Wow, this seems excessive.
http://rpm2night.com/view/top-fuel-driver-vandergriff-fined-by-nhra.30107/
http://rpm2night.com/view/top-fuel-driver-vandergriff-fined-by-nhra.30107/
Vandergriff Fined $20k by NHRA (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter Paul
- Start date
Doesn't any of the blame fall on Griff? He could have shut the car off, right?
If you don't run you lose. Your damned if you do or don't.
You can lose a round over a 59 cent part too, but that doesn't answer the question I asked.
Who forced Bob to keep the car running and stage it? He knew that he couldn't see the tree and still went ahead and bumped in. How are you going to come up with a way to blame NHRA for that?
I see your point Greg. Especially since Bob is an owner, he has more pull in saying he wasn't going to run. I wouldn't give him a free pass on this but as a competitor, you would trust the sanctioning body to not put people out on an unsafe course.
I would be curious what others thought who were in that lane. I know Clay said he could see from his lane. Would a simple 20 minutes wait have fixed the sun issue? Of course the track still wouldn't have been right but maybe 20 minutes more prep could have made a difference. I think the big issue is that it appears it was money over safety move.....in light of the friends we have lost through the years, that never sits well.
I think in the end, as is often the case, the blame can be spread around.
I would be curious what others thought who were in that lane. I know Clay said he could see from his lane. Would a simple 20 minutes wait have fixed the sun issue? Of course the track still wouldn't have been right but maybe 20 minutes more prep could have made a difference. I think the big issue is that it appears it was money over safety move.....in light of the friends we have lost through the years, that never sits well.
I think in the end, as is often the case, the blame can be spread around.
Bob admitted in the article below that he decided to stage the car, no one forced him too. As an afterthought he thought it may have been dumb but he is there to race. See below link from Compeitionplus.
http://www.competitionplus.com/drag...the-nhra-raced-on-sunday-and-why-bv-was-angry
Treeshaker
Nitro Member
The track was slippery but not unsafe. Tuners needed to tune for the conditions, drivers needed to use common sense in their decision making on the run. No body had a terrible light except for BV. No body over drove their car to the point of getting in trouble except BV. BV's bad decisions started when he chose the right lane for the run and continued right on down to the point where he made a complete a** of himself and got the race stopped because of his inabilities and bad decisions. Nothing that happened on BV's run was the fault of anyone but BV.
NHRA did the right thing for the fans, race teams and themselves in trying to complete the race Sunday evening. It makes the races more exciting when the track presents a challenge rather than the usual over prepared track where you just keep throwing new parts at it with all the power you can produce. Adjustments would have been made and the times would come close to normal in very little time.
NHRA did the right thing for the fans, race teams and themselves in trying to complete the race Sunday evening. It makes the races more exciting when the track presents a challenge rather than the usual over prepared track where you just keep throwing new parts at it with all the power you can produce. Adjustments would have been made and the times would come close to normal in very little time.
I couldn't agree more Virgil.........very well said!
I believe there a many factors that led to the eventual end of racing on Sunday night in Atlanta. I also believe that most of the decisions made, were done in the best interests of everyone involved. In hindsight though, none of them seemed to work out as planned.
My assumption would be that the decision to race was not made lightly. With the upcoming schedule and the fact the weather cleared, it was best thought to get as much racing in as possible and avoid the chance of having to comeback altogether. This, of course, saves money for everyone, not just NHRA.
Teams have all come to expect that the track is near perfect every run, even on the hottest of days. This is true most of the time. That assumption and the weather conditions surely led crew chiefs to believe that the track could hold what they were giving it. This, as we know, turned out to be not true. My guess is though, teams further back would have figured it out as they always do. We have all seen a terrible looking track that is much better than expected and vice versa, a track that looks great but couldn't keep a bulldozer from spinning its tracks. Is this the fault of the Safety Safari?, not a chance. I'm sure the track maybe appeared questionable, but runable, but not nearly as bad as it actually was in the end.
