I don't want to do an over kill on this racing subject but
Bill Wilson brought up some interesting points. I've gone to a rally several
times which uses track time at Road America as it's high point. The rules are
spelled out over and over at the driver's meeting. NO passing other than onthe
front straight. Everyone leaves their lights on and slower cars always allow the
faster cars by when on the front straight. Simple rules that allow everyoneto
push their cars a bit. Last time we did five laps which is 20 miles of fast
driving. Unfortunately there are a few jerks who don't know a racing line from a
bowling lane and must sleep through the driver's meeting. We had one of these
guys driving a Corvette who couldn't remember the turns from one lap to the
next. He passed all over the track, approached turns from the inside corners and
came with-in inches of broadsiding my DeLorean as I came off my apex at thetop
of Firemen's Hill. He didn't know an apex from a fire hydrant and was flying
towards a blind 90 degree left hander in the inside lane while passing
everything in sight. As I turned out of the apex I glanced out the drivers side
window and saw this idiot, with all four wheels locked, sliding right at me. In
hindsight, if he had hit me, there wouldn't have been any insurance to
cover this type of situation and we all had signed waivers relieving Road
America and the rally organizers of any liability. I'd still do this again
because it's the thrill of a lifetime putting in 20 miles of "almost racing" at
Road America but next time I'm going to take a much closer look at my fellow
drivers at the meeting and try to stay with the group that appears to have
some concept of what they're about to undertake.
Bruce Benson
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