Whose line is it?

A corner shouldn’t be like Thunderdome where two cars enter and one car leaves.

The usual rule for passing is that you own the corner when you present over half of your car along side the other car before the corner. In the clip above, the faster car did no such presenting. He bullied his way into the corner without making any allowance for the slower car in front. That’s negligent and reckless driving. This accident was 100% avoidable. In such a situation, the driver needs to be taken off track. That’s not just my opinion, it’s spelled out in the rule books of the most popular budget racing series. Let’s take a look.

24 Hours of LeMons: You are 100% responsible for what happens while you’re at the wheel. Think you’re the hittee, not the hitter? We don’t care. Think you’ve been wrongly accused? See the part where it says “we don’t care.” Your job is to stay out of trouble. If trouble finds you, take responsibility like a grownup and figure out how to avoid it the next time.

American Endurance Racing: Avoidable contact caused by careless driving and disregard for fellow competitors will result in a black flag with delay that will be assessed to the irresponsible party.

ChumpCar: The Chief Steward is REQUIRED to issue a Black Flag for the following driver (on-track) incidents and/or infractions, regardless of whether the infraction is a first offense… unintentional contact resulting from negligence, carelessness, unsafe passing or lack of control.

World Racing League: Any intentional contact, repeated contact, contact resulting from reckless or careless driving, or any contact where a driver could have taken reasonable measures to prevent or avoid the contact incident. All parties involved will be Black Flagged

The Youtube clip’s owner writes: “to my defense, I had just made this same pass a few laps earlier. SORRY!” Bad defense, but the apology was a genuinely nice gesture and should be commended. Most drivers in this situation would never have posted the clip or said they were sorry. To the driver we say: you may suck at racing, but you’re a stand-up guy!