[cstreit]

Holy crap here we go again.

Milt, with all due respect you weren't there and are completely wrong. The cars absolutely SHOULD NOT HAVE STOPPED. See the white 911 make it through? That was me. That was me with 45 3000# plus American Iron cars coming up behind me at 120MPH with no visibility as to what ***** they were about to run into.

You came over a crest and all you could see is smoke, and dust, and flying shiny bits. Do you see the Firebird that smashed into the pile last? He was right next to me on the start. WHy did he hit the pile when I didn't? 911 brakes. So now I have 45 more of him coming up behind me. Do you think I'm going to sit there and get bashed which was an absolute CERTAINTY? Hell no. When I drove through the wreckage there were car parts falling on my car. I needed to get out of the way for the other 45 cars coming up over the hill.

Can you imagine those 45 cars coming up over the hill and seeing even more cars backed up? There would have been more than 17 cars destroyed and likely a LOT more injury.

So what REALLY happened?

1. The pace car took off like a shot. I was in row 12 and NEVER saw it. He spread the field out so car the cars at the back of the pack had to go 9/10ths to try and close up the grid.
2. The leader cars didn't gather up the field, making it worse.
3. The starter waited untill the last second to start the race. THe lead cars had to back out in order to not cross the start/finish before the green waived. But we ALL new that no matter how spread out the field was, there would be no waive off. Why? because they NEVER do, the schedule was more important than anything else at the BRIC.
4. Once the leaders backed out you had an accordian effect. The "causing" driver had to dodge in order to not hit the guy in front, he tagged another car into a spin, and all hell broke loose.

Speculate away but I was there. I was the first car to make it through that wreck, it happened RIGHT IN FRONT OF me. I know 100% that I did the right thing by moving out of the way, both for safety and emergency vehicle access.