A message to the rest

Ok, so I had this long drawn out post yesterday before the crash of my mistake on track Sunday, and it got wiped...so now i have to do it again...

For those that werent there, we had three drivers get called out during Sunday's qual session for on track infractions. While there was some contributing factors around the flag situation, the bottom line is we as drivers are responsible for doing what the flag man says, each and every time we get to that flagged area. We the drivers are the only ones at fault.

Of the three, mine was by far the worst offense: passing under a waving yellow and a white/red cross. Inexcusable. As a result I got my time DQd, my race result DQd, and I'm on probation, and I killed my team's chances for the year...and I am damn lucky that is all I got!! It could have gotten much much worse.

Please let that serve as a warning. It takes a conscious effort to check each flag station, each time.

I also believe this is just another example of why we need to institutionalize (mandate even!) a safety broadcast. We owe it to ourselves to give ourselves every advantage possible in our race with safety; the right seat, fire retardant clothing, head and neck restraints...someone in your ear telling you and reminding you is nothing less.

Thanks for being a great sport about it, Al. Kudos to Glenn as well, for removing himself from the infraction discussion with the officials as it involved his team-mate. (I would like to hear his eye-witness perspective from the tower though, as I was with Proctor at the scene of the crash.)

This really does go to show the integrity of the series and the directors we have. Al was very clear at the onset to "treat me like any other competitor...no special considerations because I'm a series director." (I had to do the same thing last year when spinning on the warm-up lap and passing the entire field under yellow to "get back in line". :oops: )

We all make mistakes, but it's our duty to try and learn from them and make efforts to prevent re-occurences. As such, I agree that a mandatory information broadcast in all cars would have prevented this situation. Glenn (or other designee) in the tower could have seen the two of you racing toward the safety crews and called out on the radio.

Grand Am went to the Delphi yellow lights on the dashes of cars for the 24 Hours. Most professional series have a requirement for a crew chief to monitor the race director's info broadcast and have the ability to relay info to the drivers. We need to keep pace with safety improvement trends guys, and I think the minimal investment of the Argent Lab radios at ~$150 is achievable.

I propose to the series directors that we make the information broadcast mandatory for Texas AI/CMC with the same effective date as the HANS requirement this summer. This will show a step-change in our racing culture here in Texas. We'll discuss this in the coming weeks and let you know the results. If you have strong feelings one way or the other, please contact your friendly series directors.

-=- Todd Covini

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Originally Posted by Al Fernandez

We the drivers are the only ones at fault.

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Originally Posted by Todd Covini

This really does go to show the integrity of the series and the directors we have. Al was very clear at the onset to "treat me like any other competitor...no special considerations because I'm a series director." (I had to do the same thing last year when spinning on the warm-up lap and passing the entire field under yellow to "get back in line". )

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Yes it does.

This is exactly the kind of thing that separates you (us) from many other organizations. This is the character of people I want to associate with.

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Originally Posted by Todd Covini

I propose to the series directors that we make the information broadcast mandatory for Texas AI/CMC with the same effective date as the HANS requirement this summer. This will show a step-change in our racing culture here in Texas. We'll discuss this in the coming weeks and let you know the results. If you have strong feelings one way or the other, please contact your friendly series directors.

-=- Todd Covini

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I support it as I already have the radio...however, I need to work with Robert to get a better earbud. I can't hear anything on the standard setup unless I put mufflers back on the car and even then it might be a stretch.

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Originally Posted by AI#97

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Originally Posted by Todd Covini

I propose to the series directors that we make the information broadcast mandatory for Texas AI/CMC with the same effective date as the HANS requirement this summer. This will show a step-change in our racing culture here in Texas. We'll discuss this in the coming weeks and let you know the results. If you have strong feelings one way or the other, please contact your friendly series directors.

-=- Todd Covini

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I support it as I already have the radio...however, I need to work with Robert to get a better earbud. I can't hear anything on the standard setup unless I put mufflers back on the car and even then it might be a stretch.

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You have something wrong then Matt. We just purchased the basic radio Robert sells and Jay had trouble understanding me on the radio in R3 because we had the volume too high. In qual earlier that morning we had it turned down and Jay heard every word. I'm sure Robert can fix it in a jiffy!

I saw Al pass Jay and I felt helpless standing there with no way to tell him.
I was able to make sure Jay knew the yellow was out and there was a car in the wall. He knew it already but it was nice to be able to tell him incase he had missed it.
JJ

While I definitely support safety broadcasts as an added layer of safety over flags, there is a very real danger that a safety broadcast could create a potentially worse situation than none at all, as some drivers may have a tendency to unknowingly rely on the radio as the primary alert method instead of the flags - in other words, it may cause some drivers to be LESS aware of safety flags?

The problem with this is of course that radios can and do fail, especially in the environment that we are usuing them in.

It's not hard to imagine a situation where we have all been racing happily with a safety broadcast for a year or two, then the system fails during a major incident and something bad happens because multiple cars did not notice the flags.

At Apex at MSRC, we use flags as our primary communications system, with a radio broadcast backup - but it is always a struggle to train drivers, even the experienced ones, to be aware of flags when they get used to relying on the radio. In that school situation, we can and do induce situations to train them to be more aware - we will throw a full course yellow or red flag without a radio call just for training purposes - but we obviously can not do this at NASA events for racing classes.

