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Kirk, it was not one of the Mini Max’s it was on of the Jr 1 kids.. We completely agree and Safety should be #1 on our list, after the crashes in Grand Junction I put together a handout that explains all the flags and what the kids (and adults should do when they receive one. We have them at the front counter at the track and now and also started having a class the Saturday before each club race for for new racers or anyone that wants to attend to go thru the race proceedures and what flags mean and what to do if you receive a red, blue, black etc… I hope you and your daughter aren’t discouraged and will consider a second look.
Stacey, thanks for the reply. I am glad to hear that you have changed processes at your track after the early season issues.
I did not mean to imply that the kart was a minimax, i just didn’t know how to identify the kart as a Jr1..that is my inexperience showing, only meant to imply that more than one motor type was racing with the minimax karts.
No I am not shying away from the sport after the incident, I just wanted to open this thread of discussion to keep it ACTIVE since the issue with this class (juniors?) has recurred. I only wanted to hear that track owners and race organizers recognize that there is a potential problem and may need to be revisited. Sidenote: I dont think my daughter even noticed.
Kirk,
Brought up some good points.
I know the CSC and Track owners have been diligent in addressing the flag issues, but this year it seems to keep happeninig.
Maybe we are to the point that an offender ought to be DQ or suspended for that race day and the next race day, to get the point across.
I also noticed that there was a spinout out in one race (Jr I think) and the kids just sat in their karts in the middle of a turn and karts kept coming through! I couldn’t believe it-the flag person wasn’t much help either.
Flag people need to be more agressive and physically strong out there and take control when need be. Get out there and move those karts and racers off the track–now! Corner workers have to realize they control the accident situation not the lackadazikle drivers. Your paid to help us drivers be safe.
My .02…
common sense should also prevail: Teach your kids (and Adults) when the red flag is thrown to get out of harms way! Meaning pull to the side of a straighaway or offline in a corner. Sitting in the middle of the track makes you a target.
also, when you pull into the hot lane in the pits try and pull offline as much as possible. Your mechanic (and yourself) will appreciate it if a kart comes in hot and possibly loses it’s brakes or loses control, etc etc. People make great bowling pins and if they don’t get hurt it would make great material for AMERICA’S FUNNIEST HOME VIDEOS.
But then again, That would never happen would it???
8)
If you saw the F1 friday practice it even happens to professionals like Jacque VilleneuveRich, I agree.. anyone that has any questions about race procedures, flags etc. please get one of our handouts when you come over next weekend.. I think everyone should review it just for a refresher and all the kids should especially get one and have their parents go over it with them..
Rich Vito wrote:
Flag people need to be more agressive and physically strong out there and take control when need be. Get out there and move those karts and racers off the track–now! Corner workers have to realize they control the accident situation not the lackadazikle drivers. Your paid to help us drivers be safe.Sometimes we are in the unfortunate position of asking for volunteers that don’t have much experience in flagging. We could use more experienced flaggers for all the CSC to keep all things safe and consistant. As far as “Get out there and move those karts and racers off the track–now!”, The hell with that. It is the drivers responsibility to move to a safe place. It’s our job to keep the other racers from packing your a**. If time allows we may assist them getting their karts off the track. And to you shifter guys, get your a** out of the kart and push it your damn self. It’s not my job to restart you if you stall it and if you don’t know how to push start yourself, PRACTICE. Use some of the time when your at IMI, Bandi, GJ to practice push starting yourselves. I’m out.
Race Safe,
Ian[/quote]Ian,
I disagree somewhat: with the little guys (kid karts, jrs) corner workers need to help them off the track.
Agree with you on the “big Boys”. I bet the rules state corner workers cannot push start the shifters or DQ. You know, it should be that way. Why are you helping them? Nobody helped me when I ran shifters. Tell Bobby to make the rule.
Got to get paid corner workers. Tell Brad to pay more and train them, especially for the CSC races
Every corner worker is paid and has always been. There are no volunteers at my track. The only time I get volunteer help is when we are unloading beer. I would agree that their needs to be more training for corner workers and we should not use people who are not able to run when they have to. The racer who spun out ignored the red flags for 3/4 of a lap, passing two or three of them before finally noticing at the last second that karts were stopped on the track. Not paying attention to anything but the two feet in front of your kart is a problem with the driver. You can’t hit them over the head with a 2×4 even though that may be what you need to get their attention. We should have some type of penalty for racers that do not obey flags or pay attention. Bobby went over all of the flags like he does every race but if you are oblivious to your surroundings and drive with tunnel vision you are bound to cause a wreck.
