Cheap Date at NH

Wondering if he/she got a better picture of me doing donuts after my STU win!
Yet another explicit restriction that will be added to subsequent supplementary regulations...sigh...would suggest you should consider yourself lucky that Control can't see over in T6...just sayin'... - GA
 
They can see it, dont worry. Dont ask why I know.

Regarding the kids, Oh My God. I counted at least 11 different ones all under the age of 10 riding around like mini Hells Angels. It was awesome to see it. Glad they all got along and had fun.

They are turning into a gang, we better be careful in a few years, we dont want some one to have an ACCIDENT, do we?

Why am I hearing the Godfather music???
 
They can see it, dont worry. Dont ask why I know.
No they can't. You know how I know...

Kids all over the place, all off-leash. Isn't there a note in the supps you have to keep your kids on a leash and pick up after them...? Hope the track doesn't ban 'em again... ;) - GA
 
Soooo If control cant see 6 then there should be no Contact papers for anything in 6. Nice........:smilie_pokal:

Says the former flagger who knows the sight lines. :rolleyes:


kidding.... KIDDING Dont get mad, its a funny!!!!:dead_horse:



Greg, Madison says she wants you to take care of her at the track from now on, cause you talk funny at night. HMMMMMM
 
Soooo If control cant see 6 then there should be no Contact papers for anything in 6. Nice........:smilie_pokal:
There's a regular broadcast at the beginning of each session, saying things to F&C personnel like "session starting, please hold calls until after first lap except in case of emergency" stuff like that.

When the IT7 guys are on the track, we append to it "please pay close attention to the IT7 guys, and report all contact, and keep special close eyes on that blue car with the green markings. And the red one. And the other blue one. And the yellow one. And the other red one with white. And all the other ones, too. We'll give you free beer at end of day."

It's quite an effective motivator...

Madison says she wants you to take care of her at the track from now on, cause you talk funny at night.

We should record it. No wait, no we shouldn't.

- GA
 
No they can't. You know how I know...

Kids all over the place, all off-leash. Isn't there a note in the supps you have to keep your kids on a leash and pick up after them...? Hope the track doesn't ban 'em again... ;) - GA

While the majority of them were fine, there were some who were the victims of apathetic parental control. I can tell you, it gets annoying having shit flying over your head and kids on scooters careening through your work space. Parents, play space shouldn't be in your neighbors paddock spot. Not everyone thinks your child is special.
 
Skates, skateboards and Scooters (push type) are not allowed at NHMS, adult or child.
As the person who takes the heat from track management I can tell you they will have no problem directing you to the exit :shrug:
Just sayin!
 
Parents, play space shouldn't be in your neighbors paddock spot.
And, just because you're inside that fenced area at NHMS doesn't make it "safe". From the tower we watched a Formula Vee doing slow laps inside that "compound", I'm guessing bedding in brakes. He wasn't driving fast or unsafe, so we didn't sic Marilyn after him, but had a kid popped out into the road from in between the cars lined on the asphalt, it would have been an ugly situation...

The race track is simply not a fenced-in playground.

- GA
 
Kids all over the place, all off-leash. Isn't there a note in the supps you have to keep your kids on a leash and pick up after them...? Hope the track doesn't ban 'em again... ;) - GA


From this comment we ended up taking a very bad turn. I assumed, apparently incorrectly, that this was meant as an off color joke.

It really does suck that a few are gonna ruin it for the many. WE, Jaime and I, took action regarding the issues over bicycles at the last event. Now they dont ride bikes during hot hours. Race cars = no Bikes. But I can only take responsability for my girls.

Now its starting to seem we need to bring temporary horse fences to keep them from possably coming in contact with anything at all. And padding for the ground where they took the grass off and laid out rocks. And maybe a sun cover so they dont get sun damage either. All in the name of the TRACK not yelling at us as a region for having a FAMILY oriented atmosphere. Soon we will need a family camping area and a paddock area and no one under 18 will be allowed near a car. they might burst into flames for crying out loud. And if it saves one child, isnt it all worth it.

Sorry for the rant, not sorry I bring my kids to grow up at the race track. Its where I grew up and hopefuly the sport will still be around when they have kids.
 
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I'm trying to think of any track that allows kids on any kind of wheeled vehicle?
Back in the Betty days, the motorcoach area (fenced in area center of paddock) was the only kid area.
 
Dan, 98% of them were fine. I've never seen an issue with your kids. Unfortunately, we had a family nearby where dad basically ignored his kids. He was working on his race car while we (collective we) were stopping his kids from racing out into the roadway as cars were leaving impound.
They had a scooter (push type) that they were using inside the garage and on the grounds. Little kids, like 6 and 8, were weaving and pushing themselves all though the garage, around people's cars. Repeatedly. I was waiting for one of them to wipe out into someone's car. Dad ignored It.
Older sis was apparently in charge, but she really wasn't mature enough to do the job. She was ripping around on it too, and they were throwing balls all over the place, balls that kept bouncing into peoples spaces and off our stuff.
I am all for a family atmosphere at the track. But how do you propose we handle people like this? I really don't feel like having to be a hard ass all the time, especially when I am looking to concentrate on racing. And having to discipline other people's kids is not something you want ME to do...trust me on that. :rolleyes:
 
WE, Jaime and I, took action...
I don't recall anyone making any comments about your kids specifically, nor do I recall any specific issues (though I recall you got accosted at the last event for stuff your kids maybe weren't responsible for?)

