Some of us were involved in a discussion about calls and DOTs in the tower last weekend. I accepted what my buddies told me - that there is no such thing as an incident resulting in both a call and a DOT on the same driver.

This is what the rule book says on page 2:
"Not all cars that are involved in an incident always go DOT, if a judge has a question on which car was involved in the incident, writing the car numbers down right away, will eliminate confusion (always write down the cars that don't go DOT first, as they will be the ones hardest to identify later, the DOT's are not going anywhere quickly). After writing down all cars involved in the incident, the judges then make a decision on whether there is a call or not. If there is not a call, and the judges call this a racing incident, all cars that went DOT receive a DOT so write DOT on the line next to the car number. If a call is made on a car, do one of the following:
If the car went DOT, then in the line next to the car number write DOT and a call. For a call either write, “call” and then what the call was, or just write what the infraction was. All other cars that went DOT get their spot back in the line-up (do not write anything by their number). Remember, a car going DOT that has a call made on them, get both a call and a DOT.
If the offending car did not go DOT, then only write call or the infraction on the line next to their number. (Always try to write down what infraction was made).

If a car receives two calls, or three DOT's (including those in which a call was made at the same time), the head judge is to notify the Head Scorer. Once confirmed with the Head Scorer, the driver will be black flagged off the track."

On page 4 the rule book says
"11.B. A car (or cars) going DOT that are involved in an accident and a call is made on only one car (or cars), the non-offending car (or cars) will retain their position as of the last green flag lap scored and are not charged with a DOT. The offending car (or cars) are scored with a chargeable DOT and a call if they were went dead on the track. If they did not go DOT and a call is made on a car (or cars) they are charged with a call only."


Am I missing something here?

I recognize that I'm still a very inexperienced judge and I may be taking this out of context - here's my example of what I think the rule book means:

Incidents involving "Driver A" in the same race
1. Driver A spun out, interfered with another car and stopped - judges say "Racing Room" call and a DOT
2. Driver A spun out - judges say DOT
3. Driver A is involved in an incident with another car and stops - neither car at fault - judges say DOT and head scorer issues request for a black flag for the 3rd DOT. (1 call and 3 DOTs)

If I interpret the rules the way my buddies said I should, Driver A would not have been charged a DOT on the first incident and would, therefore, be allowed to continue after the third incident (1 call and 2 DOTs).

I'm concerned to make sure I get this right for two reasons:
. We need to enforce the rule book consistently and accurately during the Monza event when we have visitors.
. I need to be sure I'm judging correctly.

This is absolutely not about me being right and others being wrong. I had read the rule book only a couple of weeks ago and was surprised to find it this way. I'm also much more interested in our kids being able to race as much as possible and none of us like to be black-flagged, ever!

Thanks everyone for their support as I get up this steep learning curve!!
Andy

I believe our Race Director is researching this rule now. It was not in last seasons (2008) rule book. It was not listed on the short sheet for new rule changes this year. Right now I do not know if anyone knows where this rule came from or how it got in the rule book. Of course everything that I stated above could have changed by now. I know at Topeka they used this rule as written in the rule book.

Actually the rule was in last years rule book. Thanks Pam for digging that up yesterday. So this rule has been in writing at least twice. This has been a miss at our track as we have never charged an offending driver dead on track with a DOT and a Call. We need to put this rule into place going forward as it is stated in the rule book. It only came to my attention while scoring in Topeka. That's when I questioned it and found it clearly stated in the rule book.

The rule is on page 43 - 2.A states...... "If a car went DOT, then in the line next to the car number write DOT and a call. For a call either write, "call" and then what the call was, or just write what the infraction was. All other cars that went DOT get their spot back in the line-up (do not write anything by their number). Remember, a car going DOT that has a call made on them, get both a call and a DOT."

2.B states.......... "If the offending car did not go DOT, then only write a call or the infraction on the line next to their number.

I do not have last years rule book handy, but it should be under the judging section.

Correct, it was in last years rule book as well. I havent gone back any further than that. I think this is one of those thing that was run differently at the club level. As long as I have been around it was done that way at our track, not saying it is right just saying that is the way it was done. I agree we should go ahead as the rule book states from here on.

Eric

Iam a little lost here if a car loses control and hits a another car why is it a call against the driver, shouldnt the driver who lost control get a dot and the victim of the lost control get his spot back? why make a call when the car was out of control?
Also when our drivers chose to go 3 wide and race on the outside dont be mad when the cars make contact and your driver spins out, dont expect a call to go your way. It was your driver that thought 3 wide was a good idea. No one is winning the race on lap one! its no fun when the parents have to spend a couple hundred bucks on a car that got wrecked before the green even comes out

Al:
I believe you're correct in terms of the result. The at fault driver would receive a call and be sent to the back (whether or not he stopped). Your driver retains his place, since he wasn't at fault, even though he went DOT.

In this thread, we're talking about the "at fault" driver who has caused an accident. If the at fault driver didn't spin and was not stopped, he receives a call and would still be sent to the back. (Rule 12A, page 3). If the "at fault" infraction was flagrant (8 on page 5) or the call was made after the checkered flag (rule 9 page 6), the driver is DQ'd.

Interesting to note, we had an example of a driver who received a call after the checkered flag this past Sunday. The incident involved two cars, the car in second place caused the incident with a charge. Both cars were still running as they crossed the line and the incident did not involve any other cars. Everyone involved (the 4 judges, and the handlers) as far as I can tell agreed there was a charge. We all also agreed not to DQ the called driver who would have received no points for the event.

To me this is a good example of effectively balancing safety, compliance with the rules and fun. A strict interpretation of the rule book would say the second place driver in this incident should be DQ'd. I believe we would have DQ'd if the incident had affected the finishing order and the at-fault driver had crossed the finish line first.

Personally, I think it's a bit harsh that you have to DQ after the checkers. I understand last lap passes are frequent and we need to keep them safe. To me, there's a big difference between no points (DQ) and last place (some points) especially in a feature and, personally, I'd prefer the at fault driver to be given last place.

Thanks