In reference to BV's run... At the instant he pulled in to the beams, his best interest was to win the round (especially against Clay). When he heard Clay leave, he knew he was probably already done. He left anyway, albeit a little perturbed. This led him to overdrive the car after spinning the tires and nearly crash. He could have lifted at any time, but his psyche told him otherwise. After he stopped his 'new' interest was to not have this happen to anyone else. He was pissed, probably more at himself for staging and not being able to see (and not stopping right then) and because he overdrove the car rather than because the track was bad. A guy like Bob is going to take it out on someone and, because he is the team owner, which team member is going to stop him. What is done, is done and he probably could have gone and handled it better, but it's too late now. Is a fine of $20K warranted after a guy nearly crashes?, probably not. I hope he appeals and they reduce it to something reasonable given the circumstances.
The best thing to come out of all of this, I would hope, is that everyone; NHRA, crew chiefs, drivers and team owners will take a little more care in their decisions regarding money, winning and safety so that this never happens again.
Ultimately the decision NOT to race was made, but you have to at least try or you may never know. The fact that it ended after BV ran and made it a point to intervene, should bode well for his defense of a lesser penalty.
My assumption would be that the decision to race was not made lightly. With the upcoming schedule and the fact the weather cleared, it was best thought to get as much racing in as possible and avoid the chance of having to comeback altogether. This, of course, saves money for everyone, not just NHRA.
Teams have all come to expect that the track is near perfect every run, even on the hottest of days. This is true most of the time. That assumption and the weather conditions surely led crew chiefs to believe that the track could hold what they were giving it. This, as we know, turned out to be not true. My guess is though, teams further back would have figured it out as they always do. We have all seen a terrible looking track that is much better than expected and vice versa, a track that looks great but couldn't keep a bulldozer from spinning its tracks. Is this the fault of the Safety Safari?, not a chance. I'm sure the track maybe appeared questionable, but runable, but not nearly as bad as it actually was in the end.
In reference to BV's run... At the instant he pulled in to the beams, his best interest was to win the round (especially against Clay). When he heard Clay leave, he knew he was probably already done. He left anyway, albeit a little perturbed. This led him to overdrive the car after spinning the tires and nearly crash. He could have lifted at any time, but his psyche told him otherwise. After he stopped his 'new' interest was to not have this happen to anyone else. He was pissed, probably more at himself for staging and not being able to see (and not stopping right then) and because he overdrove the car rather than because the track was bad. A guy like Bob is going to take it out on someone and, because he is the team owner, which team member is going to stop him. What is done, is done and he probably could have gone and handled it better, but it's too late now. Is a fine of $20K warranted after a guy nearly crashes?, probably not. I hope he appeals and they reduce it to something reasonable given the circumstances.
The best thing to come out of all of this, I would hope, is that everyone; NHRA, crew chiefs, drivers and team owners will take a little more care in their decisions regarding money, winning and safety so that this never happens again.
Ultimately the decision NOT to race was made, but you have to at least try or you may never know. The fact that it ended after BV ran and made it a point to intervene, should bode well for his defense of a lesser penalty.
Yeah I think Bob make have gotten pissed both at himself and the powers that be. But I agree that $20,000 seems a bit excessive. On NHRA's website they have this blurb, on what rules Bob broke, "....Vandergriff was fined for abandoning his race car on the track, remaining and walking on an active race track after exiting his race car, and for initiating a verbal confrontation with three NHRA officials...." When Bob won his first race didn't he do the same thing, and ran all the way down the track to celebrate the win???? And didn't they make quite a big deal about that celebration??? Both events were shown on the broadcast of that particular race..... I guess it's like the old "....the thrill of victory and agony of defeat line ...."
Prix-Mo
Nitro Member
When Bob won, he was the last pair down the track and the race was finished at that point, so it wouldn't have been an "active track" at that time??
Yeah your right I was there, but there are a lot of times when they get out of their car on an active track. I think that rule infraction is like splitting hairs. I think it was more of the confrontation with the officials that got him into hot water. Still excessive I believe.
yoda
Nitro Member
And had he "lost", he wouldn't be light 20k right now.
parrotwhisperer
Nitro Member
If you have paid attention to BV in the pits and out over the years there is no surprise in his actions or in NHRA's actions. After his display on TV the suits felt they needed to make a point and many would agree a point needed to be made. Now we are talking about the size of the point. I don't have a problem with what NHRA did. Most everyone in the pit will now think twice before getting into such a display on TV. If you do not want to dance for whatever reason, park the car. If you do, conduct yourself accordingly.
IMO, the only way he would have "saved" their weekend is to go back to the staging lanes and tell them not to stay in the throttle as long as he did or tell their crew chiefs to change their tune up.
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