But in the end, just like vehicle compliance, it's something we have to handle amongst ourselves, lest someone handle it for us. Allow me a bit of a metaphor: I don't have kids but I have dogs, and I like to bring my dogs to the track and other public places. I also recognize that it's my responsibility to keep my dogs under control, out of danger, out of other peoples' way (who may not appreciate how special my dogs are - yet they are). I also understand it's my responsibility to "pick up after them".

But by the same token, I am very easily victimized by other people not taking that same stance. Unlike with kids, it's very easy for a track to simply declare "no pets at all" and I lose that opportunity, so I make a point of watching for other people to not follow the rules, and I will make it clear to them when they do not (and I will even "pick up" after them if they refuse to). And when that happens, I bring it to the attention of the folks in charge.

So, Dan, while you're a responsible parent, and while your kids may be much better behaved than others, it's in your best interest to bring the issues to the attention of other parent-competitors, or the authorities, lest the track decide to make changes. I am certainly not going to police them, because I don't have kids and I really don't have a vested interest in whether they're restricted or not (and, I expect you'd probably not pick up after my dogs if you saw me ignoring it...)

And in the end, it's a race track, not a playground.

Just food for thought.

I've gotten a couple PMs about the Turn 6 donuts, mostly asking "why was that a problem?" So I figured I'd respond publicly as well.

- We were trying to keep the pace of the weekend going (note how we beat the schedule quite handily both days?) so after the last car took the checkered for each session, and while victory laps were going on, Race Control was coordinating numerous other activities on the track to keep the flow going, including but not limited to:

-- Giving the Grid an "all clear" 5-minute warning to get the next group on track
-- Other victory laps
-- Re-positioning the pace car behind victory laps from the Pits back to the Grid
-- Workers cleaning/sweeping the track
-- Re-positioning wreckers, emergency/rescue vehicles, etc.

All of these activities are predicated on a base expectation of smooth, unobstructed, fully-in-control track flow during the cool-down and victory laps, and none of these activities are expecting to encounter a vehicle blocking the track.

Race Control cannot see over in Turn 6. I'm not aware that anyone called that activity in so as far as I know it was completely unknown to Race Control. However, had Race Control known that this was going to happen, or subsequently became aware of it as it was happening, we could have stopped all track activity (see above list) and waited for each victory lap to arrive back into the pits safely before we released the next one, then started that whole turnover process.

Hey, with some heads-up, the track coulda been all yours. ;)

Finally, I know that some cars were taking victory laps with unharnessed passengers inside...I'm hoping yours was not one of them. If we suspect that someone may do that, then we cannot allow passengers during victory laps.

Just some more food for thought.

GA, who notes that more and more supps are explicitly disallowing post-race hooning...
 
I was up in the tower with Greg Sunday and can verify that the donuts went unnoticed. I've seen that sort of thing as a corner worker before and sometimes personally find it a little cringeworthy (considering this is "just" amateur racing, potential safety risks, or the fact that you know "no SCCA steward would approve of that!" - though I don't think any of these things separately should be the sole reason not to do something with the club!). However, on the other side I can completely understand the motivation, especially for an end-of-season - and we all enjoyed seeing the RST family team getting together for a photo op in the Winners Circle.

Greg, I thought getting the crew guys in on the victory lap (and the victory lap itself) was pretty much an SCCA trademark? I see photos from the National Runoffs every year of such a thing, and while it is a little jarring to see guys with just their lower legs inside of a topless Prod car with one hand on a rollbar and the other on a checkered flag going around at moderate speed, once again it's a heartwarming, traditional thing. Not even NASCAR does victory laps anymore (but maybe we'll be inheriting their burnouts? ;) )
 
Sorry about the rant, been a bad day. Phone calls about kid stuff at school as well. Blah Blah..... Again Sorry for the rant.

Steph, Im sorry that you were near some un responsable parenting. I do agree that people need to take care of thier own stuff. And we try very hard to do that on our part. In fact, My nephew will NOT be coming again until he can prove his attitude has changed and he can do what ANYONE of us tells him. Not just his dad.

Greg, You are correct, we did get spoken to about what my girls may or may not have been involved in on bicycles during the August event. Im not defending them at all. Every one I have ever spoken to has been told, if they are screwing up, you have permission to do what you feel is nessacary, take there stuff whatever. They know the rules.

Not going to comment on the donuts,
 
I appreciate the comments about the donuts and will reconsider my actions next time, if it ever happens. It's not just my playground to play in... it's everyone's.

All comments are fully noted.

Stephen
 
Greg, you mentioned no unharnessed passengers on victory laps, is that something new? We've done them before with one of us just perched on the fuel cell. Obviously no harness there. But we had never heard you couldn't.
Is this at all venues? Or specific to NHMS?
 
Greg, you mentioned no unharnessed passengers on victory laps, is that something new? We've done them before with one of us just perched on the fuel cell. Obviously no harness there. But we had never heard you couldn't.
Is this at all venues? Or specific to NHMS?

I think he is just pointing out the danger, not a requirement.

Stephen
 
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