recapmem

BGN Race Recap

   "Hello race fans, this is Runsty Tailpipe reporting for the National Racing News to you from the Memphis Motorsports Park". "Well Rusty, this was quite a race. Ten, count em folks, ten cautions in a one hundred lap race. That's and average of one every ten laps. Amazing." "You are so right Holly. Let's get right into the race folks. We viewed much of the race through an onboard camera in the number seven car of Bill Boyd. That along with all of our trackside cameras gave us wonderful race coverage."

   The starting field was eleven. There was a problem right away. On lap one, entering turn three Joe Marino's #13 came into contact with Lil_E's car from the rear. Fortunately, everyone was able to continue. Up front John Hoover and his #23 held the lead. The number 30 car had to enter the pits for apparent repairs.

   Joe, remember to give a bit more room, especially on cold tires.

   The field restarted on lap 5.   On lap 8 , Mike Schrader got a run off of turn two against the 24 of Ed Miller. Ed came in on the 9 cars position and forced Mike even further inside. Ed swung first right , in reaction, and then once again came back in on Mike's car just prior to entering turn three. The contact caused both cars to spin out.

   This is clearly the #24 cars fault , according to my replay. No warp is apparent. Mike clearly had the inside line and a slight lead going into the turn.

Ed, try staying on the outside line closer to the wall on the backstretch.. Relax, don't overreact. Be steady.

In the meantime, Willy was carrying far too much speed coming onto the backstretch and ran onto the infield grass to avoid tailending the #7 car that was slowing for the caution. No damage was incurred. Willy then resumed his position behind the 7 Car of Bill Boyd and third place.

The field restarted on lap 12.   Going through turn three of lap 13, the #28 car tagged the #24 car from the rear. Warp from the #24 car is indicated as the culprit here. Sorry Pete. The 24 car was spun around. Both continued and Ed limped back to the pits for repairs. Caution again.

The entire field restarted on lap 19. We still hadn't lost a competitor even with all of the incidents. Going into turn two on lap 20, Willy, running in third, entered too high and appeared to over corect and came too far inside and caught the inside berm. This caused him to check up. Joe came cruising by. On turn exit, Skip in car #44 had a good run on the #25 took him on the inside. It appeared that he may have slightly tapped the 25 car on his left rear. Bubba was able to pull up along side of Willy on the outside. Willy found himself in a self made sandwich, with his car in the middle.

    Instead of backing off from this position, Willy charged right back going into turn three. As a result the #25 car couldn't hold its line and pushed up into the line of the 15 car. Both the 15 and 25 car were spun around and around. The remainder of the field sped safely by. Willy and Bubba were able to continue. A caution insued. Bubba entered the pits for repairs.

   The field restarted on lap 26.   Again trouble from the start. Bubba tagged Mike's #9 entering turn one. Mike was able to continue apparently undamaged.

   Bubba, practice running various lines on starts. It will help you to adjust to other cars positions calmly.

   Up ahead the #76 car went a bit low and caught the inside berm and had to check up. Lil_E got a run on him coming off of turn two and onto the backstretch. Glenn went outside, Luc came from mid track to the inside. They apparently tapped. The subsequent loss of control caused the cars to come together again. Glenn was spun around and across the track into the infield where he collected the #28 car which was trying to avoid the mess by going well low. Luc continued on. Glenn and Pete subsequently were able to continue. Another caution.

   Luc, aggression is fine as far as it goes. Would it have ruined your day if you would have simply backed off for one second and not struck Glenn from the rear. You continue to run too close to enable a decent reaction time to anything that may happen in front of you. It is still early in the race.

   All of the field remains despite all of the cautions. There are simply too many incidents being caused by over-aggression on cold tires.

   During this caution the simulation seemed to have what I call a "brain fart". Things went wrong. Cars were put a lap down that shouldn't have been a lap down. Race positions were messed up. It was all confusing. Warp was part of the problem.

   I noticed something that probably contributed to the problems during this caution period. The #28 car was poking around the track at 28-30 mph. instead of continuing around to join the rest of the field behind the pace car. This caused anyone that passed him being guilty of passing under yellow or maybe causing the simulation to not be able to correctly keep track of car positions as it normally does.

   What is the story Pete? Your actions probably messed up a lot of things. Why the slow speed under caution? It probably had the same effect as driving backwards. I don't want to see you do this ever again. NASCAR 3 is a simulation, drive it as such, Realistically. The simulation seems to have difficulty when drivers do illogical or boneheaded things. Guys, don't be angry with the simulation. Drivers and warp cause most problems.

   We were able to restart on lap 35. Going into turn one the #28 car entered the trun wide. Skip's #44 went low to take advantage of the opening. The #28 pulled down and into the oncoming 44. Both cars were spun around. Although Bubba had gone as high as possible to avoid this incident he still was caught up in it but not seriously. A caution followed. #28 pitted and didn't reenter the race. Damage? Don't know. He is the first race casualty.

