Ya, that was my buddy with the flag... He was pretty pissed about that comment since he was red flagging for a safety issue.....

Holy shit! Wow! That's a little extreme. That kind of lashing out really doesn't belong out there...

Yeah, everyone I talked to thought the red flag was totally justified, or at the very least its better to err on the side of red-flagging a driver. Your buddy was 100% in the clear. Helen just... says things sometimes. I'm convinced that she just didn't want that other driver to get a rerun.

I had Helen come give me a "talking to" a while back after a spin that ended with me straddling the yellow lines next to the runway. The course had a very high-speed kink in it that could *almost* be taken flat out in an STX prepped WRX (Dean and I both had spectacular offs in that maneuver trying to make it stick flat out).

She told me she "needed me to slow down and keep it under control". What bullshit, if the course is unsafe fix the course or cancel the event. I'm not lifting if my competition isn't lifting. What's even worse, I don't remember seeing Dean getting the same talk about keeping it under control. It's not like we were out there doing donuts.

I guess she just seems to have the need to talk big game to feel like she's doing something. I don't know how John (who's one of the most down to earth and nicest people you'll ever meet) has put up with it for all the years they've been together, unless Helen's not like that to her family, and just busts balls at autocross.

omg that's a crazy lady.

Aha, you got the special Helen treatment. Believe it or not, when she gives someone extra attention, it IS because she cares, though caring about your feelings or how you take it isn't part of her demeanor especially when she's a safety steward. (I just wish she were the safety steward on deck when the bicycle rider was cruising along the yellow line at our June event, Patty tried to ask that guy nicely to stay clear and he just cursed at her. I'll bet Helen would've taken his head off.)

I'm pretty sure I remember some heated exchanges with Helen & Dean in the past. But at the point that Scott, you got the talking to, Helen was done chewing on Dean, and by then already knew about some of Dean's driving experiences, that he was an instructor, blah blah blah, whereas she did not necessarily know your background or your mindset about safety. Hence, the 'talking to'. But if you guys had the special Helen treatment and really feel strongly offended you can always raise it up to Matt (oops, sorry Matt, part of the role eh) or Jim Gandy, and they can have a conversation with her to ask her to tone it down.

I think we should just ban people over 50 from autocrosing altogether. Between Helen's standard issue behavior and John's meltdown this weekend... yeesh.

That Does look like fun. I enjoy it when a course offers a choice of line, it'd be interesting to hear which the faster choice was.

Our course on Sunday was initially going to offer a choice of entry to the slalom, then before the event started the choice was taken away and we were forced to one direction. Which was a good thing in my case since I already had a hard time shutting it down through the finish, with the 'slower' line :lol: .

Oh, I got it also...

It wasn't the actual talking to that bothered me. It was the unloading of her responsibility as safety steward on the drivers. If she felt the course was unsafe, the solution is not telling the drivers to slow down, it's fixing the course.

Now, I was eventually going to find a way through the course without spinning, simply because spinning isn't going to win the round... but getting chewed out over something that's not my responsibility (poor course design) doesn't help the situation much. That situation just stuck with me as a prime example of Helen-ism.

In all actuality, her behavior as grid-master (getting cars out of order, yelling at the drivers that are attempting to let her know it's their turn to run, etc) is far more disruptive to the event. I feel bad for the n00bs that she may wallop... I know she means well, so I'm not going to let her attitude ruin my day... but I can imagine some poor first timer getting he head bitten off and deciding "f-this... autocross is run by assholes!".

Good point, I don't want to see this happen. (I hope it hasn't already happened.)

Re: course design, I also remember events where they have told us in the drivers meeting that we couldn't go 10/10ths in certain places. Seems like not long ago we had some element fairly close to the southeast corner, where there was also loose gravel, and were told to shut it down before we got there (else risk running past the yellow line).

I don't remember hearing that at a driver's meeting since I've started running at Reno (2003). But I have a crap memory for details like that... I can't even remember who won this year's Daytona 500 for example.

I do remember however from my Safety Steward training that I'm responsible for bringing up issues like that turn with the event chairs before the event starts to make sure it's not an issue. And I remember from the course design literature we share with our course designers that you should always attempt to limit speeds by slowing the cars *before* the long straights, rather than adding a maneuver in the middle or by creating difficult/dramatic braking zones at the end of them.

Had the SSS's been paying attention during the walk-thru, that kink would have never been an issue.

After walking it both ways the anti-clockwise option was obviously faster so I only drove it that way.

I was on the gas from the apex of the last turn before the slalom until I hit the binders for the left before the exit chute- probably about 8 seconds worth. It was a fun course!

What was your fastest time of the day on that course?

I ran a 44.8 ish Sat 43.7 in the afternoon
40.5xx sunday

What's up with the dude on the latter?

He was replacing a bulb.

The former wasn't tall enough. :)

Boom! Nailed it.

That was the joke I was looking for all afternoon, but I just couldn't find it on my own. :lol:

I knew something didn't measure up.

Results are posted. Can someone that was there write up a short event summary for me to post in the news section?

Also, Mike, the results still show 19 planned rounds, didn't you say you shortened that due to Squaw being cancelled?

Man, I still can't get over that finish. Nice time though.

Sweet, thanks. Man Bill dominated us on Saturday. :eek:

Scott, I already started on it, I'll have it to you tomorrow. I figured you wouldn;t have much to say since you weren't there.

Also, Sunday's pax times are very close, right down the line...

And one more thing.... Race tires > street tires.

Yes, but Jim Gandy told me on the weekend to leave it at 19 for now, since he is looking for a replacement weekend for squaw. I did go to 3 drops though, just in case it doesn't happen.

We voted at the last board meeting to officially cancel squaw, and that if there were to be a replacement it would strictly be a non-points event. If Jim's telling you something else, he's mistaken.

I can easily redo them if you want (to post them again). Also, are you coming to the meet this week? I have to get the laptop to you.

With the 3 drops, I caught Scott in points! Yay for 3rd place!

my buddy got first in novice. IN MY DAMN CAR! screw co-drivers :lol:

damn i got 5th :(

So he wasn't driving a 99 BMW 540?

nope. on saturday he was but on sunday he codrove with me.

Bastard! I finally beat Dave and he comes in and takes 1st :mad: Oh well, maybe next event!!

I'm not worried about it... we'll just fix it after the next round?

your both done when i get some tires :D

:lol: :lol: Thats a good one!!







when will that be anyway, so I can prepare.....

I'm happy to have gained a couple of point on Vick in PAX. Killing the cones on my last run sucked. It would have been great to finish with that time. Now its out into the garage to put that little peace of plastic back on the wagons under belly.

soon, very soon. next week im gonna get new fluid and bleed my brakes so i dont fade them anymore :lol: then ill get some tires.

Damn...I did ok I guess, maybe with some decent tires I will be able to keep up with you Robby!!

yep. and then ill get my tires and youl need r-comps :D

R-compound tires in Novice class... *sniff* I'm so proud of you guys! :lol:

kevin will not me :D

Error 404: verb not found?

Or is that "Kevin will knot me"... which sounds gay and kinky.

you would think of that.

edited:

Kevin will need to run race compound tires in novice class. I will not need to run them.

Fixed for grammar.

Oh will I?:huh: That remains to be seen.