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

Wondering if anyone can shed some light on why Sammy wasn't sent to the tail of the pack following his "detour" thru the infield...in doing so...he maintaind track position while being a lap down...shouldn't he have been sent to the back??

As it was, he could and may have served as a blocker for Kevin....This is not a Kevin/Sammy slam...just a question.....

The incident did not bring out a yellow.    The Chili Bowl has a policy of leaving lapped traffic in line for restarts. 

I think he should have been black flagged, that was dangerous. 

Auto racing is dangerous. He had control he didnt hit anyone that is why he was left alone. 

I don't aim to please.
I aim to hit the target.

My thoughts on this is he left the racing surface in an extreme way. This was not 4 wheels off the racing surface like we was forced over on a straight, or jumped on the inside in the middle of the corner. He drove through the infield with the intention of re-entering the race, and we can say that it is fine ONLY because nobody got hurt. My view is that he should have been black flagged, or they should have thrown a yellow for Sammy. Had he spun and continued from the same path as the circuit intended, no harm. To make your own path, through the infield, just to get your spot back seems, well, risky and unfair.

Looked like a racing deal and I would bet Swindell if he had it to do over again would have just stopped caused a yellow went to the rear stayed on the lead lap and even with 10 laps left and 10 cars already out would have still had a chance .As it was 1 lap down no chance.I liked Parnelli Jones autographed book to Sammy and Amy the king and queen of the Chilli Bowl.The fans pay their money to have the right to boo or cheer and after the race that right ceases.Sammy and Kevins dominance of the Chiili Bowl will never be equaled and their desire to win made Kevin 2nd place more impressive than his wins.Luck has a lot to do in this venue of racing and this year they had some bad luck and almost overcame it. 

You'd be singing a different tune if it was Larson that it happened to..

Sammy is the master of controversy!

 
I LEARNED ESP FROM MY MOM

"PUT YOUR SWEATER ON: DON'T YOU THINK I KNOW WHEN 
YOU'RE COLD?"

Nah but you guys woulda lost your mind if it was Larson and they didn't throw a yellow , give his spot back, black flag the guy who bumped him and bar him from the building. But I'm good either way with his results this year. 

I don't aim to please.
I aim to hit the target.

If sammy or Kevin was in third and somebody cross threw the middle of the infield,and back out next to them,and ran them as hard as he was running those guy's.There would have been a lot more fighting going on after that race.

If it was the other way around and Kevin lost because of this, oh man the Swindell's would probably boycot the race.

Truthfully cutting threw the infield ,and coming back into the race on the leaders is cheep,and blocking is junk.

As a driver you have the right to do both,so don't cry about it when it happens to you.Expecally when you did it first.

Next year the Swindell's need to run Target team cars..hahahaah

So are you saying it was okay what he did??  If thats the case, I dont know why people dont take the pit road across the infield at lincoln to get to the other side, as long as nobody gets hurt and the car is under control.

from what they caught on TV, the move Sammy made was far less dangerous than if he'd attempted to get back on track on the straightaway where he was spun sideways.

The contact itself was a racing deal (too many cars on a small track all going side by side by side by side).

Sammy slowed down when he went through the infield (no more dangerous than when cars go into the infield at any other racetrack to go to their trailer or the work area (people are walking around in those too).

When he re-entered the racing surface, there wasn't any cars near him (Clausen had just exited the corner behind him), so Sammy was on the "lead lap".  However Clausen lapped him before a caution came out.  They left lapped cars in place, so Sammy was 3rd in line I think and IN FRONT OF KEVIN.  It took Kevin quite a few laps to get by Sammy (so, if people want to complain he was blocking "for Kevin", what about when he was holding up Kevin from getting to the leaders??).

I personally like the fact that they didn't throw a yellow (if they had, what would the call have been?  Sammy didn't stop, so does he get his spot back?) as it didn't warrant a yellow.  If Sammy had stopped, my guess is that he'd have driven back up through the pack and gotten to the top 5 probably and then everyone would be on here bit$hing about Sammy brining out a yellow so he wouldn't go a lap down....

Unless they specifically make a rule that if you go through the infield (under any circumstances - someone punted you, you spun, you "jumped the inside berm") you get Black Flagged, I think the officials have to make a judgement call.  IMO, they made the right one in this instance.  Had Sammy went through the infield FULL BORE, I would change my stance to he should be DQ'd.

All in all, it was a great race on TV (and probably wayyyy better in person).  Do we always have to have a complaint about it??

If they yellow flagged Sammy we might all still be at the track waiting for him to go to the rear.

Finally, a sensible, objective view and reply. Too many people on here griping about 'what Sammy did' or 'didn't do'..... Sammy did come out in front of Kevin and it did take Kevin several laps to get by the old man. Sammy was there to RACE, a lap down or not, race is what he did.

Did u just complain about people complaining?

Bingo. Sammy is there to race and he isn't going to cut anybody any slack even if he is a lap down. Kevin had to work like hell to get by Sammy. It would have been better (and yes, safer) for Sammy to come to a full stop then he would have simply been moved to the back of the lead lap instead of going a full lap down. But he kept the car running and kept racing hard even while scored a lap down. The race is over, the results are final, lets move on.

Ask Frank

Half the lies they tell about me aren't true. 

Did anyone else sense that Sammy was kind of pacing himself until Larson went by?  All of the sudden he came to life and seemed to hit another gear.  I think he was under the impression that he was going to ride along hoping everyone else was going to fade.  Once he realized the car that passed him was Larson, it seems like it was time to go--knowing that letting him go may be a mistake.

Am I nuts like usual?  Just the way it looked to me.

That's how i saw it. Found a little more motivation.

I figure he ended up a lap down because the transponder did not cross the start/finish line. No yellow because he did not stop. he just decided to do turn 1 and 2 twice. When he finally finished his lap and a half he was scored in 22nd place. the way it worked out the officials did not need to do anything. Sammy had penalized himself already IMO.

wonder what the call would of been had he gone through the infield and entered the track on the turn four side of the start line recording a completed lap by way of the transponder? In this case he would not have been autmatically a lap done.

I'm not sure what to think of Sammy's Saturday night performance.   He was obviously messing with everyone in hotlaps...sandbagging by driving slow and straight through the corners so everyone stacked up behind him.  

One thing for sure....it should be written that NOBODY should be able to lose control, drive through the infield and re-join the race wherever they want.   Too big of a safety risk.   True nobody was injured this time, but the risk is unacceptable.