   Let's watch those mirrors guys. Give a fellow driver some racing room. Especially if you make an error and leave an opening for a following competitor. Also guys, when coming across the start/finish line after a caution, lift off the gas and coast don't brake heavily or at all. Run different lines to the cars to your front and then hold that line while slowing for the pace car.

   The remaining field restarted on lap 41.   On lap 42 come on guys, while going into turn one the 13 car struck the #24 car squarely from the rear and spun the hapless 24 car into the outer wall. That is twice in one race Joe. Try giving a little more room to your fellow racers. Sorry Ed. But I do have to add that Ed, you were a lap down. The proper thing for you to have done would have been to surrender the low line and let Joe by. If you were chasing the leader, I'm sure you would want a lapped car to your front to get over and let you by.

   Surprisingly and thankfully, a caution didn't come out. On lap 51 while going into turn one the #25 car came once again charging between, guess who? The 44 car on the inside and the #15 car on the outside. Is this a re run. Once again, Willy carried to much speed into the corner and pushed up and slammed into Bubba's car. Around and around we go. Another caution. Bubba and Willy pitted subsequently. Willy didn't reenter the race.

   Guys, If you are unable to hold a needed line, don't force an issue. Practice running different lines so you will be able to do so during a race.

   Restart on lap 58. The #7 car let Mike Schrader pass on the iniside. Bill fell in behind him. A lap later, the 9 car went high in turn one and Bill cruised past inside. On lap 61 the #30 car caught the infield grass on exit of turn two while trying to apparently avoid hard contact with the #23 of John Hoover. Luc was able to continue. A caution came out. Luc and Mike entered the pits. Mike didn't reenter the race for some reason.

   Once again Luc, try to give just a bit more room to the car in front of you. If you are purposely trying to tap the cars in front of you to spin them out of your way STOP IT! It won't be tolerated.

   Positions on the restart on lap 67.

1.    Bill
2.   Bubba
3.   Old JH_23
4.   gt76man
5.   Skip
6.   Lil_E
7.    Ed      2L
8.   Mike   OUT
9.   Joe     OUT
10. Willy   OUT
11. Pete   OUT

   Approaching turn one on lap 69, the #30 car was right on the bumper of the 23 car of John Hoover. To the inside of John ran Glenn's #76. Entering the turn, Glenn clearly had the inside line and John had the high middle line with Luc trailing both. Luc attempted to force himself between the aformentioned cars. This was not a wise decision. It is over aggressive driving that isn't backed up with appropriate consideration or skill. More than speed is needed to be truly competitive. As a result of this action Luc's car was spun into the outer wall. John's car was forced forward and into the rear of Glenn's car. John's car then swerved right and towards the outer wall. Thanks to his driving abilty, John was able to recover in time and just graze the outer wall and continue. Amazingly, no caution came out.

   Up front Bill in #7 was being improperly held up by #24, a lapped car. This situation went on for several laps. As a result, Bubba and Glenn were able to easily close up on him.

   Bill finally forced the issue on lap 74 going into turn one. Time and distance had been lost though. Behind the 7 and 24 car, Bubba seemed to lose control and swerved down and across the track. A caution followed.

   Ed, our rules require a lapped car to give the inside line to the leaders of a race. Ed, if you were leading a race, would you appreciate a lapped car not getting over for several laps to let you by?

   We restarted on Lap 78. The remainder of the race ran green. Bill had attempted to run the entire 100 laps without a stop. With 15 laps to go his right front tire was just a memory. Glenn began to reel him in. With ten to go the #76 car got by when Bill went high in turn one. Glenn slowly pulled away and got the win.

   In a interview with Holly Carburator, after the race, the race winner commented. "Hehehe. John really had no choice than to let me get my lap back. I had fresh tires and he had 40+ on his. I blew by him. But then I noticed that Bill had gotten around him too and was gaining on me. I started praying for a caution." "Did you realise that the #7 car was on his original tires?" Holly asked.
"Yea, I thought as much. He was running good considering his old tires. But then again, we did have a lot of caution laps to save tires on. My prayer for a caution was answered just in time. Bill was right on my bumper when it came out. I thought it was cool that he and John, two Winston Cup vertrans, had dominated the race thus far. Now I was hoping it would be my turn." Were you surprised that Bill didn't also pit for tires?" " Yes, a little bit Holly. I'm glad he didn't though. I suppose he didn't want to give up the track position. It may have been very interesting if he had though." "Thanks Glenn. Good luck next week." "Thanks Holly, Bye."

   "Well, there you have it folks. Another BGN race in the record books. This is Rusty Tailpipe wishing you all clean safe racing at what ever track you find yourself at. Goodbye until next week."

Bill Boyd
NOSCAR Deputy Commisioner
WC Race Director
wdboyd@netacs.net