Flags will continue to be the primary communication method between officials and drivers in NASA racing for some time to come, so the challenge to overcome is how to ensure drivers using a safety broadcast system maintain a high awareness for flags, especially rookies who learn to race from the get go with a safety broadcast?

My suggestion would be that it only be used for major incidents - that is when a safety vehicle is on track, full course yellows, and red flags - local yellows, meatballs, etc. should not be called on the radio.

Agreed. Two communication methods are better than one.
Flags will always be the primary means of communications.
...and it's an INFORMATION broadcast and not a SAFETY broadcast.

I'd just like to understand if and how the saftey radio can be intergrated to a normal crew to car radio system. I already have an investiment in a crew radio system.

Jeff

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Originally Posted by ShadowBolt

You have something wrong then Matt. We just purchased the basic radio Robert sells and Jay had trouble understanding me on the radio in R3 because we had the volume too high. In qual earlier that morning we had it turned down and Jay heard every word. I'm sure Robert can fix it in a jiffy!

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It works fine when the car isn't running! It's just REALLY loud in the car. Can't imagine how bad it would be if I removed the sound deadening material from the floor boards! :shock:

Most radios can be programmed to scan the info freq.

jb

Start with the end in mind.

We're seeking a backup form of information.
I'm thinking that if you have your own race radio, your crewchief could monitor the Info Broadcast and relay to you accordingly.

The requirement isn't to have radio.
The requirement is to have a means of receiving the message.

The tower needs to be able to "communicate" to each of the drivers.
Don't care how we get there, just need two forms of communication from Control to Driver.

Right now Control "communicates" with drivers via flags.
Radios are a backup means and can be very effective.

-=- Todd

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Originally Posted by AI#97

It works fine when the car isn't running! It's just REALLY loud in the car. Can't imagine how bad it would be if I removed the sound deadening material from the floor boards! :shock:

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I also actually have difficulty hearing the broadcast at times. I have the argent lab supplied bud and it sounds just fine in pits, grid, etc.
However certain times on the track, full throttle etc, I cannot understand what is being said. Partly because often it is said just once, seemily at an inopportune time for myself. Maybe a little tweaking on the broadcast itself to ensure the message is received well. repeating the flag situation, location on track, and other very finite amounts of details in a very succinct way a few times would help.

Al... So you got a complete DQ after you raced for the qual incident?

Why wasn't that penaltly announced to you prior? It seems pointless to race R3 if you knew going in that the penalty was that harsh
I thought you only got DQ'd for qual and had to start in the back.

That sucks that my wreck screws up your whole season too. :(

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Originally Posted by AllZWay

Al... So you got a complete DQ after you raced for the qual incident?

Why wasn't that penaltly announced to you prior? It seems pointless to race R3 if you knew going in that the penalty was that harsh
I thought you only got DQ'd for qual and had to start in the back.

That sucks that my wreck screws up your whole season too. :(

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James,

It was NOT your fault. Al is being a man and stepping up to the plate and taking his punishment. I'm sure that with him being a director they thought they had to make an example out of him to show us all how important the saftey flags are.


JJ

the DQ Al was handed was given to him prior to R3. the point in racing was to prevent 5th place and down to get a free position. Al finished 4th and so no 4th place points were given to anyone.
the accual penalty was a DQ of the qual time and zero points for his finishing position for R3. Al also got a 2 event weekend probation. Al took it like a man. he's bummed about this and feels he's let you guys down and set a bad example. so lets just learn from this and move on.

Just as a bit of a side note, there is a bit of a technique to using radios I think. This is probably a bit different for different people, but when I started using a crew radio, Liz and I worked out timing for her to be talking to me, and when she would expect a reply or not. Kinda of a bummer to be getting ready to dive inside a racer for a fantastic late braking move only to have the radio come on at that instant with a message for something half a track away....

I like the idea of a crew chief being on the safty broadcast and relaying.

Jeff

No doubt Jeff. If you do have your own radio person, they can scan control and relay directly. I have none so I'd rather have calls come in at in-opportune times than none at all! :D

When we first did this in Ca we had Greg Robinson broadcasting and he was great (fireman, used to radio chatter in emergencies). He did a couple of things that I think are key: spoke slowly and pronounced everything cleanly, repeated the message twice, held the mike button a bit up front and a bit at the end so as to never cut himself off.

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Originally Posted by Al Fernandez

Of the three, mine was by far the worst offense: passing under a waving yellow and a white/red cross. Inexcusable. As a result I got my time DQd, my race result DQd, and I'm on probation, and I killed my team's chances for the year...and I am damn lucky that is all I got!! It could have gotten much much worse.

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As a racer in this series, I look to the leaders of this series to provide an example ... a role model if you will. I always have and it comes with the territory. Even an APPEARANCE of impropriety causes a leader to lose his integrity.

To that end, what I see here is a fellow racer who has stepped up and made it abundantly clear what happened.

As a director you are exceeding my expectations.

This is a tough pill to swallow and I KNOW you feel bad for your team. But, life goes on and I would hope you can and will put this behind you.

I have no issues taking a green flag with you.