Protest question

[Wayne]

Hypothetical situation. Driver A is excited because for the first time in several years his run group is scheduled to be first out. This means he may actually get home before O-dark thirty on Sunday night. 95% of the time his run group is last out, resulting in getting home extremely late on Sunday night/Monday morning. The plan is for driver A to finish the race, get loaded up, and head home as soon as the race is over.

Unfortunately, during the race driver A and driver B have a supposed incident. After the race driver B protests driver A for one of the gcr rules about not giving racing room, rough driving or some such. Driver A won the race.

How does a protest like this usually play itself out? I would assume that corner worker reports are called in or written up? Who in the group of officials actual has point on this type of protest? Once Driver B tells someone of his protest then what happens? And more importantly, WHEN does it happen?

Does the protest get ruled on right after it is filed, or do they wait until all run groups are done for the day? What happens if driver B never says anything to driver A, and driver A heads home right away? For that matter, what happens if driver A is aware of the protest but chooses to leave anyway?

Wayne

[RSTPerformance]

You need to stay at least 1/2 hour after your race, otherwise your side of the story will not be herd, and likely you will be guilty... I think thats how it is, or that is how it should be.

At pocono we were priterbed because we were planning to take right off after our race, unfortunatly mistakes by the officials messed up the results and we had to protest the results (get them changed) that took 2 hours out of the day after the race was over.

It was worth the wait... We had won.

Raymond
RST Performance Racing

[pgipson]

Protests take time, and they should. There shouldn't be a rush to judgement, as the outcome of a protest (especially for an on track incident) can have some serious affects. It is not a wise move to leave the track if you are protested. First of all, you are probably in impound after a race. That lasts 30 min. (my experience anyway) which just happens to be the length of time after a race for a protest over on track actions to be filed. A protest has to be written, and signed - not verbal.
If you have been protested, one of the officials (usually the Chief SOM) will let you know and advise you what will happen. If you need some help understanding the process (from either side) one of the stewards will be assigned to work with you (i.e. to draft a protest or to answer one). Witness statements will be taken, both drivers (or whoever else might be involved) will be interviewed. If there is car damage, that will be documented. The stewards will meet and decide on a course of action. They will then inform the drivers and release both cars from impound. Both drivers have the right to appeal a SOM decision, and the process for that is in the GCR (section 15).

If you have been protested 13.4 says you have to stay until it is resolved or you are released by the CS. Don't, and my guess is you fall into 14.1.5 and get a penalty per the GCR. If you leave before being released the SOM can also find for the other party, sorta like a "summary judgment".

Penalties can range from a reprimand to fines, suspension or loss of license, or expulsion from SCCA. It's all in the GCR.

[This message has been edited by pgipson (edited June 09, 2004).]

[RSTPerformance]

[
You definetly dont' wnat to leave the track before the 1/2 hr is up. you also want to always check the provisional results and never assume they are correct. I won at POCONO buy 20 seconds or so and they still listed me as second. you never know we are all human and make mistakes.

Yes youmust file a protest in the 30 min window. Then the stewards wil lfind you. they do not have to do this within 30min. however they do need to do it before the final results are posted. What do you do if you don't see the final results in that 1/2 hr.... find out why. If it's becasue of you don't go home until finals come out. If thye tell you everything is all set except this driver and this driver then you are all set but remember you may be a valuable witness to someone.

A bit of advise when protested or being protested. Get as many witness statements as possible an any in car video. the corner workers have a huge impact on the results of an outcome as well. I was protested at the ARRC not by a driver but by the stewards. Me and another car bumped eachother 3 times and got protested for ruff driving. The corner stations reported them for racing incidents and not intentional or avoidable. this had our penalties dropped from 3 postions to 1 point on our lic. it was tricky though becasue we did have the incidents so we where guilty of the crime however we protested for the severity of the infraction. Always consult a drivers advocate and try to resolve the situation. Also use tact because you will be racing with them again. Remember people make mistakes but also rmember that they should learn form them. (If they continue to bash into you or disobey the rules than something needs to be done). The last race I was in at NHIS I qualified in pole position. the lap I got my fastest time I happen to pass the car that qualified in second under a standing yellow flag. He came to me and spoke to me and said you know what I could do...... we discussed it civily and no hard feelings. Next time he shouldn't be so nice to me since I have learned to be more aware.

Good luck and stay out of trouble!
Stephen