Pirelli World Challenge Rounds 5: Long Beach

[WolfsburgRS]

Originally Posted by Mike Hedlund

...Although I did see my car # on the "under investigation list", so I don't know how that will turn out.

The only close call that could be considered overly aggressive driving was a pass attempt I put on Eric Lux in T9 at the beginning of the race -- I poked down inside but wasn't far enough to get there in time so I was in full ABS trying to back out when he turned down. I bumped him in the corner lightly, but it was enough to push him wide by a car width or so. Considering it was a street race with 40+ cars I didn't think it was that big of a deal. Some of the stuff I saw in front of me after that made me actually yell WTF in the car.....


-mike

Mike, I'm sorry to see you got dinged money and points on the race. I was wondering, were you offered any chance to rebut or defend against the accusation / penalty before it was handed down? (would that be normal?)

Hope to see you back!

[tux]

Where does the money actually go?

[Coach Ep]

I would have done it differently with Dalziel: just don't give him a trophy and champagne the next time he steps onto the podium and make him remember LB!

[Bob Baldwin]

I can see where the points loss will hurt the teams BUT the fines are merely a drop in the bucket " Not too likely these guys will end up on food stamps because of it " LOL .

If it has Not been stated at a prior drivers meeting I would take the approach that : IF we see any more Blatant Errors on the drivers part we WILL be giving you the Black Flag . One would think that would get their attention rather quickly and perhaps make them think about it a little bit more .

In the world of Sportscar racing there are always going to be announced penalties ,but I just don't recall any of this magnitude being given out at one time .

[TRspitfirefan]

Originally Posted by tux

Where does the money actually go?

http://www.world-challenge.com/news/...charities.html

[TRspitfirefan]

Originally Posted by Bob Baldwin

I can see where the points loss will hurt the teams BUT the fines are merely a drop in the bucket " Not too likely these guys will end up on food stamps because of it " LOL .

If it has Not been stated at a prior drivers meeting I would take the approach that : IF we see any more Blatant Errors on the drivers part we WILL be giving you the Black Flag . One would think that would get their attention rather quickly and perhaps make them think about it a little bit more .

In the world of Sportscar racing there are always going to be announced penalties ,but I just don't recall any of this magnitude being given out at one time .

I've gotten into the habit of always looking up the post race penalties following a PWC weekend. There are always a fairly good size list of minor infractions. Really most of the fines from Long Beach are not out of ordinary. The fact that the full list was posted on Sportscar365 was a bit unusual.
While I certainly don't understand or agree with all the penalties accessed from last weekend, overall I think it is a good thing that the series is trying to send a clear message.

[TRspitfirefan]

Originally Posted by fieldodreams79

I get unsportsmanlike conduct and driving conduct contact, but what is plan old driver conduct? A catch all?

I've always wondered that also.
Sometimes the penalties can be pretty comical. Last year it seemed like every race the #21 car was getting dinged for blocking and I remember a few years ago a driver was fined for "non compliant underwear".
I think it is kind of cool the way the PWC fines are always out in the open on their website, so anyone can access the information. Most sports like to sweep these fines under the rug and out of site of the public.
I hope PWC continues to keep things transparent.
http://www.world-challenge.com/index...nes&Itemid=163

[tux]

Originally Posted by TRspitfirefan

http://www.world-challenge.com/news/...charities.html

At least something to good can come of this.

[Mechanic Z]

Not quite harsh enough with some, especially Beretta, IMO.

However, looks like they're trying to make it clear that races like this must never happen again, and that's a good thing.

[Bob Baldwin]

just wondering if any Probationary Status was given ? OR was that Implied in the PWC Penalty Release ?

Sure would love to be at the Drivers Meeting at Barber this Week-end

[fieldodreams79]

Originally Posted by tux

At least something to good can come of this.

Originally Posted by TRspitfirefan

http://www.world-challenge.com/news/...charities.html

Well, that's good, and glad the charity isn't P.I.T.A.

[Mike Hedlund]

Originally Posted by WolfsburgRS

Mike, I'm sorry to see you got dinged money and points on the race. I was wondering, were you offered any chance to rebut or defend against the accusation / penalty before it was handed down? (would that be normal?)

Hope to see you back!

No. I didn't even know I was under investigation for anything until the Sportscar365 article. They never emailed me the list of car numbers "under review".

I also never knew what the penalty was actually for until I posted on Facebook this morning (I asked the SCCA officials last night, 10 minutes after I got an email telling me I had to pay the fine before end of business today). They hadn't responded to me today so I posted on facebook and Scott Bove emailed me with the details (which was nice).

-mike

[Coach Ep]

don't racing series have to publish their post race 'reviews' somewhere? Traditionally that happened on a publishing board somewhere close to the race control tower (and I don't expect them to email or use social media for them).

Anyway, not all the penalties handed out seem to be 'appropriate' for the offenses committed but surely it's hard to argue with our one there Mike? If your driving standard in this race (and that of a lot of others) had been more 'professional', wouldn't the series have had less of a headache now...?

