THE worst start I have EVER seen

[PopOffValve]

oh my god, what in the hell was that?! Can anyone provide any kind of explanation from anyone for this?

[nrc]

I dunno about the worst, but it was at least as bad as your average Indy 500 start, which is pretty bad.

[Rogue Leader]

At Skip Barber they would take us out of the race cars and beat us with a tire iron for a start like that!

[Chiphead_Dave]

I actually shot beer out of my nose when they let that
start stand.

Horible

[anait]

No kidding. :saywhat: For a second I thought there was no flag thrown at all, that maybe the starter was grabbing a coffee or something...

[ChampcarShark]

No kidding. :saywhat: For a second I thought there was no flag thrown at all, that maybe the starter was grabbing a coffee or something...

He was having a Big Mack...

[Clown]

:shakehead :rolleyes: :thumdown:

[Jervis Tetch 1]

Possibly the worst OW start that didn't have serious consequences.

No way the worst of all time. That diSTINKtion goes to Oz 2002. The worst start of all time? For my money Monza in 1978. That's when we lost the great Ronnie, which incidentally was 26 years ago today.

Godspeed Ronnie. I still miss you. :(

[IlliniRacer]

I have always been against standing starts. However, my stance is weakening. They need to give it serious consideration.

[FCYTravis]

While I agree that the starts are getting worse, there's only so much the officials can do to rectify the problem. In the end, it's in the hands of the drivers to police themselves.

Sure, JD could have waved off the start and sent 'em around again, but what if the exact same thing happened the next time? Wave 'em off again? And again? How many wave-offs do you do before you throw your hands up and say screw it, the fans came here to see a race? I saw it happen last year at Portland. JD waved-off the start THREE TIMES and the fourth time around the officials just told him to go green no matter what, essentially.

IMO, the drivers need to get some sense and the rules need to be changed - if you cause a no-start, you go to the back, automatically. No appeals, no protests.

[RTKar]

While I agree that the starts are getting worse, there's only so much the officials can do to rectify the problem. In the end, it's in the hands of the drivers to police themselves.

Sure, JD could have waved off the start and sent 'em around again, but what if the exact same thing happened the next time? Wave 'em off again? And again? How many wave-offs do you do before you throw your hands up and say screw it, the fans came here to see a race? I saw it happen last year at Portland. JD waved-off the start THREE TIMES and the fourth time around the officials just told him to go green no matter what, essentially.

IMO, the drivers need to get some sense and the rules need to be changed - if you cause a no-start, you go to the back, automatically. No appeals, no protests.

I agree in theory but considering the time it takes Champcar officials to get any track situation "race ready" we'd be lucky to have a dozen green flag laps when you also take into account the number and length of FCY's we tend to have. With races being an hour and 45 minutes long, I don't think we'd see much racing. I really don't know what could be done about the increasingly ragged starts other than starting from a standing position but then again some of the drivers would screw that up too.

[mantom]

I think what Champ Car needs to do is enforce the system used in Olympic swimming and Track n' Field. First violation results in yellow flag and warning to the field. If the grid isn't lined up properly the 2nd time around, yellow flag is shown again and violating drivers are disqualified from the race. That'll force them to shape up.

[Old3Fan]

As I have been saying for years and a couple of you are starting to get it,
The starter must yellow flag a start if the front row is not lined up properly.
On the next go around if they are still not properly in line, the front row moves to the rear of the pack and the 2nd row gets to try it next time around. This is to continue until a proper start is accomplished. Hit the offenders with a hammer and they will start to get it right the first time. In addition the start/finish line should be at a point on the track layout with the longest straight to give the drivers a chance to form up properly. This may mean that they have to start somewhere other then the main grandstands but that's OK with me.

[sadams]

They started Mid Ohio on the back side for that very reason, to have the longest straight to get 'em lined up. And I agree 2nd yellow the front row moves to the back. That'll happen exactly 1 time and the field will look nicely lined up the next race.

[MAXAR RE]

Terrible start! :mad: I recommend Laguna for standing starts.

[cyclepath]

oh my god, what in the hell was that?! Can anyone provide any kind of explanation from anyone for this?

The front row knew if they threw out the yellow it would be a 2 stop race, get the green and its at least a 3 stop race.. If you look at the warm up and pace laps they were going as slow as possible to save fuel prior to the green.

[Dougrun]

having been there and seen it, I have to agree with cycle. Just what we didn't want. :thumdown:
I say fine the drivers afterwards if they are not next to the car in their row when the flag waves, and the leader still has to cross first.