Video #1
When you’re on a race track, you don’t always know who else is sharing the space. They might be total ass-idiots. In this first clip, our POV driver isn’t doing anything wrong. He’s just driving the typical racing line, when out of nowhere, wham.
This driver was able to keep moving, but a hit like that could require a tow and lengthy repairs. Let’s be clear, the POV driver isn’t at fault. The other driver was a total fucktard. But when sharing space with fucktards, you have to take some precautions. That starts with NOT DRIVING THE RACING LINE when there are fucktards behind you. When the POV driver set up on the outside right of the track, he allowed the fucktard to think “I can make a pass on the inside”. The way to stay safe is to communicate to the fucktards that they can’t have the inside line. How? By driving on the inside line.
Video #2
Different drivers, different track, same fucking story.
Video #3
In this video, there’s a nice rear view inlay. You can see a faster car approaching from the rear. The POV driver sets up on the outside and takes the typical racing line. Can you guess what happens next?
From a rules perspective, the POV driver is ahead when he turns in. So he gets to choose the racing line. I think most people would say the fault lies with the rear car because he punts the POV car. However, the POV car also has some responsibility to give racing room to other drivers. When he turned in hard, was he not aware of the other car? That would certainly put some fault with him. Alternatively, he may have been sending a message to the other driver that he has right of way, and you had better back off. That’s being aggressive not unaware. Which is worse? I’m not sure. Can you tell an aggressive driver to back off? Can you tell an unaware driver to pay more attention? In both cases, the drivers are so focused on what they’re doing inside the car that they aren’t imagining what other drivers might do. Neither “I didn’t see” nor “I didn’t expect” are acceptable on the race track. To keep yourself safe, you have to dial it back a little so you can spare some attention for the ass-idiots around you.
Video #4
Different idiots, different venue, same goddam story. Watch the wing mirror on the right.
Summary
It’s really not about who is right and who is wrong. It’s about which cars are lapping and which ones are in the pits. In every case here, the POV driver could have done something to prevent the accident. Yes, they were victims of ass-idiot fucktards who violated the rules. Criminals exist. Don’t let yourself become a victim.
you suck at racing 
Those were low percentage passes
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Curious, and possibly a stupid question since I don’t do W2W yet but its on my radar – I’m sure that you’re right, but if the drivers making unsafe passes are never penalized for it and they sometimes work, won’t that end up with more and more people taking risky shots like those? I have heard people talk about Chump as a fairly “high contact” series.
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I’ve driven in ChampCar (no longer chump), Lucky Dog, and Lemons, and I wouldn’t characterize any of these as high contact. It’s really more about the drivers than the series. I agree that they should penalize more in ChampCar to send a message to dangerous drivers. Really, every series should penalize more. But at the end of the day, the rules don’t keep you safe: you do. You can usually figure out pretty quickly which drivers are hazardous and steer clear of them. In my experience (which is somewhat limited and probably biased) the most risky drivers are those coming from the sprint world. Fighting for every corner is useful over 20 minutes, but when the race is 8-24 hours, it’s better to have some patience. I did an SCCA race and found that I prefer the endurance racing mindset. It’s much easier on the car and the wallet.
It’s really easy to get into endurance racing. All you need is a driver’s license. Equipment can be rented or borrowed if you’re dipping a toe in. Arrive-n-drive prices are $500-2000 depending on the car. Do it!
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That’s the plan – I want a few more hours of seat time first though, maybe make the move next year. Currently still a 3.5/B driver (your scale), trying to get more track time in the wet to get my car control / corrections down closer to “automatic” before adding racing to the mix.
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You’re probably fine now as long as you drive slow enough that you also keep some awareness for the other cars. Some people are overwhelmed by wheel to wheel racing, others are at home in the chaos. Hard to know until you try.
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