Saturday, a driver practicing came into the shop to complain about the renters, one of which had spun out, was stopped on the track not moving and he ran into him. He claimed it was a blind corner and did not see him. There are no blind corners at my track, only blind drivers who do not look ahead. There is no excuse for running into anyone on the track unless they spin right in front of you and there is no time to react or anywhere to go. If you are following a renter then you should know they do not have much experience and you should give them plenty of room and find a safe place to pass. This was not the case with this driver, the renter was sitting there not moving for 30 seconds, a shifter could have been sitting there and this racer would have hit him, what?s the difference? A rental kart had nothing to do with his mistake but he is blaming the renter. It was clearly his fault for not looking past his own feet.I made an assumption as to having volunteers working this weekend, My Bad.
As for as the the Jr races, If time allows we may assist them getting their karts off the track, but we have to make sure they see the flags before we go out and assist. It’s kinda hard waving a flag and trying to move karts at the same time. Wonna give it a try? Just kidding.
Brad’s words were precise and to the point. And i agree. And these people drive on the streets and freeways!
Zack Gillis (who did pretty darn well in only his second CSC race and up to this point has had less laps than myself in the CSC) experienced the same cockup when he was practicing a few weekends ago. You give inexperienced drivers and renters plenty of room and you look where you’re going and not where you are!
Concerning the flagworkers (and Ian, your tops in my books) let’s see what happens at Grand Junction. Did you notice (I didn’t) that we didn’t have any issues at Bandimere in CSC #2? Let’s go forward, constanly changing always improving.
:cheers:
Ian,
I really appreciate the work you do out there, the other experienced corner workers and Bobby also. It is a long day for you guys in hot weather. I still am amazed at how Bobby does it! You all should have an umbrella and chair and have water girls come out with water and bikinis between races, just like between boxing rounds!! 😆
My concern is the inexperienced workers and their need to be trained, know when to take charge of a situation.
Thank you for the kind words.
I do agree w/what you said “Maybe we are to the point that an offender ought to be DQ or suspended for that race day and the next race day, to get the point across”, if they fail to adhere to the flags.
But that is not my call to make.See Ya Sunday!
How ’bout we stop the speculations and lies!
I’m the dad of the “driver in question”, and I’m getting tired of reading on these threads for the last few months from all the know-it-alls, that think they have to pass judgement on situations that they did not even witness, nevermind having any first hand accounting from anyone involved.
blink, I don’t know where you got your info from, but it’s obvious you didn’t witness this!
When Taylor approached the accident, there was the first corner worker with a YELLOW FLAG to slow her down, which she did. On the other side of the accident was another corner worker with a YELLOW FLAG! Not sure how this was to help with the location of the accident, but that’s fine. Better to have too many than not enough. At this point I noticed Bobby waving the RED to get the corner workers attention. Taylors fault is that after leaving the accident area she did not look for the next corner flag, in this case the Start/Finish line, to be sure it was o.k. to get back up to speed. She only assumed it was a local caution only and she could proceed with the race.
After she got stopped and inline I went out to talk to her about the mistake and found her extremely distrout and upset about what she then realized what could have happened! She’s no dummy to this sport, she’s been around race cars, tracks, and garages all her life. But she is a 10 yr. old ROOKIE behind the wheel. Stupid mistakes will happen. She very selfconcious about not wanting to be the track idiot, and practices very hard and often to improve herself.
She knows what the flags mean and what she needs to do when she sees one. She dragged me over to Bobby after the driver’s meeting at the first race to clarify what a couple of them she hadn’t seen before meant.
Yes, this could have been very bad if she had plowed right into the group at the start/finish line. SHE KNOWS THIS!!! And WE are very thankfull that this turned out to be a non-accident. All the talk, talk, talk in the world can not prepare any of us for every situation on a race track. Sometimes, unfortunately, we have to learn from experience.
Let’s remember, these are KIDS we’re talking about. Just trying to learn as they go along. Some of them have been doing this for a few years, others are just now figuring this out. I’m all for any special training you want to bring on, I’ve worked on it alot before the first race. But I can’t even get answers on rules and points here, so don’t mind if I get a little gruff with the topic of making things any better. Especially after the multiple pages of fighting between the tracks promotors/owners earlier this month.
Russell Bezanson, father of
Taylor Bezanson,#64 Jr.1 4-strokeIt isn’t just the kids that have problems with flags its “experienced racers and older people as well”. I gets old always looking at this as a young persons problem. Incidents will happen and as long as we all learn from it chalk it up as a lesson. Hopefuly we won’t have to learn after someone gets seriously hurt or killed.
Brian Moore
Father of Brandon Moore comer 80 jr1 and novice shifter
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