[ttdriver2009]

Fining someone $5K doesn't seem like it will do anything when you are racing a $500,000 car. Maybe, parking the drivers for a race and excluding them from the results of the race they get penalized at, might be a better solution.

[Mike Hedlund]

Originally Posted by Coach Ep

Anyway, not all the penalties handed out seem to be 'appropriate' for the offenses committed but surely it's hard to argue with our one there Mike? If your driving standard in this race (and that of a lot of others) had been more 'professional', wouldn't the series have had less of a headache now...?

Sorry I'm not understanding the question. Are you saying my driving standard for Long Beach was the same as the people out there crashing out competitors 1 to 3 at a time?

I thought my driving was pretty damn good for the few green flag laps we had without even comparing it to some of the people whos lights went out when they strapped their helmet on.

-mike

[nasportscar]

Originally Posted by Mike Hedlund

Sorry I'm not understanding the question. Are you saying my driving standard for Long Beach was the same as the people out there crashing out competitors 1 to 3 at a time?

I thought my driving was pretty damn good for the few green flag laps we had without even comparing it to some of the people whos lights went out when they strapped their helmet on.

-mike

if you finished that race inside the top 10 in that race, I think you did a pretty dang good job!

[JHamilton]

Originally Posted by Chiana

Somehow I doubt few of those words against Beretta had been said if he was still driving under the GM umbrella... But he's been out of control for years now.

I can actually say that's not true as I had a conversation with one of his teammates in an airport several years ago. "...and you know Beretta is a dick" was the phrase this fella used.

[Coach Ep]

Originally Posted by Mike Hedlund

Sorry I'm not understanding the question. Are you saying my driving standard for Long Beach was the same as the people out there crashing out competitors 1 to 3 at a time?

I thought my driving was pretty damn good for the few green flag laps we had without even comparing it to some of the people whos lights went out when they strapped their helmet on.

-mike

I'm saying you hadn't a completely clean race either (I'm sure you were very well aware you were at fault with that little tab against the Mercedes under braking), not as much drama as quite a bit of other stuff going on but nevertheless. Saying others did worse things, doesn't make your offense okay, does it?

I think it would be better to focus on your own driving first and then criticize others, about half the field wasn't penalized. Let's hear from them first is my suggestion.

Anyway, hope you can stay out of trouble this weekend at Barber and please no more nudge(s) and little tab(s). Good luck!

[Mike Hedlund]

Originally Posted by Coach Ep

I'm saying you hadn't a completely clean race either (I'm sure you were very well aware you were at fault with that little tab against the Mercedes under braking), not as much drama as quite a bit of other stuff going on but nevertheless. Saying others did worse things, doesn't make your offense okay, does it?

I think it would be better to focus on your own driving first and then criticize others, about half the field wasn't penalized. Let's hear from them first is my suggestion.

Anyway, hope you can stay out of trouble this weekend at Barber and please no more nudge(s) and little tab(s). Good luck!

Ok, I understood you correctly.

I consider my racing (including the contact w/ the #08 which wasn't on purpose) to be clean. I talked with Elton (owner of the team #08 drives for) after and they didn't have a problem with it either. It's very normal for that sort of thing to happen in our racing, *especially* on a street course. There were many worse instances than mine in the race that weren't penalized. I suppose we can agree to disagree. :-)

I'd challenge you to find a single driver in any series I've ever raced in to have one bad word or opinion on my driving. There's plenty of drivers who don't like me because I talk/post a lot online but I've never had anyone (or even heard of anyone) complain about the way I actually *race* others. Granted, I'm not always the fastest but I'm always clean.

Thanks for the well wishes, but I'm not at Barber this weekend.

-mike

[BullMan]

Originally Posted by Mike Hedlund

Ok, I understood you correctly.

I consider my racing (including the contact w/ the #08 which wasn't on purpose) to be clean. I talked with Elton (owner of the team #08 drives for) after and they didn't have a problem with it either. It's very normal for that sort of thing to happen in our racing, *especially* on a street course. There were many worse instances than mine in the race that weren't penalized. I suppose we can agree to disagree. :-)

I'd challenge you to find a single driver in any series I've ever raced in to have one bad word or opinion on my driving. There's plenty of drivers who don't like me because I talk/post a lot online but I've never had anyone (or even heard of anyone) complain about the way I actually *race* others. Granted, I'm not always the fastest but I'm always clean.

Thanks for the well wishes, but I'm not at Barber this weekend.

-mike

I was surprised at your penalty. So many cars were playing bumper cars into turn 1 when everyone slowed way down on every restart. Nobody was crashed or anything, just incidental contact.

[Mike Hedlund]

Originally Posted by BullMan

I was surprised at your penalty. So many cars were playing bumper cars into turn 1 when everyone slowed way down on every restart. Nobody was crashed or anything, just incidental contact.

Agreed, but maybe I was wrong. :-)

-mike