Anyone know got to work

LLM - 73 Ed Doutre
SPORT - 44 Kevin Harder
FS - 7 Dan Leeck
BOMBER - 15 Lonnie Saumier
F8 - 1 Jordan Lechota

did you ever have one of those nights ya just wish ya never would have made it to the track? mine was last night. I think both Giffin and I learned a few lessons that we'll never forget. You can't undue the past, you can do things different in the future. I want to thank Don Riley for coming up with a hiem end for me and all the other people who helped me make it back out for the feature and then to get back in the feature after another wreck. I've got a lot a work to do in the next two weeks inorder to make it back. I've never been so busy at the track before. Dale, I might need that hood.

Curt thats too bad, becuase your car looked pretty fast!

What happened in the Factory Stock Feature according to the earlier post it stated that Dan Leeck won the feature but according to the Dixie website it says that Mike Walther won the feature???? Just Curious!!

I'm not 100% sure but the way I seen it was that Jerry Atwell qualified, and raced the heat race in it, and then Dan Leeck drove it in the feature, and started in the spot in which Atwell was supposed to start which was the pole. I believe it was a driver change DQ not a technical DQ.

I had a phone conversation with Bart from Dixie about the wreck with myself and Giffen. After having time to cool off and think about it, there's no way he would have walled me coming to the green to start the heat on purpose. Jon and I are good and have put it behind us.

HOWEVER, this was preventable. I was half to blame. We each started that race with plans of getting our picture taken afterwards. We both tried to get the jump on the start. Here is where the prevention part comes in. If the pole sitter maintains his speed from the entry of turn 3 all the way to the cone and then the race starts, then our wreck and many like it would not happen. When the front row goes at the apex then everyone behind them gets screwed. to enforce this the track needs to penalize drivers who start too early. the guilty driver needs to either be sent the back (which slows down the show) or docked two positions for jumping the start ( not throwing the caution and keep the show moving). Lets hear some constructive input.

I agree with you here Curt, these races are getting started way too early in the corner. Everyone is trying to get a jump on the guy next to them, and it's becoming a slight hazard to those further back in the pack who have to pick up the gas going INTO TURN 3. I think the flagman is partially at fault for allowing the leader to do this. Easy thing to do would be to put a line where the cone is all the way across the track so that there is no guessing game to it. If you start the race before the line once, you get a warning. Do it again and you get docked positions. On restarts people should be side by side coming to the start/finish line.

At Louisville Speedway if you both jumped the start, then the front row & second row swapped places. You didn't get a second chance to slow down the show. Drivers know the rules and their is no reason for a warning.

Why should we start at the cone?
If you know you can start earlier, why not?
One heat race this year started on the back stretch.
If a racer knows he can get a jump on his competitors, he does.
Does anyone watch the flagman? One race was started with the YELLOW flag. It took two laps for the green to fly


It used to be that if the start was not clean, you would see the green, then the yellow would come out.

Nothing personal, but I don't think the the owner of a track should be the flagman.
There's just too many distractions for and owner to put 100% into it.
You want the show to go smoothly for the fans, the racers are secondary.
If he has to restart every race that isn't quite lined up perfect, the night will drag on.
I know Mike well enough to know that if someone cuts a corner a tad early and gets grass onto the track, he feels like I do when someone parks on my front lawn.
He does a great job with the track, don't get me wrong, but as a flagman, he is noticed.
And not in a good way.


And Curt, the hood is in the shed waiting for you, when do you want it? I wouldn't mind putting it on for the autograph night at the city, but if you plan on racing the rest of the year no problem.

I agree 100 %. The race should start at the line / cone, not half way down the back stretch or in mid corner. There are drivers who are great at bringing the entire field through the corner on a start smoothly and then there are those who get on the back stretch and act like a rabbit with a greyhound on their butt.

The normal start should be at the cone / line. If the leaders jump the start the flagman lets it go green and then throws a yellow a lap later once the danger has passed and the cars are spread out a bit. He warns the leaders, lines them back up and if they jump the start again they go to the second row and the second row moves forward. Two times and your out.

A good flagman will warn the drivers in the meeting before the race to watch their starts. If he swaps the leaders because of a jumped start, it typically sends a message to all the other divisions the flagman isn't going to screw around and we need to watch the starts. You normally only have to do this a few times before all drivers get the idea.

This whole scenario is if you have a good flagman of course. My question is with all that goes on at a race track each night ( pits, front stands, concessions, etc. ), how does an owner / promoter flag races and watch over his track and operations at the same time ? This sounds like someone who is tight on money and having budget woes and is trying to save a few bucks. I suggest he find another way to save his pennies because this could end up costing him more in the long run. It will surely cost the drivers if he miscues and causes a wreck.

Just because you own a race track doesn't mean your an expert flagman, announcer, tech official, etc. Leave these duties to the people who know their business and run your race track for God's Sake. This advice isn't just for Kern, its for ALL promoters.

Chris

That is what happened.

