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

IMO - yes

(quite the shit storm on Twitter)

Watched the video.... no way. My own opinion. If that's a jump then I haven't seen a good start all year. haha Full disclosure I am more of a DD fan than a hater.

Shocking this guy is at the heart of yet another controversy....

IMO...No. If he did, every heat race was jumped, but the rest of them weren't called back.

No, they gassed up at the same time. DD did't turn down immediately like the pole sitter did and instead drove up to the top putting him momentarily ahead (after both cars had gassed up) until he turned down and they were equal again crossing the line and was even behind going into t1. The ASCOC officiating as always was terrible so no surprise of course. What I don't get is DD or anyone saying they pick on the posse, they don't they equally make terrible calls and impose terrible rules on everyone everywhere they go. 

Agree, I don't think he jumped either. If that's a no start, All star officials are going to have to call 75% of the starts bad.

On a related issue, I've watched the replay of the heat race in question from the time the cars were pushed until the start at the chalk line. IMO, the still shot that Mr Blaney posted with his tweet was from the 'get in your position' lap PRIOR to the go green lap. If so, that is very mis-leading.

Dietrich got screwed, watch the video not the pic that was posted.

Rico got a golden pass.  Seemed to have unlimited time in the work area but   nobody wants to bring that up.

www.harleytrikes.com

Ref Rico - I wondered that too. He tagged the turn 2 wall pretty good and looked like he did a lot of RF damage - more than it seemed you could fix in the work area...

Ref DD: I'm actually a fan of his. I thought maybe he could have handled it better on Twitter initially. His diehard fans really went hard after the All Star officials. Then Dale stepped up and said he made the call. As someone said above, another DD controversy.... 

Not a DD fan but that's a terrible call. The cars were side by side at the start. I hate ticky-tack false start calls. Leave a clean start go and let them race. Getting a good start is part iof racing and false starts shouldn't be called unless it's obvious. This one wasn't even close to obvious. In fact I'd say it doesn't get much more even than that. What's the guy on the outside pole supposed to do? Let the pole sitter take the lead? That not only screws himself but also the other cars starting in the outside lane.

A

Too comical. Dale was standing there in turn 4. As an official, there is no better place to make that call, than to be there at the chaulk line. You can tell who jumps, who is brake checking, and who is playing games. Not only can you see it, you can hear it. I watched the video, and it is clear the 48 went the the throttle first, but not by much, but was a full car length ahead at the chaulk line. The other heat races were all less than 1/2 car length. Tough call, yes, but Blaney has a much better position to make those calls than anyone else. There is video, and photos showing the 48 jumpiong, even if it is not much. Blaney himself said the 48 got to the throttle first, and he was standing 20 feet away. 

Why us Blaney making a call as a race official when he is a driver?

Even though I may not know you, I 
care what most of you think!

Bingo. I feel the same way about starts. Pole sitter sets the pace as you approach the line. Within A cars length at the line is just mind games. Part of racing in my book. 

Mmm, a vast majority of people being on a polarizing figure's side like DD tells me Dale blew that one.

Dale hasn't race in a while now and has been an Allstar official for going on a year. I've heard some comments that the racers appreciate having him as an official since he completely understands their perspective. The various opinions on whether it was a jump or not make one thing clear - it was close call. There is another thing that is clear to me. Dale is one of the most stand up guys there is. He made the call simply based on what he observed with no bias one way or the other regarding who was involved.  Did he make a mistake, I don't know and it clearly seems to be a matter of opinion but I don't believe his decision wasn't made malicously.  Dale explained what he saw and heard that resulted in the call. It all happened in the blink of an eye and he had to make the call without the benefit of going back and watching a replay, seeing still shots etc. Dale also owned making the call when Twitter was dumping all over Walls. I appreciate Danny's work ethic and his ability but his antics sometimes make it hard for me to actually be a fan. Twitter can be a great resource and when it's used for positive things, I'm all in.  I get he is upset but just go have a conversation and clear the air but I guess that mindset just shows my age. 

Well stated and SPOT on!!!!

totally with you about making it hard to be a fan.  every time i get close...somethings happens.  we set up our blanket next to his family selling shirts at the morgan cup for 2 nights.  seemed like really nice people.  my son threw our baseball over the fence and somebody came off the top of their trailer to get it.  i didn't see his original post on twitter...but if he just toned the tough guy stuff down a bit i would be all in with him.  

i thought it was strange that they didn't throw the yellow until a lap had gone by.  if you're going to make the call...make the call.  don't wait to see if the guy ends up in the lead...and actually dd made a strong move off the top side to get the lead rather than using any advantage he might have gotten.

How was that not a false start in heat 1 at FALS??? 

I would say that 2 out of 4 heats were questionable last night.