The Spring Fling - an insanely long first post!
Well, let's sum up the first event of the 2009 NEETS Racing Series!
First off, thank you all who pre-registered! Pre-registrations help our officials, and myself, in preparing for the day by knowing how many cars to expect...help us promote a guaranteed larger car count which means a higher payout...plus I know if I need to bring on more officials and/or infield crews. It helps you the driver by locking in your car number, guarantee you pit space, allows you to pick for starting position and it gives our announcer some time to do some research on you so he can announce some of your racing/sponsor details. Cars that register on the day of the event automatically start behind pre-registered cars...
Scanners...thank you all who purchased a new SAFEceiver from Speedway Communications recently, helping our sponsors/affiliates keeps everything moving smoothly. Now, the two issues we had with the scanners were: 1. RACEivers do not pick up our frequency and 2. drivers that do not pick up our frequency...except the drivers with a plate in their head...they tend to catch the signal!!!I will be working with our radio man before our next event to try to straighten this out for drivers who have a RACEiver...I will see if the radio I have can be used to broadcast to SAFE/RACEivers. For the drivers who did not have a scanner, it is required you pick one up before the next event. They made a difference doing line-ups...it was a BIG help up in the tower to call for a whole row of cars and see them start moving to the line-up... As I said before, I would not be making calls over the scanners such as who the leader is or where debris would be...if you expected to hear warnings and such, please read through the numerous posts on the forums here and our rules once again. RED flag...BLACK flag...CHECKERED flag... Speaking of black flags...I was very happy with the performance of all the drivers out there yesterday...the black flag was only waved once or twice due to excessive bumping. The few cars that were leaking fuel had scanners and reported to the pits immediately when the call was made...THANK YOU!
Transponders...Thank you all who rented a transponder...I have a deal for you though... To everyone who OWNS their own...I hope you enjoyed NOT PAYING FOR A RENTAL!!! The units were rented from GP Sports Timing, located in Atlanta GA, they worked perfectly! They picked up each and every lap.....Ryan Nelson...your unit even picked up about 50 extra times when you were stuck on the line for a red...don't worry, we straightened it out...Now for the deal...I am starting a collection...and this is not going to be limited to enduro drivers, you will see a similar post up on some other forums as well. I will be trying to make a bulk purchase of 50+ transponders...the cost to you...$300. BRAND NEW FROM AMB...not ebay...not refurbished...NEW. You will have the warranty, you will own the unit...a unit that typically costs $420 OR $20 to rent from NEETS at each event...do the math...it is worth the expense. Send me an email if you are interested, I will post up the explicit details of this transaction shortly and how it will be done...there will be a minimum $100 deposit that must be collected to be put on the bulk purchase list...the remaining cost will be collected once a minimum of 50 orders are placed...IF the minimum order cannot be fulfilled, deposits will be returned in full. I am still working out the specifics as far as shipping and such, so assume $300 as the cost...it may turn out to be $310.99...I won't know about that until I discuss how the units will be shipped and what taxes will apply...more details will be posted shortly.
Line-ups... This time around, they went fairly well, smoother than in the past. But, we will be changing things just a bit. First off, when the initial call for cars is made...GET ON THE TRACK! A ten (10) minute time limit will be placed on the line-up...if your car is not on the track, you will fall in the back...REGARDLESS OF WHERE YOU PICKED!!! We give everyone ample time after the drivers meeting to suit up and prepare for the race...when we make the call, you should be ready to go...not at the snack stand, not in the bathroom, not on your cell phone...READY TO RACE. All cars will report to the infield to line up, officials will direct you as well as myself making calls over the scanners. Once the cars are lined-up correctly, we will move all the cars onto the track for a quick transponder check...ALL cars will stop coming out of turn #4 and the flagger will wave one car by at a time...if the signal is good (which they were perfect at this event) we will enter your number into the computer and you will proceed to line back up into the original 3-wide order. The pace track/car will begin to pace the field to start the race. This whole event should take place from the first call to line-up to the pace truck pacing the field in less than 25 minutes...longer than that means drivers are not following these simple rules. Again, 10 minutes after the call to line-up is made, any cars proceeding onto the track will fall to the back.
Track conditions... Well, we have had soup and we have had the Sahara. We are coordinating with the speedway officials to correct the wetness/dryness situations we have had in the past. Now, we know what is too much and TOO LITTLE... The next event is May 24th (it was 90 degrees in April, so get ready for some real heat in May) we will be watering the speedway down as much as needed...meaning if a red flag comes out...the water truck will probably come with it. Mandatory 50 lap red flag will be thrown if necessary. Mandatory if necessary? YES...at future events, if the track conditions are as they were yesterday and the race has been running with no red flags, a red flag will be thrown on lap 50 to water the track down. The dust was a problem for drivers...fans...and officials. We apologize for this and we will correct this for the next event.
REMINDER ABOUT PROCEDURE!!! NO official is to be distracted during the event because of an issue that can be corrected later. (The obvious "I need an ambulance" is not something to let wait until after the race is over!) Steve Haegele (#61 Big Car) was displaced on the speedway with another car...transponder wise... The other car was being scored as Steve and Steve was being scored as down 5 laps... We discovered the error and corrected it before the race was over...however, a number of crew members were trying to discuss this situation with other officials. When the person who came up to the tower mentioned it to myself, during the race, we were able to identify and resolve the issue swiftly. The flaggers do not have computer screens in front of them and cannot be distracted from the event. This was the first event, I am not going to DQ anyone at the first event for not following proper procedures, but that was certainly grounds for disqualification...in the future, something like this needs to be handled correctly. Please come see me in the tower with issues as such. I will take the time to resolve any issues that arise, the flaggers are my eyes on the track...if they are not watching the cars and something happens...well, I think you know where I am going here... This is just a reminder to all drivers...you are responsible for your crew members. (I'm not pointing this out to Steve only, Steve just helped me with an example
Results... One, we did not have a printer yesterday, so I apologize for not having a printed full results page posted on the registration tower!!! Two, I am working to get the mylaps.com info loaded up so everyone can see how the race went...lap by lap. Three, I will have full finishes posted up later today after I review the transponder info...it would have been easier if I had the computer in front of me or if it was loaded up immediately...but that is ok! A full story will be posted on the NEETS site and here on the forums shortly as well.
Finally... Next event is May 24th!!! Pre-registrations are OPEN!!!!
Stay tuned for more info and extremely long posts ...and I'm sure a few typos in there somewhere!
Thank you all for coming out, we had a blast and I hope you did too!
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