Forum: HoseHeads Sprint Car General Forum (go)
Moderators: dirtonly  /  dmantx  /  hosehead

Freddie Rahmer keeps family winning tradition going in Williams Grove victory

Future looks bright to me with the youngsters running . Also real nice run by the teenager Matt Campbell. To bad the lapped car wouldn't move down when given the move over flag for 2 laps. Would have been cool to watch Freddie and Matt dice for the win.

It's the job of the person passing to do so, not expect somebody to move over.  The handle went away on his car and that's the way it works.  If you can't work on a different line and your competitor can your gonna get passed.  Pretty simple.  

If thats the case why was the move over flag ever made ? And why does it get used at every track, every weekend?  The expectation is the lapped car would get out of the way and let the leaders race for the win. And you do see the majority of the drivers getting that flag  get out of the way.  If you go watch the video from dirtvision (?) It shows the 69 car running the bottom for 2-3 laps as the 16 car run him down. When the 16 car caught him down the back stretch going into 3 he changes his line and goes to the top. What was he thinking??? A large majority of the 410 races are won by the winner running the cushion not the guard rail, so what was he thinking at that time to change lines after running the bottom. 

Now with all that being said I think Freddie was the faster car and was going to get by the 16. The point being if the 69 follows the flagmans instructions it may have taken Freddie to lap 20 - 21 not lap 17 to catch and pass the 16 and maybe the kid gets a nice ruuner-up finish. After watching the video on the restart the 16 was able to change lines and run the bottom and pulled away from the 17B and 21.. The kid learned a valuable lesson and Faster Freddie got a great win to keep the family tradition roling. 

Congrats to Freddie !!!  and a nice run for Matt just moving into the 410s ! As stated..... The future does look bright...

The blue flag with the yellow stripe is displayed in dirt track racing to slower drivers to hold their line as faster cars are about to lap them. Sans radios or mirrors the slower cars have no idea what line the faster cars are going to use to over take them.

Being a DD fan I don't have any bias just an observation of what I saw . But....

The official meaning of the blue flag per Wikipedia : A light blue flag ( sometimes with a yellow, orange or red stripe ) informs a driver that a faster car is approaching and that the driver should  " MOVE ASIDE TO ALLOW THE FASTER CARS TO PASS "  during a race. This would only be shown to a driver who is " getting lapped " . Drivers will usually obey it as a courtesy to their fellow drivers....

The hold your line theory didn't work out either as the lapped car moved from the bottom to the top, not holding his line.

That's just it and you said it too. Expectation.......  Nothing is ever a given when there is another person piloting a racecar dealing with their own set of issues. As the passer you have to be able to move where they aren't flag or not. If you can't and your competitor can then you get passed. 

Sometimes it is easier to be in second place rather then in first place, you have two choices follow the leader or go where the leader is not.  Being the leader you can only make your decision and they find out if it was correct or not.  Was not there and did not see the video so perhaps my only decision on this matter is wrong. 

Please don't confuse circuit track flags and how they move out of the preferred racing line to oval dirt tracks.  The car being lapped needs to hold the same line they have been running as the leaders will then know where they are going without a sudden change if lanes. 

When a lapped car makes a sudden change in their racing line normally causes the leaders to get taken out.