DeFerran's unsportsmanlike behaviour

[Raoul Duke]

What on earth was he thinking by staying out on the track like that. He KNEW that the car was dripping oil and that he was supposed to come in. If he was trying to help his team-mate get the win it was pretty useless since there wouldn't be that many gree-flag laps to go.

[domaza]

Yes it was bad move by de Ferran to drive those laps with smoking car. He was showed black flag, but he continued for 2-3 laps! Previous race in NAZARETH he made this silly overtaking move over Alex (or Patrick) and they both went out... Is the champion starting to lose momentum!? Still feel sorry for Dario - engine troubles

[R]

His excuse was that he didn't see the black flag... That sounds pretty lame to me. With his experience I find it hard to believe he didn't notice sooner either the black flag or that something was wrong with his car. Was that why Minassian crashed, btw? Because he slid on the oil from de Ferran's car?

[Jay]

"I didn't see the flag" is not an excuse today. Penske would have known about it before it was even waved at Gil.

This is very unusual behavior for Gil, so I can only guess that Roger Penske wanted to keep Gil out there was to delay the caution period as long as possible, and then hope that it was as long as possible to help Helio Castro-Neves.

[Nuvolari]

His explanation right after retiring seemed disengenuous . . . that he heard the engine go off-song and then heard Roger telling him to pit. He must have known he had a problem earlier.

But it's easy to second-guess from an armchair, isn't it?

[Liz]

I don't believe Gil did it deliberately. Penske I can't speak to his motives, but in any case I think it was unsportsmanlike and tacky if it was tactical.

On the other hand, yesterday at the Trans Am race we saw a car that was very clearly on fire (the entire rear engine compartment was shooting huge flames and smoke out) and the pilot kept driving it, even with the announcer of the track shouting at him that his car was on fire. So you never know what they are noticing in those cars.

[enemy-ace]

Originally posted by Liz
I don't believe Gil did it deliberately. Penske I can't speak to his motives, but in any case I think it was unsportsmanlike and tacky if it was tactical.

If you can't speak for Penske's motives then how can you speak for Gil's.
As for the Trans Am yesterday, I don't know if your talking about the Panoz or the Mustang but do you really think the driver could have heard the track announcer in his car. I was there and I as a spectator couldn't hear the announcer the majority of the time for the roar of the engines.

[Liz]

No of course he couldn't hear the track announcer - in fact we wondered if his radio was working by the time those flames got visible. [Where were you during the Trans Am race, just out of curiosity - wonder if you were anywhere near us? We were right under the camera tower at Turn 1.]

I have never seen or heard tell of Gil doing or saying anything unsportsmanlike to deliberately ruin someone else's race; not in the lower formulae or in Champ Cars. That is testimonial enough for me. I have heard others say that Roger Penske is pretty hard-bitten and may "leverage the rules to the hilt" but I do not know this of my own knowledge, so can't testify to its truth.

[enemy-ace]

For the Trans Am I was at the end of the Andretti straight just before turn eight on the west side.
I saw the Mustang explode in a plume of what appeared to be oil smoke at the far end fo the straight. And then there was the Panoz smoking badly right in front of me at the end of the straight. Quite scary, the oncoming cars were blinded, luckily everyone came out unscathed.

AS for Penske, and some of the insinuations that he would leave a car that was leaking oil badly out on the track, thus endangering other competitors, is a somewhat ludicrous statement considering the mans experience and credentials. Whether he is hard bitten or not, the man is a professional and does not need to stoop to such actions for the sake of one race win. Oval racing is a very dangerous business and not to be taken lightly. Something I am sure both DeFerran and Penske realize.

[Liz]

We went up and saw the car after the race and it's amazing to me that he got out of it unscathed. A testimonial to modern fire extinguishing systems, for sure!

Whatever happened at the track in Motegi, I don't think it was deliberate. That would be, as you say, putting people in more danger than they were already in, and could have endangered Helio as well as anyone else.

[floid2000]

Has anybody ever heard of someone getting scathed ? Unscathed ...yes ,but Scathed ? Never
Just an observation

[floid2000]

As far as Gil's behavior and oiling the track......I think we all saw the tape. Pretty Blatant disregard for the other drivers Id call it

[enemy-ace]

Originally posted by floid2000
Has anybody ever heard of someone getting scathed ? Unscathed ...yes ,but Scathed ? Never
Just an observation

Main Entry: 2scathe
Pronunciation: 'skA[th]
Function: transitive verb
Inflected Form(s): scathed; scath·ing
Date: 13th century
1 : to do harm to; specifically : SCORCH, SEAR
2 : to assail with withering denunciation

Learn something new everyday

[Emfa]

Originally posted by enemy-ace
2 : to assail with withering denunciation

Hang around here long enough are you will see some very scathing comments!

[floid2000]

Thanks for the info Ace..

[enemy-ace]

Your Welcome
I had never heard of anybody being scathed either, so I thought i'd look it up.
As noted in another post it would appear that Chris Kneifel doesn't share my feelings on Penske's innocence. C'est la vie!

[Liz]

Funny that Wally never gave Mikey probation when he ran over his pit crew - even the time he ran over two of them in one race!

I'll believe Chris Kneifel is for real when he penalizes Mikey for some of his numerous pitlane violations.

[Crash Test]

Then again, Wally actually penalised Paul when he played silly buggers whilst on probation... but really, probation is a joke. Suspended sentances are a joke. Fine them, suspend them, tear their licence into pieces, or let them go.

[R]

Absolutely agree.

[floid2000]

What does "Mikey" have to do with Gil oiling down the track ? Give it a rest Liz

[slicktoast]

Probation! This is useless. Next race penalty: random lap- 20 second stop and go before the first pit window opens. Second infraction: same penalty except it's 40 seconds. How long do you think it'll take rules-breakers to figure it out the scathing their getting?

[Liz]

When Paul Tracy sneezes he gets a race ban. When Mikey runs over people - no punishment at all. And Gil gets probation (as Zanardi did for punting Helio into a wall for 12th place) which means nothing. This is wholly arbitrary punishment and won't teach anybody any lessons. The penalties should be meted out according to the offence, not according to how the steward feels about the pilot who committed the infraction...or his boss.