Tom-
Thanks for the video confirmation. If I can manage to edit my in-car, you'll be able to see me point the Acura by going into 7, and HEAR (and almost feel) the intensity of the hit from the Acura. I am still very sour about the situation, for several reasons:
1. I clearly pointed him by and left room, and did so because I saw that not only was HE (the Acura) coming, but that he was obviously racing the Miata, and I didn't want to screw that up. For that consideration, my car needs serious repair.
2. While the protest was well-founded, no action was taken because the SOM found "no malicious intent" on the part of the Acura driver. I cannot disagree with that (I don't think he *meant* to punt me), but part of being a race driver is having your car under control, and being able to race (AND allow others to race) in very close quarters. Intent is not the point. GCR 6.11.1 (the foundation of my protest) states this clearly, and makes no mention of intent. My protest was only officially filed AFTER I spoke to the Acura driver, and while apologetic to a point, he stated that since I pointed him by, he expected me to let him "have the track" (not an exact quote, but a paraphrase), and that the real cause of the incident was that his tires had been going away, and that he really lost them at that point. After 5-10 minutes of calm, rational conversation (as much as I could at that point, I felt he didn't "get it", and I informed him that a protest was filed, and that I was going to confirm that with the Chief Steward at that point (the CS asked me to talk to the guy before making my protest official- I hadn't because until I spoke to the Stewards, I wasn't calm enough to talk to the guy constructively).
3. The guy LEFT THE TRACK prior to speaking to the SOM on Saturday. Again, I *clearly* informed him of the protest, and he even commented to the Hoosier Tire guys on Saturday afternoon (which I confirmed) that the bad tires ruined his race, and that there was even a protest pending. This information was all presented to the SOM, yet they took no action.
I'm most disappointed in the fact that I feel like the driver of the Acura left the event thinking that his involvement in the hit was incidental, and that he was in a place at a time with not ideal equipment, and that the equipment shortcoming initiated the event. I feel that he needs to work on his interacting with traffic, and better master handling his car in situations that may not be what he expected. I don't hold malice towards him, and would go back out on track with him in the future, but I protested in the hopes that someone could get the message across to him. I felt I had not, and now I feel the SOM did not attempt to do so in the proper manner.
I've decided that I will probably nnot appeal the decision, but I will be contacting the SOM and CS later just to share my thoughts as I've presented them here.
Thanks for listening...
BTW Tom, thanks for showing me that I need to continue to work on my lines at MidO. I hope that I did OK for it being my first event there, but I know I have a long way to go...
Oh, and thanks a LOT to Bill for the moral support and the axle. It was one heck of a weekend.
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