Quote:
Originally Posted by BE911SC
(Post 8227617)
Well put. You show a level of maturity that is incredibly rare on Internet discussion forums. Or anywhere else, for that matter.
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This is the reason for my about face on Tony seeing Ward.
I have volunteered as a track worker at short tracks. When I actually watched the video after having made several posts in ignorance, it became clear that Tony Stewart made a gross violation of regular yellow flag procedure. This violation, was that he immediately came to a stop after hitting Ward. If you stop while under yellow, you are sent to the back of the field, behind lapped cars, behind EVERYONE. For Tony - to take this penalty, means he considered something superseded his own race position, or even the race itself. The only reason he would come to a stop, is if Tony knew that Ward, and his car had met each other. He knew the situation no longer called for a yellow, but for a red, and pre-empted that red by stopping.
This is normal yellow flag procedure/events for a short track:
1. The leader, is supposed to slow to pace speed. The rest of the field is supposed to drive above pace speed, and create a tight formation on the leader. The leader is responsible for choosing the path and speeds the rest of the car's follow at. Once the cars are formed up, this allows a predictable pack for the track workers to do whatever they need to do. (think of the arcade game with the snake head, the rest of the snake follows that path.)
2. *Most* short tracks do not count laps under yellow, even if say, a national championship is there, the local track's rule supersedes the championship's rules. Only at larger speedways might one encounter laps that count under yellow. This takes the pressure off of volunteers like me, to try and get a car that is stuck or stalled back racing again. This means track workers wait for the car's to bunch up before moving onto the track. When a yellow is first thrown, the driver's responsibility if not the leader is to bunch back up as soon as possible at moderately reduced pace onto the leader.
3. Track workers are mounted, either in pick up trucks, or atv's. They do not cross the track on foot under yellow, but rather in a situation that would need more workers than the ATV(s) or truck(s), there would be a red flag.
4.1 Track workers are on headset, and do not move into a track under yellow until cleared over radio. This "ok to move" is not given until the cars are bunched up. Driver's do not expect to look for responders on the track until they are bunched up and things are all clear. A situation that would promt an instant response from workers without being cleared, would call for an immediate red flag and directive for everyone to stop their cars.(Fire, or obvious medical need.)
4.2 An ATV is usually used to push around a stalled car to bump start it.(most short tracks cars do not have starters). The car, rejoins the field, or if it has dammage, goes to the designated work area(s). Should a vehicle have flipped on its side or upside down, a yellow would not be thrown in this case, but rather, a red flag.
5. The field gets set for a restart, the car's are supposed to be single file, and any car that is not in the place in that line it should be, is re-arranged This can take 2-3 laps.
6. A cone is set on the backstretch, the single file line approaches, and chooses the outside or inside lane. Since track's have an advantage for a particular side, the leader chooses his, second place can line up the behind the leader(and usually does), 3rd, can jump to the front row, or be 3rd in line on the preferred lane. Generally, at 4th or 5th, some one takes the off lane by then, risking a front row off lane spot over behind a line of cars.
7. The field is brought around one more time, with the car's lining up for a restart, then it goes green.
Because of the time it takes to line the cars up, choose lanes, form up double file, and take the green, a car with a flat tire can fix that tire, and rejoin the track prior to it going green. He stays on his lap he was on.
Ward's car was perfectly driveable, it had a flat tire, and could be pushed/driven to the work area to get it changed. Unless this track counted laps under yellow, he'd rejoin on the lead lap he was on for the race start. There was no reason to exit his car, and no expectation that he would give up a lead lap position to do so.
Should any driver do anything that would be deemed to hold up the race restarting, they can be penalized, with either a DQ, perhaps put a lap down, or waved to the back of the field. Ward exiting a drive-able stalled race car, is holding up that process, so he would receive a penalty for that, knocking him out of contention. A drive-able car with no driver, now requires a tow truck, not just a bump start - which lengthens the period before the track can be cleared and the race restarted. Since a tow truck requires track workers on foot to hook the tow vehicle up to the car - this can create a red flag situation if the driver refused to get back in their vehicle and the vehicle is in a place a tow truck approach would block too much of the track or put workers in a place more hazardous than would be comfortable.
So generally, there are NOT people walking on the track under yellow, and absolutely not workers on the track under yellow when it is first thrown. Track workers approach after being released , often in a lit vehicle, park their vehicle, then the track worker may step off to talk to the driver, checking they are ok, and seeing if they want the nearest track exit, or to head to the work area(they may not be the same). When a track worker does this, their mount is between them and other cars.
