Slydejob (Offline)
#33
6/29/12 9:28 AM
Those pictures show clearly Ballou had hunter cleared all the way up till they touched. In every shot until the last one you can see that Ballou is cleared hunter and hunter had to see him and Ballou would not have seen hunter until the last one. I think if anything this shows charging like the one guy said and there's no way Ballou could have avoided that if he turned at the last second he would have spun out and crashed either Stanbrough or Windom. When you look at those still shots from that video you can see the camera doesn't lie, I think usac owes Ballou an apology. No way that was intentional and looking at each shot Ballou had the spot and no way to think hunter would be there, looks like a unfortunate circumstance of hard racing.
quicktime3 (Offline)
#34
6/29/12 9:42 AM
Seriously? Respect? Professionalism? Yeah, I'd say the lack of those two things are why Robert is not in good graces. Maybe this was the "grow up" sign that Ballou desperately needs. That video only confirmed a silly move. Cleared? You're not clear until you slide up in front of someone. That move was doomed when he threw it in at full-speed with no hope of sticking. There's nothing to analyze after that - it was just a matter of how hard the impact would be at that point.
quicktime3 (Offline)
#36
6/29/12 10:02 AM
Wrong video. That's from a few years ago.
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c47 (Offline)
#39
6/29/12 12:27 PM
besides the way usac handled informing ballou of the "probation".......heres what i saw in the video......ballou turned hard going into one right in the slick spot. at that point, he was "along for the ride" till he got a bite.....which he didnt and slid ip with hunter on the outside.
IMO.....(after watching the video a few times)....hunter made no attempt to move up or even steer around ballou......he gassed it up, the car went straight (the direction the wheels were pointed) and launched over ballous right rear.
i have watched guys try to pinch the bottom a thousand times and it worked....this time it didnt cause it was SOOO slick down there that ballou just slid up.....IMO....that WASNT a slider gone bad, it was a car that didnt stick and slid up into another car.
a slider would have been off the bottom and out to the middle of the turn, not off the bottom and STRAIGHT up the track.
and really, if they wanted to penalize ballou, why not do the same to hines for kinda losing it and taking himself and gardner out in the heat? or leary for getting loose and trying to stick his nose under gardner off 4 in the same heat?
this all comes down to a "judgement call" and, IMO, since ballou tends to drive pretty hard , he is probably going to be at the top of the list of guys they are watching......but lately, i have seen others offering up similar moves and no one bats an eye.