There has been an issue the last two weeks of racing of people stopping to avoid hitting a car blocking the track or to avoid a car in mid air flipping. should it count against you or just be considered for stopping for safety of you and the cars around you? I relize they are trying to take out judgment calls but if you have the choice of hitting someone to try and keep going or stopping to avoid it and then getting sent to the back of the field and counting against your spin rule. What are some thoughts?

Like you mentioned, a judgement call and no matter what, someone won't be happy. Either way, if the officiating is consistent that is about all you can ask. As long as you know ahead of time how it will be handled, have at it.

I'd find out from the officials first, and if it counts against you as a CAUSING a yellow, or red flag, I'd either raise a barrel of hell and get it changed, or find somewhere else to race, I don't know of anywhere that has that sort of rule. Bob!

well bob i thank you know the officials. my dad and i had a talk with the officials and they said if you stop on the track for any reason unless stopped by offical or safety issue. They do not consider stopping to avoid a wreck safety though. it was a car last night that stopped when jason flipped and he was put to the back due to this rule they have. i dont agree with it and the three owners that have been hurt by this dont agree with it, no one has really spoken up though and i thank its time to review it before someone gets hurt trying to not stop so they dont get penelized.

IN A RED FLAG SITUATION (my interpretation):

If you stop at the accident scene, or just past it, and you are facing backwards on the track you are part of the accident.

If you stop prior to the accident scene, make no contact with other cars, and are facing forward you would not be part of the accident.

If you stop at the accident scene and have made contact with another car you are part of the accident.

If you make contact with another car at the accident scene but drive away and stop (due to the red flag) away from the accident scene you are not part of the accident.

This issue was brought up at the drivers meeting last year. When the official explained this rule someone asked if they wanted us to drive through the wreck and hope we don't hit anyone and the official shrugged his shoulders and said do what you want to do but if you stop for any reason you go to the tail. Maybe if they had tens of thousands of dollars invested in a car, not to mention a loved one in the drivers seat, they might think differently about it.

I know of another track that tries to make the judgement calls and people are constantly on that tracks message board screaming favoritism. So I see a valid argument on both sides.

So what do I do when someone spins in front of me? I do what I have to do to avoid hitting them even if it means I gotta stop and go to the tail. I would rather restart on the tail than tear up my car.
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Sandy, you may remember this, years ago, at Madison, Stewart was "involved" in an incident in turn 3, where he was "close", how else would you be at Madison, and in trying to avoid/add to the accident, he ended up spinning also, and was first sent to the tail, then they ran about 30 laps under yellow, and finally put him back where he had been, which I thought was correct, but not everyone thought that! Personally, I don't see how you can be penalized for avoiding an accident, if you spin or not, is should be simple, but with your interpretation, there are a lot of "if's" in it, not hacking at your explanation. Bob!

i thank the big deal like bobs reference when your running on such small tracks like madison shelbyville and Rushville to a point sometimes there is nothing at all you can do to get around a wreck except stop, without putting others in danger and at that point you have to look at the fact most people that run with us are low budget teams and dont want to risk tearing something up to avoid a wreck, yes you have two spin rule but you get one counted against you its harder to push the car hard and hope nothing happens in front of you or you get tangled up with someone and its less of a show for the crowd.

I was watching one of those videos from Ventura a couple of weeks ago, and a guy was making good moves toward the front, and spun, all by himself, one down, one to go, right. Ok, he restarts on the tail, and is making good progress to the front, and bingo, a guy spins in front of him, he cks up, get nailed and spun, again, 2 down, you're out, someone in charge made a good call, he restarted where he had been, and went on to finsh in the top 3, I really thought that was the way it should have been, but with all the "if's", it could have as easily been, him going to the pits. Bob!

it's simple, which would you feel worse about...going to the back because of a call going against you or driving into and thru the wreck and hurting another driver or drivers.... it's part of the deal and you just have to move on, I've been an offical at Rushville and other small tracks and trust me, you can't make the judgement call and get it right all the time because there are far more cars than officals and you can't watch everything and everyone all the time. No matter what you do someone isn't going to be happy so you lay the rules out at the beginning so there should be no questioning it. We tried the judgement call deal, no matter who gets the call someone else is mad. There isn't very many officals out to screw anyone on purpose, most are like I was, let's enjoy the evening and everyone get home safe and sound at the end of the night.......