[Chris Nunn]

Oh man, I started a war here....

[Rpracing1]

I'm just thinkin that the darker cone had a slight weight advantage............JMO........

[cjaxx1987]

I didnt watch the race but the pictures show that the car further away clearly won the race. Regarding the post on the "crooked" actual finish line, thats just ridiculous. Who makes a finish line crooked??? I also want to say that some, not all, tracks / officials DO and can have a "favorite" driver.

[jjones752]

I think that's been Mr. Dobson's point all along; the finish line isn't crooked, it appears that way because of a phenomenon called "parallax".
Parallax is "a displacement or difference in the apparent position of an object viewed along two different lines of sight, and is measured by the angle or semi-angle of inclination between those two lines" (Wikipedia).
Unless you are seated exactly aligned with the 2 points marking the inside and outside ends of the finish line, you could never be 100% certain that what you think you see is what is really the case, and if you had a camera in your hands, the picture would show the same skewed perspective. The same thing happens when you're driving in your car; with the speedo directly in front of you, you can CLEARLY see that you're going the speed limit, but over in the passenger's seat, the Missus is convinced that you're CLEARLY 5 mph over. That's parallax (and a potential domestic dispute). If this were a (shudder) paved track with a painted finish line you may have a better argument one way or the other, but come on, people! They made the best call they could under the circumstances. Sheesh.

[cjaxx1987]

Originally Posted by jjones752 I think that's been Mr. Dobson's point all along; the finish line isn't crooked, it appears that way because of a phenomenon called "parallax". Parallax is "a displacement or difference in the apparent position of an object viewed along two different lines of sight, and is measured by the angle or semi-angle of inclination between those two lines" (Wikipedia). Unless you are seated exactly aligned with the 2 points marking the inside and outside ends of the finish line, you could never be 100% certain that what you think you see is what is really the case, and if you had a camera in your hands, the picture would show the same skewed perspective. The same thing happens when you're driving in your car; with the speedo directly in front of you, you can CLEARLY see that you're going the speed limit, but over in the passenger's seat, the Missus is convinced that you're CLEARLY 5 mph over. That's parallax (and a potential domestic dispute). If this were a (shudder) paved track with a painted finish line you may have a better argument one way or the other, but come on, people! They made the best call they could under the circumstances. Sheesh.

You are correct with your parallax comment, but are the pictures attached in this post a finish line camera? If so it would be directly on the finish line across the track...

[jjones752]

No one on this thread has ever suggested that any of these photos were "official", directly in-line with the finish line or anything of the sort; they're either screen captures of Sean Buckley's Jackslash video footage or taken by people in the stands. I wasn't there, but I wish I had been, 'cause it looks like it was a heck of a finish; sitting here at my computer, the only conclusion I can make is, "Damn, that was close!" You guys go ahead and beat it to death now if you want to. I've said all I cared to say. Except for one last thing; I fully intend to check out at least one of the Dobson-promoted tracks next year. Looks like he knows how to run a race track.

[Mud Packer]

Originally Posted by KJHolley If you can't tell who won that by race by looking at the pictures of the finish, or even the video then I can see why you said "former" when you described your officiating background.. Great 3,744th post by the way.

Again, where were the pictures that Chris provided taken from? Exactly on the start finish line extended or somewhat toward the first turn side of the start finish line? How about where the video was shot from?

As a point of clarification for you, I am a former short track official prior to moving to Indiana. I am currently a college and high school athletic offical in my 39th year of officiating. Now please share your officiating resume to give us a prospective of where you are coming from.