If you go off the track ... stay off the track!
A year ago at Laguna Seca, a car that was well in front of me during qualifying flew off the outside of turn 6. He got it sort of kind of straight out in the dirt, but then the car suddenly hooked and he came flying back across the track, right into my path. His car was totaled and mine was seriously damaged.
This past weekend at Laguna Seca, two cars had very minor contact in turn 4 during qualifying. They were in different classes, the faster car, from ITE, was passing the slower one, from T3, as I understand it. In any case, the slower car was on the outside and ended up in the dirt. A little distance behind, the same thing was happening with two different cars (an EP car passing an ITB/ITE car). The car off in the dirt suddenly hooked and flew across the track, and BOTH cars behind made contact with it. The T3 car that got hit and one of the trailing cars (the EP car) were very heavily damaged (possibly to the point of not worthwhile trying to rebuild), and the other trailing car had somewhat more minor damage.
Both of these incidents could have been avoided if, once off the track, the drivers had simply locked up the wheels and come to a stop. Yet I almost never see anyone do that.
So, to all of us drivers (me included), remember that your desire to keep going on a throwaway lap (especially during practice & qualifying) turns your bad lap into an end-of-season event for you AND someone else. Don't throw it all away for no good reason.
