Kip said:
Keith, you will have to help me with my memory. Here is what I remember, there had been cars run in TSS with Southside style drop brackets at several GS Natioanls. No rule saying you could not do this. Then the year we are talking about Bill Thompson's car gets a debate started about this, I walk over ask what is going on and am told the brackets are a problem, at this time I remind everyone (using names of the racers that had used them in the past) that the brackets had been run in the past without question. A vote is taken in front of me and others and Bill is allowed in the TSS class. A little while later I see you walking away from Bill's trailer and I walk up and ask Bill what is up and he says you just told him he was out of TSS. Thats the best my memory can do except for being able to list the people above whos names I left out but will be glad to add them if needed.
Thumper said:
To the best of my memory, that is exactly how it went down. I made it through tech after vote of racers, had car weighed, got back to add a few pounds and while doing so Keith walked up and informed me that a decision came down that I am disqualified from TSS. because of the south side style bars.
Now Keith has asked why only 3 cars show up to race? Damn Funny isn"t it.
ONE POINT, RULES ARE SUBJECT TO CHANGE, EVEN THE DAY OF QUALIFICATIONS, BETTER NOT READ BETWEEN THE LINES, IT CAN GET YOU ONE DAY.
Let's start off with plain black-n-white. Sometimes you need to take words for their literal meaning. In this case the GSCA rules for the class, in particular:
GSCA TSS rules said:
Factory stock rear suspension locations required...
The above is the current rule, and was the rule for the 2006 event, which is in question here... Yes (3) events ago... In your quotes above you'll notice that I highlighted a few lines in red. Kinda incriminating I think. In one line you're admitting to running illegal drop brackets, and in the other admitting to reading between the lines trying to find the "grey area" instead of taking the words for what they actually say... Their literal meaning...
I know what you're gonna say... Well so-n-so got away with running them last year, or the year before, or so on. But we were dealing with 2006, not a previous year. We were dealing with your car, not someone else's. If your buddy gets away with robbing a 7-11 store today, does it make it legal for you to rob one tomorrow... It just so happens it was caught in 2006, on your car. You'll notice the rules now also state:
GSCA TSS rules said:
**All control arms must use the factory mounting location. No bolt-in or welded relocators allowed. (ie. Southside bars).**
This was the way to clarify the rule so no one else would "read between the lines". Oh by the way, out of the (11) cars in TSS for 2006, everyone else understood the rule in question.
Now onto... making me out as the bad guy here for enforcing the rules. Remember when we were teching the heads-up classes and your car wasn't in line? Who came and found you in the pits, offered help, and told you we would wait for you to join us? When (2) of your class peers brought your control arms to my attention you could have easily been DQ'd right then and there. At that point I offered a vote to help keep you in the class. I also made it clear that the vote was for the 2006 race only and that your control arms were illegal, with more clarity in the rules to come. You agreed, we voted, and only one other racer voted against you. At that point we were the only class left in tech, everyone else already weighed their cars in... Unfortunately I over-stepped my authority in offering a vote, which is why I then had to DQ you after weigh-in. Amazingly I had other racers in different classes and people I didn't even know patting me on the back for offering you a chance with the vote. I can tell you no-one else would have...
Do I hate the way it turned out, yes. Do I regret the way I handled trying to get your car into the race... Not until I read your posts.
K.