Quote Originally Posted by Greg Amy View Post
Not clear what the implications of that statement are (maybe I missed a prior discussion?) The purpose of the non-super-secret Redbook is for NEDiv chief stewards (who are different at each event) to have a record of recent driver actions, ones that did not necessarily rise to the level of requiring an overt punishment (e.g., probation, suspension) but could indicate a concerning trend. If drivers do not have any subsequent incidents within a short period of time (one year?), they are dropped from the list.

Said slightly differently, other than official probations, suspensions, and license points, stewards had no way to observe and track subsequent driver actions to establish trends, which could indicate a need for harsher penalties for that person. The Redbook addresses that void.

- GA
It wasn't going to capture trends, or at least it wasn't the way it was presented here --

1. Only the stewards were to have access to the nuclear football. So, it was kind of super secret.
2. Only actions where the SoMs punished someone would have been recorded. Get dinged by a CSA on 10 consecutive race weekends? The Red Book says you are as pure as Christ.
3. Today's incident would be modified by prior actions. The CS, prior to his judgement, wouldn't view today's incident in the lens of how serious it was; he would view today's contact as biased by the same-level of contact you had 3 weeks ago. If the previous CS sent it off to the SoMs, then his judgement of the seriousness of today's incident would be biased. Either what you did today justified a CSA or a RFA or it didn't. What you did 3 weeks ago is irrelevant.

7.4.B. Penalties imposed by the Chief Steward do not incur penalty points.
Right there is the weak link in both the Redbook and the SCCA punishment process. Get put to last for contact via a CSA? Your record is clean. Get dinged by the SoMs? You've got points. How many Stewards are going to refer a cut-and-dry case to the SoMs when they've got the easy button right there?