Capain Cam are you sure of yourself ? I could have swore that Gerry was sitting in the bleachers when his car was qualified? He was even multi-tasking, playing car owner and smoking a cigarette,smooth rich flavor of a Marlboro.

I think the starts are just fine. The guy on the pole sets the pace! When you are on the front row, you can only see the guy next to you. Its up to the people behind you to keep up with the pace!

I talked to Gary Shank on saturday he told me a small piece of lead fell off of Riley's car and went through his radiator,and also took out his fan!!! I think this issue should be adressed ASAP, someone is going to get seriously hurt over stupidity. I think they should have a rule just like they had with antifreeze 2 week suspension! Every piece of lead on the car should have your car # and or name if they find a piece the person should be DQ'd or get a couple weeks off. This is a safety issue that needs to be adressed FAST!!! Gary is bringing the ruined parts to the drivers meeting next time we race. He said it had duct tape and a tie wrap still on it!! We need to come up with a plan. It should be checked, but the drivers and crews need to use some common sense!!


By the way curt it's giffel not giffin!

HARDER

Bigred44 Posted Today, 03:30 PM
" I think the starts are just fine. The guy on the pole sets the pace! When you are on the front row, you can only see the guy next to you. Its up to the people behind you to keep up with the pace!"

The problem was that Jon GiffeL and I were both trying to get the jump on each other. Drivers have been starting the races, not the flagman. If the starts were under control, then I could have atleast taken the green and had a chance to wreck later. lol.

Shank showed me the piece of lead. Yes, safety issues need to be addressed. I hope that piece of lead was attatched with something more than ductape and zip ties. I ran into the back of Riley and had his back bumper was on top of my hood. Gary told me that the lead flew up after I ran it over.

while were talking about safety issues, maybe we shouldn't start races when you can't see past your windshield as the sun is going down. it could be kind of a 7th inning stretch during the 2nd or 3rd inning. lol

Gerry and Danny were behind me in the pay line having words with Walther about it. (nice complimentary type words of encouragement and support like you get from a parole officer) I was enjoying a smooth richly flavored Marlboro myself at the time

Some of us at least share the most enjoyable things in life also MARLBORO OHHHHHH SOOO SMOOOTH !!!!!

S10

Well Kevin I spoke with Gary Shank Jr. and he told me that he did not speak with you on Saturday, my family, my crew, and myself, are offended over your statement that the piece of lead fell off of my car. If it had we would be the first to admit it to Gary but that night we checked and we still had every piece of lead that had been put on our car and every one of them had a bolt through it. We would never install a weight with just Tie Wraps and Duct Tape. We did have one weight that only had one bolt in it and we also had Tie Wraps and Duct Tape on it as insurance against vibrations and movement this is where our concern came from, but as I stated we still had every piece that we started with including the one that only had one bolt and Tie Wraps and Duct Tape. That weight could have come from any one of the cars that were crashing in front of me, under me, or from another race and it got kicked out of the grass as we were trying to avoid the accident but I know it was not off of my car that night!!! So Kevin who was it that told you that this piece of Lead came off of my car??

The problem with this is when the guys on the front row take the field down the backstretch and into 3 at nearly race speed and then slow down, so the whole field stacks up behind them (I experienced this last night first hand on the start of a 100 lap feature and it wrecked 6 of us). I say that there should be another cone near the apex and off turn 4 and the race can start at any point between the two cones at the leaders discretion.

Curt, I like using the sun to my advantage!! Especially when I am on the pole of a heat race I wait until the sun is in my eyes and then go, because by the time I go the sun is out of my eyes and into the eyes of the guy next to me. Its sneaky but it works! But I agree it is brutal for about 20 minutes during dusk.

I, as well as my dad, and two of my pit crew, sat directly behind Gary at the bump and grind at the fair grounds last saturday. Thats what he told all of us. All I did was ask what happened to him, and thats what he said. I did not write this to offend anyone!! I think you would agree with me Don, it dosen't matter who's car it fell off of, its DANGEROUS!!!!


HARDER

I tried to stay out of this, but i cant any longer.
I know where the lead came from.
When Gary showed it to me after the race, I recognized it as a piece off of my old impala.
I didnt tell him right off the bat because of the people around at the time, but i told him the next morning.

I had my Impala at Gary's house with a "for sale" on it, just the frame and bars.
Some one went over there and took almost all of the weight off, as he figured it was his.
Some of it was just heavy steel bars, not lead.
some of the smaller lead ones just had 3/8 bolts in them. I have the frame in my backyard, I can show you where they were bolted.

I will state without a doubt that weight was off the impala, and i hope the culprit will do us all a favor and admit a mistake was made. All the other drivers that night are being paid a big disservice.

I can prove my point, this is not an opinion.

Kevin: I totally accept that you are only repeating what you are being told and who told you. I agree that it is dangerous I also repeat that that weight did not fall off of my car, and it does matter when someone is questioning your honesty or integrity, just like it matters to you!!! If I had lost it off of my car I would say so.
After the reply following yours I now can see where it is all coming from!!!