Apology to the drivers
 

This has weighed on my heart and mind since the postponement at Terre Haute.

I want to personally apologize to the drivers for my lack of growing a "pair" yesterday and doing the right thing by not waiving the green flag. I could have, and should have, gone with my gut versus what was said about going green. Once you take to the track you are each my responsibilty and each my favorite. And yesterday I let each of you down.

Re: Apology to the drivers
 

That's definitely a stand-up thing to do, and I'm sure that if you wouldn't have thrown the green, you would have gotten the same backlash no matter what.

Re: Apology to the drivers
 

You've got to respect that.:9: That took a "pair", right there.

Jerry

Re: Apology to the drivers
 

Tom, Every time i've seen you flag, you've done a great job. Im sure your intentions yesterday were no different. Everyone got lucky and all that was lost is some equipment and pride.

Stand up thing to do. :8:

Re: Apology to the drivers
 

Nice post Tom. It is now the past and we can only learn from the past. Lets hope USAC learned something from yesterday. I am just glad that only one car got damaged (or trashed) and no one got hurt as things could have been far worse.

Re: Apology to the drivers
 

Way to man up, But no need to be the scape goat for USAC,USAC has radio's and should have been in everyone's ear and said throw the RED before it even started.

Re: Apology to the drivers
 

I want to :8: u for coming on here and doing this. But in reality one maybe three of those drivers could see what color of flag you were waving. If u did indeed wave yellow instead of green as they crossed the line the guys in front would have saw yellow and backed off. Therefore the guys in back who were blind but were afraid of stopping or going slow would have piled onto them. Then causing a bigger pileup than what we had. In my mind you should have never been put in the position that you were in just like the drivers! Hold your head high you did no wrong.


Bob

Re: Apology to the drivers
 

Tom,

I have known you for a while now, and I certainly appreciate your comments. I was there and in no way can this be placed at your feet. Who ever is in charge on race day at USAC had to see this coming. Knowing you, I realize that you do feel bad but hang in there, there will be better days. Your are an asset to open wheel racing and your professionalism is always on display. I always look forward to seeing you in the flagstand as I am sure the drivers are as well.

Re: Apology to the drivers
 

It did take of professionalism to come on here and make the apology. However no flagman should ever have been put in this unsafe position in the first place. USAC should have just called the race before it even started. USAC not only put the drivers safety in jeopardy but they put the officials and fans life in a dangerous position. I learned something very important in life on my first day in the Army. Its safety first and to this day even though I am now retired from the military safety is always number 1.

Re: Apology to the drivers
 

Tom, as always, you are a class act.

Joe

Re: Apology to the drivers
 

I agree with pushtruck, Tom you are a class act as usual but you cannot walk around with this weight on you.There are others that need to step up and be accountable,You take care..

Re: Apology to the drivers
 

One of the classiest post I have ever read on IOW.

Tim Wolffrum aka Cowboy

Re: Apology to the drivers
 

the cars should have never been placed on the track for the feature, watching the last cars qualify was enough of a clue to what was going to happen with several cars on the track. It would be grossly unfair to lay the blame on the flagman.

Re: Apology to the drivers
 

It took a while but they dropped, your old boss would be proud of you!!

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Tom,

We all know you are one of the best flagman across the country and yes u know u shouldn't have not thrown the green.We all know that no one else would ever get on here and take any heat for this. Hope to see u soon my friend.

Re: Apology to the drivers
 

Tom
You are a class act and a true asset to our sport. When we see you in the flag stand we know we have a total professional waving the flags. This too will pass.

Re: Apology to the drivers
 

Very cool Tom!
Most would know that the Competition Director would make this call, and obviously that call was wrong. With that said, he (the Comp. Director) is fairly new at the position, and he will make other mistakes along the way as he learns the job. It is truly a shame that the 97 team lost a car in all this, and simply saying mistakes happen, won't pay the bill to replace their car.
You guys (USAC) were put in a no win situation Sunday by a set of circumstances, and everyone, including myself, think they have answers on how it could have gone differently. It wasn't because it was day race, it wasn't Gerry Olsen's fault, and they certainly had more than one push truck (who posts crap like that?). It was again, a set circumstances. Were mistakes made, sure. But just think about how before everyone got bored with watching nascar, how many times people would scream at the TV when they screwed up another race with bad, and sometimes stupid calls. IRL, same thing. Helio blocking at Edmonton... You can go on and on as every sanctioning body, and sport is run by people. People who in their heart are trying to do the right thing, but it just doesn't always work out that way. Nobody from USAC showed up that day with the intention of pissing everyone off. In fact they went above and beyond to try and turn un-raceable track, into something to try and let the show go on. Hell, if they canceled it at 8am, which they very easily could have, there would be 12 pages of people ******** that they had a 90 degree day, all day to work the track, and the lights too... As mentioned, NO WIN.
As said earlier, this to shall pass. I did mention elsewhere that I thought it might be cool to do the make up feature the same night as ISW at Terre Haute... A lot of folks who say on this board "I won't be back" will show up for that! Guys like Daum, Swindell, and maybe even Mez's team would have time to make it, and it'd be one hell of a one night show!

Thanks for your time, and thanks for the effort in keeping the tradition of the Silver Crown division alive!

Is it true they were pushing off the Silver Crown cars? They have starters and should maybe need a slight nudge from a pit crew member. You used to be sent to the tail for using a push truck. What happened to tradition there??
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Re: Apology to the drivers
 

Some were being pushed off and others were using starters for practice and qualifying. During the try at the feature, all but the one in the very back was push started. They asked for all crew members to be off the track before they pushed the cars off.

Re: Apology to the drivers
 

Who, in USAC, told you to wave the green flag?

Or is that your decision entirely?

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Im glad that you had a set at Toledo and didnt call that start back.. I heard over my scanner that they wanted it called back and heard you say no...

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too bad you are the only that has a pair in usac.

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Tom,

Thank you for your heartfelt post. We all worry about the drivers, especially at a place as fast and tricky as THAT. As someone that was there, we all knew it was going to be bad, but we all assumed that bad meant clouds of dust, limited visibility for fans, and an unpleasant racing afternoon.

None of us could have predicted the completely opaque dust cloud that appeared. I can't imagine how terrified the drivers in the middle of the field were when they realized that they couldn't even see the front of their cars - let alone the row in front of them, and that meant that the cars behind them couldn't see either.

I don't even think the drivers suspected how bad it would be, or they would have been throwing a fit before lining for the start.

Joe

Re: Apology to the drivers
 

The USAC emblem is still worth something today because of guys like you with a heart for the safety of the drivers. I wish there was a guard outside of the USAC office to keep people from trampling all over it in an effort to "bring more sponsors and campers" to the races.

Re: Apology to the drivers
 

Very stand-up and sincere thing to say.

I think somebody else in the office on 16th street needs to be stand-up and apologize to you for putting you in that situation in the first place. Nice to see somebody acknowledging the problem. Thanks Tom, there are many reasons we see you flag at IMS, this shows you care. They don't just let anybody do that.

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Wearing an officials shirt is hugh responsibility, it's also like wearing a bulls eye. Takes a big man to admit they made an error :6: