News in the Trans Am Series

[John McMahon]

This info is about a week or more old, but I found it quite interesting.....

PAUL FIX POSTS ANOTHER TOP-10 FINISH AT ROAD AMERICA
07:13:03 on Aug 19, 2002

An exciting start to the race lengthened the Johnson Controls 100 at Road America.
Elkhart Lake, WI (August 17, 2002) – An exciting start to the race lengthened the Johnson Controls 100 at Road America. The excitement began on Lap 3, when a red-flag incident involving pole-sitter Kenny Wilden stopped the race for 25 minutes.

When the race restarted, the level of intensity increased as Paul Fix started working his way into 10th place. The field was full of talented drivers, but a smart pit stop strategy worked in Paul’s favor.

When the checkered flag dropped, 25 laps later, the #77 www.FitDV.com Jaguar XKR had accomplished another Top-10 finish.

It was Paul’s fourth top-10 finish for the 2002 series, and moved him into 10th place in Championship Drivers points for the BFGoodrich Tires Cup.

The next Trans-Am race is Sun, Sept. 1st at the Grand Prix of Denver. The race will air via tape delay on SPEED Channel on Sept. 8th at 2 p.m. ET.

Paul Fix Racing is sponsored by: FitDV.com, Classic Tube, Royal Purple Synthetic Oils, Mothers Waxes & Polishes, and Competition Life Insurance. Technical and product support is provided by Mechanix Wear, Wix Filters and Zone Perfect Nutrition.


FIVE TRANS-AM SERIES DRIVERS PENALIZED FINISHING POSITIONS FOR INCIDENTS AT ROAD AMERICA, TROIS-RIVIERES
10:41:49 on Aug 20, 2002
Chief Steward Terry Dale has penalized three Trans-Am Series drivers one finishing position each for instances of unjustifiable risk during Saturday’s Johnson Controls 100, Round 8 of the Trans-Am Series for the BFGoodrich Tires Cup at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wis.

CLEARWATER, Fla. (August 20, 2002) – Chief Steward Terry Dale has penalized three Trans-Am Series drivers one finishing position each for instances of unjustifiable risk during Saturday’s Johnson Controls 100, Round 8 of the Trans-Am Series for the BFGoodrich Tires Cup at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wis.

Tony Ave, Tomy Drissi and John Baucom were demoted from their original finishing positions for violating Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) Pro Racing Rule 2.23.6, which states, “Any action that represents an unjustifiable risk or reckless endangerment, in the opinion of the stewards, will result in the assessment of penalty[ies] … Decisions by the stewards and penalties assessed for unsafe acts are not subject to protest or appeal.”

Ave, who crossed the finish line in fifth place, was cited for causing unjustifiable risk to the car driven by Michael Lewis. He also had 10 seconds added to his elapsed race time for failure to observe a stop-and-go penalty issued for improper pit lane procedure.

The combined penalties dropped Ave from fifth to 11th in the final standings.

Drissi (eighth) and Baucom (11th), were dropped to ninth and 12th places for causing unjustifiable risk to cars driven by Bob Ruman and Mike Davis, respectively.

“We want to send a strong and clear message that we will not tolerate any driver’s reckless disregard for the safety of his fellow competitors, or any driver’s attempt to compromise his fellow competitor’s right to racing room, ” Dale said in issuing the penalties.

As a result of the demotions, Randy Ruhlman moves from sixth to fifth place in the official results, while Paul Menard improves to seventh, Paul Fix to eighth, and Don Sak to 10th.

In related news, Trans-Am Series drivers Paul Gentilozzi and Stuart Hayner have been penalized one finishing position each for their roles in separate incidents during Round 7 of the championship at Trois-Rivieres, Quebec on Sunday, August 4.

Gentilozzi was also issued a warning and a $1,000 fine, $500 of which was suspended.

Gentilozzi, the three-time and defending Trans-Am Series for the BFGoodrich Tires Cup champion, was dropped from fifth to sixth place and fined $1,000 for violation of Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) Pro Racing Rules 1.7.23 (Safe Pass), 2.23.2 (Physical Contact), 2.23.3 (Racing Room) and 2.23.6 (Unjustifiable Risk).

The penalties stem from an incident on Lap 4 of the event, when Gentilozzi attempted a pass of Hayner heading into Turn 1of the Trois-Rivieres temporary street circuit.

Hayner was cited for violation of SCCA Pro Racing Rules 1.7.23, 2.23.2, and 2.23.3 and dropped from sixth to seventh place in the official race results for causing contact with Gentilozzi on Lap 8 of the event.

Dale also fined Gentilozzi’s team, Rocketsports Racing, $3,000 and placed it on probation for four races as the result of physical contact with Hayner initiated by a Rocketsports crew member following the Trois-Rivieres event. Dale suspended $2,000 of the fine on condition of no re-occurrence of similar behavior.

Gentilozzi and Hayner lose one championship point each as a consequence of their demotions. Gentilozzi, second to Boris Said in the championship, now has 201 points, while Hayner stands sixth with 156 points, one behind fifth-place Ruhlman.

Official results of Le Grand Prix de Trois-Rivieres Trans-Am now show Simon Gregg moving up from his original seventh-place finish into fifth, ahead of Gentilozzi and Hayner. The result stands as a season best for Gregg and one off his career-best Trans-Am Series finish of fourth at Texas in 2000.

Dale also reported that an extensive technical inspection of several cars following the Trois-Rivieres event revealed no evidence that the cars in question were equipped with any form of traction-control technology.

[Trans-Am Jim]

Care to know any more, from the horse's mouth rather than from a press release??

[ERA535]

I would.

[John McMahon]

Jimbo,

Oh yeah, gimme some of the "Insider Info". I always take these releases with a grain of salt and am curious.

What really happened here?

[Trans-Am Jim]

1.) The Gentilozzi-Hayner deal at 3-Rivers:
On the 4th lap, Paul G tries a banzai/Hail Mary inside pass of Hayner at turn 1. Puts Stu hard into the tire barrier and continues on his way, while Stu has to get towed out. If Hayner hadn't of been there, Paul would have been toast. Stu pits to fix damage, goes a couple laps down, then starts a rather "inspired" drive up throught the field. As he passes Paul G. on the main straight, right in front of race control, he gives him a "love tap" which takes out Paul's right-rear bodywork and blows the tire. After the race, Paul's son Tony (Rocketsports' engine builder) tries to pull Stu out of the car and yours truly has to restrain the two of them. Tony ends up hurling a water bottle at Stu, which, of course, good ol' Jimbo catches a piece of.
I guess boys will be boys, but this had been building behind the scenes for a few races and finally manifested itself on track, so the Chief Steward figures its time to levy some penalties.

2.)The penalties for contact at Road America were much of the same deal. Baucom put a shot on Mike Davis coming up the front straight; violent enough that it bent Davis' 3rd link. Drissi put Bob Ruman in a gravel trap and destroyed the rear clip of Bob's car. The contact resulting in the penalties was not a bump and run sort of thing; there seemed to be malice in the hits. I saw them later on tape and they really were unwarranted and easily avoidable. Usually this kinda stuff happens on a street course, but when it takes place on a fast track like RA, it's a cause for concern. Luckily it didn't result in any injuries.


On the traction control deal, all I can say is we didn't find the rabbit, but we found some rabbit s--t, so we know TC had been used at some point. The current TC systems are really pretty neat, about the size of a Bic lighter, with a 24 guage 2-wire lead, programmable, and turned on and off with a cell phone call!. Around 25 grand, available only to previous customers.

Oh well, I'm off to Denver for a week.

Later, dudes -

[RACER X #99]

Not for nutnin guys but this beating and banging goes on every race in Winston Cup. This is one reason 150,000 show up at the 1/2 mile track at Bristol. Perhaps if they let the T/A guys do more rubbin they would get more fans in the seats.

Just my .02

Cranky

[Trans-Am Jim]

Cranky:
We let 'em rub all they want to. When they start takin' each other out, with malice aforethought, that's where the line gets drawn. Same deal happens in WC, although you don't hear about it in press releases. Those guys get a quiet lecture in the NASCAR trailer.

[DanElam]

Well, sorta. You don't get as much rubbing in Trans-Am or any SCCA race as a typical NASCAR race. First, the circle track guys end up being side by side a lot so rubbing presents more opportunities. I think that is really the big thing. Watch NASCAR at Sears Point or Watkins Glen and you don't see nearly as much rubbing just because the cars are spread out. Trans-Am (Grand-Am/ALMS/etc.) has more rubbing on the road courses than NASCAR does.

Second, NASCAR allows a lot more rubbing than most sanctioning bodies. NASCAR bodies are cheap to fix. Replace a body panel on a Trans-Am Corvette and you are talking about a lot more money.

I think the press release was called for. Just as Tony Stewart's sponsor sent him a message that certain behavior won't be tolerated, road course drivers need to know that behavior that can lead to big costs or even death just can't be tolerated. This weekend no one complained when Gordon bumped Rusty to get the win, but if he had been passed and then whacked Rusty to put Rusty out of the race (or injured), the reactions would have been a lot different.

Love taps are fine. Crashes are not.