Unfortunately my video camera turned off right before the standing start of race 3. When I looked in my rear view mirror and saw that it was off I knew I was either going to have the most amazing race of my life or have my first wreck. Unfortunately it was the latter but as far as wrecks go this one was minor.
Since hindsight is always 20/20 there are a few things I would like to mention. First off I think the offset staging of cars on the standing start is not a good idea. None of the pro series I’ve seen do it and I doubt NASA nationals will be done this way. I had a good start and both of the cars in front of me didn’t which immediately put me in between them. At that point I had committed a racer's cardinal sin, which is, I didn’t leave myself an out. Even if I had been able to get by both of those cars if front of me on the start, since they were both AI cars, they would have easily got past me within a couple straights. The part that upsets me the most with what I did is there was really no reason to try to split them as it gained me nothing. The only reason I did it was that there was that gap right in front of me because the cars were offset. If I started directly behind the car in front of me I would have got off the throttle and just stayed behind the faster AI cars. The offset staging creates a false since of space in front of each car and compacts the grid since less room is needed between rows of cars.
My second suggestion is that the standing start procedures need to be outlined in writing and in the driver’s meeting. Several drivers didn’t go to the meeting because it started late and the qualifying session was immediately afterwards. This was a scheduling mistake that should not happen. The driver on the front row that hesitated before going told me that he didn’t know what the starter was going to do. This is a serious breakdown in communication that created a very dangerous situation.
I want to reiterate that I really enjoy racing with you guys. I hope NASA keeps groups 5 & 8 together for the remainder of the year so we can race together some more. See you at TWS!!
