I'm honestly amazed he wasn't brought in for passing on the pace lap. Just watching that made the veins on my forehead stand out.

So, let's say this happens to me. What should I do, from an official's perspective?

Looking at how this unfolded, I'm thinking accept the accidental 6th place gridding.

It seems clear that the official should've found out why he pointed at the other car, but there's a lot going on. Similarly, it seems a lot (impossible) for the official to know where he should've been in a 73 car field.

I wonder how he wound up gridded 6th? Is the moral "just making berkeleying sure you're correctly gridded, because any attempt to correct is a total forfeiture, and a failure to correct an advantage probably also means forfeiture"?

Absolutely maddening, but I hope that knowledge can prevent me from ever suffering this fate.

In reply to Ransom:

I'm a little curious about that too.

The failure to investigate by the official was interesting to say the least.

In SCCA, the grid officials give you a five, three, and one minute warning before cars roll out on track. At the one minute warning, if you are not completely ready, you will be held until the entire pack goes. His gesturing to the official was seen as a signal of him not being ready, and the grid official kept the train rolling.

The driver (or someone very cleverly masquerading as the driver for no reason) actually just recently commented on the video with his side of the story.

Ken Zalner said: It's kind of funny that I haven't commented on this video prior to this moment. I'll dispel the rookie error misconception. I qualified 7th overall (2nd in class out of 74 I think) and mentioned to a grid worker prior to the start of the race I was in grid position 6th. I was informed that the spots were labeled wrong and when it was my turn to go to simply point the other driver out before me. Chip Herr is a good friend of mine and I didn't want an error from grid to benefit myself when I didn't earn it! I did what I was told and was penalized for it. I simply tried to get back to where I earned a starting spot from. Cor...we don't know each other, but I can humbly say I was no rookie. I paid my dues for 3 years doing over 30 events with the best teacher in the land prior to my first race. In the most competitive field in one of the most competitive regions in the nation...I put it on the pole under track record...led every lap and won my first race ever in a field of 50. I'm cognitive of the rules Cor...I guess that is why I wasn't punished for trying to reclaim what I had earned. You may chalk it up as rookie error, but I'm proud of my accomplishments and the was able to go on to win the first of my 10 championships that rookie season. My crew was the best that and every year. They provided to me a winning car...it was up to me to not let them down. It's understandable for everyone to throw out their opinions when they haven't had the benefit of hearing what actually happened.

The last ever Spec Miata race I ran, I qualified on pole in both the 1.5hr enduro, and two sprint races. But I had to run a different number in the enduro than the sprint races. When I got to grid for the first sprint race, the grid officials didn't have me listed as the number I now had on the car. I spent ten minutes arguing my case that I should start on pole, and they finally agreed when at the five minute mark, no car had showed up to take pole on the grid.

I had my suit on, but not zipped up, and my gloves, helmet and Hans device were in the passenger side. I zipped up, jumped in the car, and was pulling my helmet over my head when they gave the one to go signal. They held me while the entire field (27 other SM's, and a few IT, SS, and Prod. cars) filed past. At the start of lap three, I was fifth, and could still see first, when the fourth place car braked in T2, a high speed, flat-out kink at Sebring. I kept the car from spinning when I tried to avoid him, but all that did was put me nose first into the T3 tire wall. Spinning would have been the better option in retrospect.