Your Opinions on Rules for Heat Re-Runs

[davem]

Had an incident at a race - and the coordinators are seeking my advice on rule changes.

The current rules we have used for local races (and also used in the race in question) are:
- If a car interferes with another car, the heat will be re-run
- If there is a track or timer problem (detected by either of the track judges), the heat will be re-run

HOWEVER (and a big HOWEVER) - these rules were never disclosed prior to the race.

The incident.
4 lane wood track (very rough).
Scoring system is average of 4 times.

1st attempt
One of the top 3 cars was running against 3 other cars in a heat.
One car (not the contender) left the track on the first run. Luckily, the finish line judge caught it in mid air!
No other cars interfered with.
A re-run was called.

2nd attempt - the same car leaves the lane and crashes into the timer post at the finish line.
No other cars interfered with.
A re-run was called - and the unstable car sent to the repair station.
The cause - the car steered right - and the left front wheel was raised too high to maintain contact with the lane guide.

3rd attempt - all cars finish without incident.
Times for the 3rd attempt were recorded.

Here's where it starts to go sideways...
The contender car's 3rd attempt time is .087 worse than the first attempt. And this is the time that counts.
For context - the average "spread" for the top 3 cars (spread defined as best time - worst time) was about .08 seconds. So imo the track is too inconsistent to be used - especially for a Regional / State race.

The contenders car takes 3rd place at the end of the race.
Had the re-run not been called - the contender would have definitely had 2nd place, and may have had 1st.

After the race - the child / parent with third place were not upset. Great sportsmanship for a tough break.

However - some parents are lobbying for a rule change that DQs a car after 2 failed attempts to complete a heat.
The race officials want a more "kid friendly" way to handle this.

So I suggested informally that they change the rules to:
1. Either of the 2 track judges detects a problem with the track or one car. Could be a lane jump, car wheel jumping on the lane guide, someone bumping the track, or a timer issue.
2. If only one car is affected - only the affected car is re-run. Times for the other cars are recorded and stand.
3. If ANY other cars are affected - a re-run is called. For track issues - the track is fixed and all cars are re-run.
4. If a car inteferes with another car(s), it poses a danger to the other cars and:
4a. The other cars are re-run without the dangerous car on the track
4b. The dangerous car can be sent to the repair station
4c. The dangerous car is re-run alone when repairs are complete.

Before I formally submit this at the race coordinators request - I am looking for some feedback.

[Stan Pope]

Cars which suffered no interference should not have to rerun ... their times should stand. Before you sign off on the "solo run" provision, check that times are not affected on the tracks in use. There have been some reports of "solo times" better than when running with other cars on the track.

A second issue is that the proposed rule seems to have an implicit "no fault" clause. The errant car is treated the same if a track fault or a car fault was to blame, and it seems that the errant car gets to rerun until he stays on the track for the full run.

It is good that you are looking in detail at this. Another group's rules allowed the following really strange situation: a rerun was called because the judges couldn't decide first place between the cars in lane 1 and lane 2. On the rerun, the car in lane 3 won!