Trans Am = Nascar for a few laps...
Ruman
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1440959519.jpg

I watched Mid Ohio and Drissi is an ass. In a prerace interview he talked about how he would get revenge on anybody who rubbed him the wrong way. It was incredible how obviously he was blocking her, but it was not clear from the coverage if passing flags were being displayed.

He set her up by leaving an opening then taking her out. The guy should be banned from the series.

astrochex,

Sorry I didn't watch the race. Please help me out a little here, who is "she" and were they both on the same lap?

She is Amy Ruman, the points leader. When Drissi was blocking her, he was down the field. I don't recall if he was down a lap or not.

this from Amy's blog.

Ruman

Drissi's version is much different. ;)

Shortly thereafter, Drissi and Fix had contact and Andretti and Peterson passed them. A double yellow followed for other cars off course. The order was Ruman, Ebben, Andretti, Peterson, Fix, Drissi. While under caution, with the pace car out, Drissi passed the cars ahead of him and slammed Ruman in the right rear. He then dropped back several positions, but not fully to his race position when the field went green. Drissi was issued a stop and go penalty for prior contact and passing under the yellow. When Drissi came back on track, he did not drive at race speed. He drove very slowly, apparently waiting for the leaders. Fans, officials, crews, and drivers watched as this unfolded, worried with foreshadowing, given Drissi’s past history of deliberate contact with Ruman (and others) in the last two Mid-Ohio races. As the tight knit group of Trans Am leaders approached, countless fans recalled as apprehension filled the crowd.

Ruman, leading the pack, came upon Drissi as she came out of Thunder Valley. Drissi blocked through the next several turns and onto the front straight. As the pack bore down on him, Drissi went wide in exit of the keyhole and Ruman was able to cleanly take the inside lane. They raced off the turn side by side for several seconds until Drissi turned into Ruman under full throttle and crashed into her causing significant damage to her car and taking out Peterson who was following her through. Ruman made one more lap but the front tire blew from the damage and she had to pit.

Typical, the marshal will show a blue if the top 3 to 5 lead cars in class are overtaking another car. If Amy was running further down in the order the marshals may not of show Drissi the blue. The trouble is, a blue flag is just an advisory flag. The drivers don't "have" to do anything. And in most cases, unless you're the guy that wants them out of the way....you probably didn't even see it. Couldn't tell you how many times I've seen drivers ignore blue flags. Don't get me wrong....I'm not saying he didn't block her. In fact, in most series, if the marshal reported it as blocking, the driver would have been black flagged.

Ted,

Thanks, that says a lot! He was clearly in the wrong.

The race is on Youtube.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3DFX1R15IAw

Fast forward to 12:15 for the first incident, Drissi gets a drive thru penalty, goes more than a lap down, fast forward to 23:40 for the incident.

Some pretty negative comments on the u tube page...

"As a penalty for his actions during the race, the Trans Am Chief Steward stripped Drissi of all points and standings from the race and was struck from the results."
Paul Fix victorious in Next Dimension 100 at Mid-Ohio

wild to watch and listen to the 2 drivers after the fact.

the contact.
https://youtu.be/3DFX1R15IAw?t=23m41s

Tomy's view.
https://youtu.be/3DFX1R15IAw?t=28m52s

Amy's view.
https://youtu.be/3DFX1R15IAw?t=40m12s

Ok, First,that was a good pass! Sure there was side to side contact. I would have reported that as "no fault", "just racing". His contact later....set the man down! Totally uncalled for. He should be a spectator for the rest of the season.

Do you see something like this every year in your time corner working?
What can you do to protect the race from being manipulated?
Before the last contact, If he just held up the leaders does he get a furled black flag at start finish?
Next lap a black flag?

Ted,
Its kind of up to the stewards. If he was doing a little blocking he may have gotten away with a closed black. But not in this case. For the record, I'm not a steward, and each series is a little different. But generally that's what I see happen.
Earlier some questioned if there were blues on the corners. Every corner I saw there was a blue. One even block the camera. The marshals keep track of the first 3-5 placed cars in each class. As well as the back markers.

By the way Ted, were you up here for the Reunion? The F5000's were great!

I spectated pre reunion.
I heard a potential F5000 winner was asked to park it end of pre.
Watched a red one exiting the corkscrew in a 3rd gear burnout. :cool:
I'll hopefully do pre reunion next year.
what turns were you at?

I was at turn 8 all weekend. But Saturday I was a spectator. Reunion is the only event my wife likes to go to. Park it? I wonder why? I know that one of the guys from NZ broke a motor. He hit the tires between 3 and 4 at the Pre. Got the car fixed then broke the motor. A long way to go just to watch a race.

And there you have it!
Tomy Drissi banned from Trans-Am for one full year - Trans-Am News

followed by an apology.
Drissi apologizes following ban: "I let my emotions get the better of me" - Trans-Am News

T8 sounds like a beautiful location to hold down a corner. :cool::cool: