08/28/2023
Hi All, just a note to say thanks to those that have reached out over the past couple of days in regards to this past weekends racing. There was a incident where our son Jake received a DQ for flagrant/unsportsmanlike conduct during an on track racing incident that occurred during the Unrestricted Animal points race. I’ve attached a short video of the incident from the. Eat angle possible to bring everyone up to speed and lend clarity to what in my estimation was a significant injustice committed on a 12 year boy essentially stripping him of his ability make a run at a Cup Championship in this division. This post is twofold. One is to bring clarity to what actaully happened and dispel any embellished verbal accounts of it and two, to hopefully bring enough awareness to it in an attempt to prevent it from happening again to somebody else.
Let me be clear this has nothing specifically to do with any of the drivers involved. I am not trying to provoke a debate on who was at fault here. It is only an indictment in the process of which the judging unfold.
To most racing folks this incident was pure vanilla, bland, and actually very common. To be honest if I were to estimate the number of similar instances on a given race day I’d say it’s probably around 50 or more. Two cars racing hard, cars get loose, driving lanes narrow, wheels touch…..a caution comes out and the judges do their best to sort it out. On this day and with this incident the judging was skewed to an extreme, unforeseen, and at a questionable level. Normally a charged yellow would be handed out to one driver or the other, they would be sent to the back of the racing pack and they would attempt to race again for the best finish they could and receive the appropriate amount of points for their finishing position and towards the goal of becoming a champion.
We can only speculate as to how or why this extreme consequence could happen but in this instance Jake was presented with the black flag and prevented from returning to the track after we made a repair to his car. It was not a normal black flag like when you get three charges yellows or leak oil and you get disqualified. This was a unsportsmanlike conduct/flagrant black flag which is the worst you can receive. I was taken aback at the news of this from the race director and attempted to get clarification as to what specifically was unsportsmanlike. Even after I could hear the race director outwardly disagreeing with the judges and asking them to be sure this is the call they wanted to use he looked at me and shook his head. In frustration the flagger for this race handed the flags to someone else in protest.
No doubt it is hard to be a judge. Sometimes you don’t see it, sometimes it’s difficult to replay the incident in your head and come up with the best account of what actually happened and levy the punishment. In this case the highest level of punishment was dispatched for what would normally be a simple charged yellow infraction and quite frankly could be argued to be the fault of either driver. It was in one of those gray areas were you are just not sure. So the proper procedure normally would be for the assigned judges to speak to one another and gather the information to the best of their abilities and try and come up with the best resolution you can.
For this incident it was relayed directly to me from another person with radio access and communication that the judgement came in from one of the judges so quickly that Jake’s car had barely come to a rest on the infield. Proof that there was no communication amongst the other judges in regards to the call for a DQ. There may have been after they were pressed by the race director to rethink it but clearly one judge had enough influence and the call stood as it was originally relayed to the tower. The question remains even after the call, and questioning by other race personnel and all involved how could this rash decision be upheld? We may never know.
This is just about the best example I can think of why competent,fair and impartial judging is so important and anyone willing to learn and make educated,rational, and impartial decisions about racing incidents is so important to our club and quarter midget racing community and more importantly, the kids. You need to be decisive with a strong back bone and have the conviction to defend what you saw, discuss why, and be willing to question what the correct decision should be especially when you think its not right or extreme.
A drivers season and chase for a cup championship ended in this 10 second clip solely based on the clear lack of quality and impartial judging during the heavy Animal race this past weekend. My family and driver will move past this and it’s a good lesson for Jake on how life can be extremely unfair and sometimes you pick up the pieces and move forward with your head high. My son was upset for sure but only because he puts in the time, works on his own cars, learns their characteristics and gives feedback so our team can get better. He has a better understanding than most of how hard it is to win a championship and this was a huge disappointment for him. He’s strong no doubt and he will recover from this blow. He’s received the gift of a life lesson in how things are not always fair and their is a clear amount of ignorance to contend with is this world. It will teach him a little more on how to be a man and hold strong to who you are and how
to deal and overcome adversity and unfairness.
Big thanks to all those that questioned what was happening as it unfolded and made valiant efforts to protest it. Especially Chris Forstner and Nichole Thibeault. Thanks to all those that reached out over the last couple of days. Lots of really good people in this sport! We appreciate you
