weights at MSRH and penalties

[Al Fernandez]

For those of you that were not at MSRH this weekend I'm sure you will soon start hearing about the situation with weights on saturday. I'll try to explain what happened from my perspective...

The scales were up some time saturday morning. Several guys, including Wirtz, Kellam, and Valentin weighed their cars and adjusted as they saw fit. I heard from a couple of folks that it looked like the scales might be reading a little light.

After the 1st race saturday we had four cars under their weight. All were sent around for another pass and three of them gained weight on the 2nd pass (around 4lbs). One (Wirtz) gained enough to be legal. The others were still under.

Several background things to add to what is going on in my mind:
1) The CCR allows DQs to be dropable, the CMC rules do not. If I DQ these guys their season championship is over
2) The CCR allows a 5lb tolerance on weight in this case, the CMC rules do not. If these were AI cars one would be legal
3) Every single car was under what the driver expected. I myself weighed 3290 and I never come in under 3300.

Glenn and I talked about it, and called two other CMC directors for their thoughts. We decided removing these three cars from the championship hunt over a couple of pounds given that the scales may be somewhat light would not be right.

So, while I know I will be considered spineless by some...Glenn made the suggestion and I accepted:
All three cars (Kellam, Francis, Valentin) were given a "0" for the race, not a DQ. They were also made to start the next invert from the hotpits. They were also informed quite clearly that this is their one and only weight mulligan for the year.

We will continue this going forward: the first time (and only the first time) for the season that you come in under weight you will be given the choice of a DQ as per the rules or a "0" and a start from the hot pits. I'm sure the AI guys will take the DQ as it is dropable, but the CMC guys...well, that'll depend on each driver's desire to stay in the championship.

Hopefully you guys see this as being fair to all. Over the off season we revised the CMC rules to allow DQs for on track violations to be dropable. Maybe we didnt go far enough.

Oh, and if you plan on being at nationals expect that this will not apply there.

[David Love AI27]

Tech was great this weekend... I like the fact that the cars were givin a good once over and and that penalties were just... these were not flagrant violations as all involved made the effort to comply and learned a lesson about "hokie" scales.

Great job, Directors!

[BlueFirePony]

I like the transparency, the facts, the position statement - you are clearly trying to do what is right by the competitors in this group - great step forward!

You guys gave everyone a chance both publically and privately to work through issues during the weekend...I know that takes extra energy and is not always easy to do when folks are in their competitive mind set.

[cobra132]

This seems like a well thought out and fair solution. We have had some questions about the accuracy of the scales in the past. What is the status of our scales? Do they get calibrated? Is it time for an upgrade? FMR

[Fbody383]

You sure the scales were set to Lb and not Kg?

That HAD to be it; rhino liner is heavy, huh Boudy.

I like the transparency, the facts, the position statement

+1

[David Love AI27]

This seems like a well thought out and fair solution. We have had some questions about the accuracy of the scales in the past. What is the status of our scales? Do they get calibrated? Is it time for an upgrade? FMR

Here is the deal... the scales are made available to you anytime (you might have to get in line). It is up to you to weigh before you race to get your baseline for the weekend. I saw a number of "front runners" crossing the scales just BEFORE R1 on Saturday... This is not a perfect world and all of us need to learn the "tricks" to suceed... This is a topic that should have been covered in the rookie day...

Do you think it is a surprize that Wirtz crossed the scales with only 2 pounds to spare??? :wink:

[David Love AI27]

I like the transparency, the facts, the position statement

Along those lines:

Al had a carry over from last year... it is now over, correct?

There was a black flag situation, why and what were the results?

Not trying to stir things, just want to learn and know the facts... (transparency)

[GlennCMC70]

This seems like a well thought out and fair solution. We have had some questions about the accuracy of the scales in the past. What is the status of our scales? Do they get calibrated? Is it time for an upgrade? FMR

Prior to leaving Tech, I stood on each scale. 264 for each of them. I went to the doc today, 254.

If the scales can only be trusted to w/in 15lbs, my target weight would be 25+ over.

In the past we have asked to havethe scales calibrated and they always check out.

[David Love AI27]

Prior to leaving Tech, I stood on each scale. 264 for each of them. I went to the doc today, 254.

Your head weights 10 lbs more at the track.... come on Glen... smile!! you know you want to...

[michaelmosty]

Prior to leaving Tech, I stood on each scale. 264 for each of them. I went to the doc today, 254.

Your head weights 10 lbs more at the track.... come on Glen... smile!! you know you want to...