[Chris Nunn]

Those of you who saying that the fans will suffer are in a roundabout way condoning cheating.

That's my opinion

Edit: to clarify this. It's basically saying they shouldn't be punished at all for cheating the rules. What example would that set?

[Tim Bookmiller]

6 pages of "who done it" not a word from Bloomington Speedway ----or Walker racing ----what am I missing here ?

[nonwingnit]

Originally Posted by Tim Bookmiller 6 pages of "who done it" not a word from Bloomington Speedway ----or Walker racing ----what am I missing here ?

My guess is they posted it on their FB page and didn't feel the need to come on here and explain. Since Chris already stated why they are being punished there isn't really any explanation they owe here. It's their track their rules and someone broke one. I for one think the real fans will appreciate seeing a race that is a fair victory. And I give kudos Bton for having the guts and willingness to test things and spend the money to do it - it's more than some of the touring series do.

If you are a real race fan then you should applaud this action. If you are a fan of someone having the "unfair advantage" then maybe you should switch to baseball or cycling - those guys know all about "performance enhancing"

[mscs20]

I respect that a rule is a rule, regardless of the offender. But since no one has said it, I will. This is a good example that tire rules are stupid. We are talking non wing sprint cars here.....at a weekly show, where you have a choice of chassis brand and configuration, wheel brand, wheel widths, engine configurations, shocks, seat of your choice, steering brand choice, seat belts, fuel tank brand and size, safety wear and helmet brands.....choice after choice you can choose except the RR tire. But you can run whatever air pressure you want, sipe or regroove it, bleeders (your setting), spacing from the birdcage, even what stagger you think is best....so why not tire brand and compound? No rule, no more cheating. Problem solved.
BOSS group does it. Paragon, Danville, Flora and Farmer City haven't had any issues by running an open tire rule.
And stop with the "saves the racer money" speech. I've not heard one guy in the last 2 years say the HT2 has saved him money. Give the racers a choice like it once was. Maybe some tire competition would help keep tire prices in check.

[bfranks17]

Originally Posted by Chris Nunn Those of you who saying that the fans will suffer are in a roundabout way condoning cheating. That's my opinion Edit: to clarify this. It's basically saying they shouldn't be punished at all for cheating the rules. What example would that set?

i would say they are talking about the season long suspension....thats a bit steep....punishable yes...death penalty no

[410fuelinjected]

You can take any technical rule infraction such as the car rolls the scales and is a pound light or the motor does not pump correct cc in post-race tear down inspection or a tire test soft with a durometer and apply the penalty “team and car are disqualified and goes home with no money or points from the event” and I believe that 99% of the owners, drivers, promoters and most of all fans would agree and move on to the next event. The offending team is penalized or held accountable for the infraction both in loss of points, finishing money and spent their normal nights racing budget with no return. Thus the question becomes “how does a technical rule infraction become so horrendous that it warrants a race team and driver be suspended for an entire year of racing?”
I guess car counts are so high and full of quality teams and drivers that Bloomington can afford to toss one.
The real losers in this action are the fans who regularly attend and support the Bloomington Speedway not to mention Chris Windom whose only apparent involvement was to strap himself into a car and help put a show on for the paying fans.

[Theokayman]

I ran Bloomington in a sprint car a few times this year and they mentioned the tire rule at every driver's meeting. I have no idea if that is the entirety of the infraction; I'm not here to debate the fair/unfair issue. The Bloomington tire procedure as I understood it was this: the top 3 (?) [I was never near the front, so the tire testing didn't affect me any] would be given an empty sample bottle by the speedway and they would have to take their tire groover and cut a sufficiently-sized groove out of their feature-raced tire. This all took place post-race and, I'm assuming, was monitored by track personnel.
Again, I am not here to imply that Walker/Windom were doping tires or anything. I don't know. I just saw that people were questioning the tire testing methodology and I thought I would put in my two cents. However, in reading the Facebook post by Bloomington, I read that to mean that Walker has intentionally chosen not to comply with Bloomington's rules. Perhaps I am reading too much into it.
As per Windom's Facebook post, it was a "failed tire test." So here's some fuel to throw on this fire. Maybe the scenario played-out like this:
Windom finished 3rd that night. Walker took the tire sample and gave it to the track as per their instructions. Walker was paid (I can't remember if it was cash that night, but I would imagine it was; it normally is with them) at the end of the night. The following week, or whenever the results returned, the track found Walker's tire illegal. They contact Walker and inform him of the tire results and subsequent forfeiture and ask for a return of the monies payed, but Walker refuses to return the winnings. Bloomington Speedway then chooses to ban Walker and Windom (an "employee" of Walker's who benefitted from the illegal tire) for the 2014 season for "refusal to resolve a rules infraction..."

I don't know if that's how it went or not. Just another post for the thread. I have nothing against Walker or Windom and hope that all parties can resolve the issue so that they both can compete at Bloomington next year.

Jake Simmons.

[JarrettFarms73]

Thank you bfrank & 410. I'm a little perplexed as to why that needed to be explained.

In the mid 90s I failed a fuel tech running indoor karts in Marion,OH. A tech fail is a tech fail so obvious DQ in stock light. We moved on w/ no impact to my running a couple Yamaha classes, my brother who owned the karts, nor his participation in an open class w/ another driver. Same day or future. Later that day we took the fuel can over and had it tested. Turned out the vendor used the wrong can so the previous fuel residue caused the sniffer to go nuts. The vendor made it right though. We got free fuel out of it so it wasn't a complete loss. lol

Sorry. Long winded way to explain why such a harsh and broad penalty that sites ONE specific event baffles me.

[JarrettFarms73]

Great post Jake Simmons. I appreciate the insight on the process. If this really is about restitution via a failed tire test, I still have to question the decision to release a fB message in October. If there's a a reason to be sensitive w/ the information then shouldn't there be a sensitivity about going public so soon? Considering the scope of the decision it seems like there's still time to try and work it out before '14 begins. Dunno. I'm just some random fan so all of my posts should be taken as such. Jmo.

Good luck in'14, Jake. Everyone of you that put on the helmet and tighten down the belts are my hero!

[treecitytornado]

It seems the main reason that it is a whole season suspension instead of a certain number of races is because Mr. Walker didn't return the winnings from that night. That is what I've gathered anyways. Life goes on!