Interesting....

First I'd want to know a couple of things. Has the flag worker ever driven a racecar? Has the flag worker ever driven Lime Rock? Can the flag worker quote passages from Carroll Smith's "Tune to Win"?

Personal thoughts aside, if the driver was truely doing something inherently dangerous there might be cause for action. But that said, determining such requires a high level of expertise, hence the aforementioned questions. If all of the above were answered "no" you'd have to rely on erratic behavior of some sort and it sounds like that was not part of the equation. It sounds to me that it was just a question of line and the driver was simply using a different part of the road. If there's something wrong with that, you better be a goddamn expert to call someone on it because that's racing.

Personal thoughts lead me a different direction. This guy had no right, experienced or not, to question non-erratic driving on a different line. Personally I wouldn't want this guy on a flag station period. He's the epitome of what's wrong with this club. The job is to inform drivers and respond to "situations" not critique driving. Unfortunately too many workers, God bless them, who've had little or no experience in the car on track think they know about driving from standing on a corner. Sorry, just not the case. To make a determination on a driver's driving line is like a bankrupt guy telling Bill Gates he's not making money the right way.

It sounds to me like this worker wanted to strut his stuff and got appropriately snubbed by the powers that be. In response he filed a protest to protect his wounded ego and protect the thought that he knew what he was talking about. Pretty sad. If he truly felt their was danger he should have ordered his workers off the corner and left it to the SOM to deal with the situation. I doubt the other workers would have concurred. But even so, if he felt it was putting workers in danger than he endangered everyone around him by not doing so. He's wrong any way you cut it.

Bottom line is we drive and flaggers flag. You feel in danger, walk away. We'll deal with it. You want to stay and critique driving lines through protests that hassle drivers who provide the resources and cash for your enjoyment and hobby? Find someone who'll listen. Good luck. Too many non-driving participants are trying to determine what, where and how we race. It's why we're losing out to other organizations.

Last and most important is that the Chief Steward is to blame for the whole mess. WHo was it? THis should have been taken care of with a single radio communication. An idiot on a corner thinking he's David Hobbs is one thing, but a leader who lets it escalate is not in control OR is as inexperienced and oblivious to racing as the corner worker. When what pavement we use, as long as it's part of the track, begins to become a judgement call it's not racing anymore.