Safety Report – Fall 2017

By Gary McFarlane, Safety Chairman What a wonderful- and terrible- weekend at MSR Houston! Wonderful – because it was a weekend at the racetrack and Thundermug was running at the end of the day on Sunday. Terrible – well, let’s just say it was a busy weekend for the Safety folks. We are still suffering from the same misplaced attitude of racing with no regard for consequences. We had four contact incidents, all in the same group, last weekend- a completely and utterly unacceptable condition. I have been trying to be as generous and forgiving as I can be, within the recommendations of the Weekend Safety Committee and our Chief Steward, and it seems my approach has not had any discernible effect on the conduct of the offending Group. I have asked for help and the help has come pouring in. There will be a semi-permanent Safety Committee in place for the foreseeable future and the Committee members will be imposing VERY onerous sanctions for everyone involved in any type of contact and also for those missing or ignoring flags. The group in question has been operating in a Red Condition for almost an entire year and it has not improved the Group’s conduct nor its attitude. When probationers drive, next to an unpredictable driver, with an attitude of “I have to drive that close to them because my only chance to overtake them is in the corners” and their “tight driving” overcomes their ability to avoid contact, they, and others in their group, are missing the point. Something has to- and will- be done to reinforce CVAR’s philosophy of ”we race not for the glory of winning but for the honor of driving authentically prepared vintage cars” (not verbatim, but you get the point). The same “damn the torpedoes” attitude also almost got someone seriously hurt. An outside pass around Turn 17, and running out of room up against an uncaring, heartless, concrete wall sent one of our drivers to the ambulance and his car to the shop. Again, an avoidable incident demonstrating bad decision making. Yes, as I was so vigorously reminded, we are a “racing organization,” but the conduct of some is affecting all of us. The less aggressive drivers are suffering from “I hope they don’t run over me,” CVAR officials are suffering from “oh no, not again,” CVAR is suffering from “how do you think your conduct is making the cars the stars?” and we are going to fix it. My hat is off to the Grid Ladies! I watched them keeping all of us in line as we came up to race, checking steering wheels, arm restraints and body panels. Thank you, Kelly and Liz, your efforts are keeping us safe and alive! Kelly told me that they caught three or four unlocked steering wheels and, if I remember correctly, three or four unsecure hood pins/body snaps. Way to go, Ladies- every one of those could have been serious! An outside pass around Turn 17, and running out of room up against an uncaring, heartless, concrete wall sent one of our drivers to the ambulance and his car to the shop. Again, an avoidable incident demonstrating bad decision making. Are all your oil drains and filters safety wired? It’s not mandatory but strongly suggested. Don’t embarrass yourself by being the one who dumped oil all over our racetrack.