Red Flag...USAC or Tri State Speedway?
 

Last night in a heat race Jon Memmer took a bad flip down the backstretch which of course brought out a RED :redflag:. All the cars stopped on the track per Red flag rules, except Dave Darland who was involved in the crash and had a flat left rear tire. He completly disregards the Red flag:redflag:, drives completely around the track, almost hitting the ambulance that was trying to come on the track to get to the accident, then drives to the push off shoot, does a 360 and drives into the entrance to the speedway and finally stops his car. Then the Tri State Speedway official opens the gate and lets Darlands crew put a new tire on the car while under a closed red flag. Then they let him push back on to the track and restart like nothing ever happened.
My question is this, who's responsibilty was it to penalize Darland for not stopping on the red? USAC or Tri State Speedway?
I wonder how they explained that to all those 1st time visitors that were there last night who were sponsoring the event.
Unbelievable ..........
At least earlier this year at Bloomington when they told all the drivers NO HOT LAPPING during the line up for heat races or you will be put on the tail, they upheld their RULE and put Darland and Memmer on the tail of their heats for doing just that. Darland got mad, stopped on the front stretch and the flagman told him where to go. He loaded his car up and went home.
Thank you Mike Miles and Bloomington Speedway for upholding your rules.:respect:

Re: Red Flag...USAC or Tri State Speedway?
 

If indeed your account is factual, that is very interesting.

Re: Red Flag...USAC or Tri State Speedway?
 

I would recommend taking this guy's rant with a grain of salt. He has an agenda. The following is an exchange involving his recent post on another thread:
Originally Posted by Motormasher
Think they will give this Indiana Sprint Week Championsip to Dave Darland this year like they did last year when he DID'NT make the show at Haubstadt but let him start the feature anyway on a "provisional"?
Jon Stanbrough was the rightfull winner last year. Hate to see him out of the race on last lap
Can anybody report what happened on last lap when Levi got upside down?
.
His post prompted this response by a respected long-time IOWer:
Last time I saw you "race" was at Mt. Vernon, in a MSCS event.. You almost got lapped, IN A HEAT RACE!!
Dave Darland is a three-division champion. He's gracious driver who always has time for his fans. And he's been an example of sportsmanship to young drivers and young race fans, alike. I don't know what your obsession with him is, but you don't even rate to be DD's helmet caddy. He's an Indiana icon and you're somewhere around the same age and hardly anybody even knows that you exist.
It was a technicality in the ISW rules that prevented Jon from winning last year's points. It wasn't a conspiracy. It wasn't fixed. They didn't intentionally "give" it to Dave. It just happened and USAC has repaired that part of the ISW points. And guess who's leading the ISW points, again this year?

Re: Red Flag...USAC or Tri State Speedway?
 

Thats right, Jerry Shaw turned the "fact" that I posted about Darland not making the show at Haubstadt last year, into a personal attack on me.
You show the same class he does Pat.
I stated the "fact" and exactly what happened.

Re: Red Flag...USAC or Tri State Speedway?
 

What about in the feature,when they had the early crash and all cars were restarted or pushed to the work area,except Dustin Morgan, his crew never even had a chance to look at his car to see if they could fix it and still set in the infield on the next caution but other cars were able to come back out laps down

Re: Red Flag...USAC or Tri State Speedway?
 

The facts are just as stated by Motormasher, Darland went from mid back stretch around 3&4, down front stretch under the hanging red flag, pastg first turn track exit where he stopped the ambulance momentarily, then around 1&2, then did a 360 and pulled into the second turn track entrance. He did go slowly and cautiously the entire time, but he did it nonetheless. I remember talking with my wife and saying DD is going to get penalized before he had even reached the flagstand, everyone else had been stopped several seconds. I've always loved watching Darland race and admire him greatly, but on this night it was obvious USAC turned their heads on this one because of the high stakes. I think all 4-5 guys last in the hunt for the sprintweek championship would have been treated like DD was, but if any of the others racing had did that, they would have been finished for that heat, and rightly so.

Re: Red Flag...USAC or Tri State Speedway?
 

So everything i have read so far states Dave was in the wrong here?

Re: Red Flag...USAC or Tri State Speedway?
 

Originally Posted by Tim Watson:
So everything i have read so far states Dave was in the wrong here?

I'm just a fan in the stands but that's the way I seen it also. JMO

Re: Red Flag...USAC or Tri State Speedway?
 

Originally Posted by Barney:
I'm just a fan in the stands but that's the way I seen it also. JMO

Thank you Barney, i appreciate your honest opinion. I am a DD fan and i wasn't at the race so i like to follow the happenings of my favorite drivers and i can read your comments without blasting back like you see happen on here a lot of other times. Thanks again Barney. :thumb

Re: Red Flag...USAC or Tri State Speedway?
 

Thats what happened. DD did have to tag the tail of the heat for working under a closed red. But it did not matter much since a coulple of cars didn't restart. I too am a DD fan, but it was odd watching him make his way almost completely around the track while the red was out.