Where is this rough driving on the video? Looks like he might have run into the back of the white car, just off camera. Is this what he was being put back 2 spots for?

No, I wasn't there, had to work. I was hoping someone on here to make me better this situation.

Alright I have to put my $0.02 in. I travel to tracks across the country. I believe I attended probably 90% of all 3 national USAC schedules last year. Plus many many local shows. I am engaged to someone who races for a living and has been racing since the age of 5 and am a mother to a son, who if I can help it will NOT drive race cars, but we'll see how that works for me. For those of you that say "if you really know John Memmer he's great" or "this is funny" or "he let his emotions get the best of him", actions speak much louder than words. Do you think I will EVER have to explain to my son why his father made a crude gesture to an official in front of a crowdful of fans? Never. Or what about the people we race with regularly? Dave Darland, Tracy Hines, okay, so I've heard someone say these are "old guys"...how about Chad Boat, Brad Sweet? Notice where these drivers are, and how they present themselves. Do you think these guys have been screwed by officials at some point....you can count on it. Do these drivers lose their cool at times? definitely. But have they deliberately swerved at track officials? no. Have they done something that would make me embarassed to have my son at a racetrack? no. Mr. Memmer is definitely not the first driver to get mad or fired up at a race track. You get pissed, you go where they put you, and you race harder. If you still have a problem, you talk, or if you so choose, yell at an official. Official's hear it from drivers, that's pretty common, but to swerve your car at an official is absolutely intolerable (and in my opinion should have repercussions). What you say to an official off the race track is your business, that way me and my kid and all the other families don't have to watch it, but if you're big enough to race these cars, show it. And you can bet if my kid ever races (still hoping not) and he even STARTED to act like this, whether he was 5 or 25, his father would yank him off the track by his chin strap....it is not acceptable.

This was posted earlier... I just turned 23 years old. Never in my life would I have thought this action to be funny or 'just someone getting upset'. ESPECIALLY the action of swerving at an official. And it was a yellow flag, you cannot say "he shouldn't have been standing there" did anyone else almost hit him? It was intentional. And no, "most people that are under that age of 30" would never act like this.

I am not picking on that post in particular, it was just something I could identify with being fairly young myself and being around many other drivers close to my age.


AMY CLEARWATERS

(this opinion is my OWN, not Jerry's, Jerry's team's, my father's, just mine)

(Yes, I know my son just turned 6 months old, but he won't always be, and he's been to over 20 races in at least 8 states in his first 6 months, so it doesn't look as though he'll be slowing down anytime soon, I was simply speaking of him in GENERAL in this context)

Chris, great post! While I don't know John Memmer and wasn't at the race, reading through this thread I was a little surprised that it took until Mike Padfield's post for anyone to even bring up the fact that John may have hurt himself more than anyone with his actions. That certainly was the opinion I was drawing out of everything I was reading. All young racers aspirer to move to the next level, John's actions on and off the race track will prevent that from happening for him more than anything in my opinion.

This thread is the second thread recently talking about police having to be called to a race track to break up pit altercations after events on the race track. Friday I witnessed something on pit road at Richmond that took me back to Winchester years ago. In the Winchester event Gene Lee Gibson was invovled in a supermodified accident with Pat Abold, Gene Lee climbed from his car and started pounding Pat in the helmet while he was strapped in the cockpit of his car. Gene Lee's actions were televised on national TV, it has always been my personal opinion that moment of frustration ruined Gene Lee's chances of ever advancing his career. Friday while standing on pit road during SC practice I heard all of these obscenities coming from a pit to the right of me. When I turned my head to see what was happening I witnessed a pit crew member reaching into the cockpit pounding his driver in the helmet. Witnessing that was like relieving the Winchester incident all over again for me. I had never seen this SC team race before and no names need be mentioned. My point of bringing this up is that John Memmer's actions were video taped and have been widely discussed on here, John has probably done more harm to his own career than any punishment than can be handed out.

That being said, I do feel John should be suspended for trying to hit the official. An anger management class may also be in John' s best interest.

As I said I do not know John or his family, so I will not add to the name calling that has taken place on here. From what I have read on here I do feel John's actions were directed towards the scorers more than the fans. I may be in the minority here but I feel John did more damage to himself and his racing career than anyone sitting in the stands.

Racers go through allot of highs and lows in the sport, I am not condoning what John did, nor do I feel he should be given a free pass because of his age. Several posters have compared John's actions to other acts of frustration shown by drivers before him. Maybe just maybe before we rehash what John did anymore we should take this thread in another direction an explore what can be done to prevent further outburst from drivers young and old in the future. Only one poster had the foresight to mention that radios could have prevented this incident, certainly if John had voiced his displeasure over the radio the impressionable young children in ths stands would have had no idea there was a problem.

Witnessing what I did in Richmond this weekend left me asking myself allot of questions, here are just a few of them. Are racers showing their frustrations more now than the generations of racers before them? The cost of racing has certainly increased over the years, how does the cost of racing play into current day racers frustrations? Is there too much pressure being put on todays young racers to advance to the big leagues? With todays racers loosing sponsorship money right and left what additional pressures are placed on the race team?

Patti

This guy would have never generated ten pages of thread on his talent behind the wheel. :

Fine him, ban him, whatever. I don't watch the back of the field that close anyhow

If DO puts the video of the heat race on here just watch Memmer in 3 & 4 his driving, then you will see why is was put back 2 positions. This was not a scoring error my MSCS.

It's all up in the first post. Banging Hunter in turn 3 is all I saw, but the heat until he stop is posted.

The announcement was that Memmer was being moved back two spots for rough driving. The only thing I saw was him trying to move Hunter out of the line in 3. Our rear bumper is proof of the contact.
Typically I would not expect that to have generated a rough driving call. Hunter did a great job saving it and continuing on. John could have layed the hammer to him again while he was crossed up but did not.

However, John was undoubtedly on a short leash with MSCS after previous incidents this (and past) years. I have not witnessed any of these said incidents, but previous posts indicate that he has a history with them.

To John: I have no ill will or hard feelings about the contact. That's racing. Move forward and try to do better next time when a call doesn't go your way.

i think he got moved back 2 spots for flipping the flagman off

So I've known this kid for a long time. My younger brother used to race go-karts against him, and I had seen he had been racing sprints and didnt think a lot of it. But now that I've seen one of the two "**** grabs" it brings back some memories. He used to whine and cry when he raced go-karts I just assumed it was because he was young and didnt think much of it but I guess in all honesty he hasnt grown up. O well, I think he should be banned from the MSCS series and VCS(which I believe he already has been). This just another story of an over priveleged kid, once youve had everything handed to you for so long theres no chance for you to grow up and I guess its finally showing up.

Unless SPIKER changed his mind HE IS NOT BANNED FROM VCS.The last thing I heard Spiker say to Jon and his Dad was "COME BACK ANY TIME"

Why is the crotch grab freaking everyone out?Madonna and Yacko made millions off there crotch grabs.Don't turn on A baseball game because the pitcher is probably adjusting his jock