Ron August qualifies out of order?

The info is no longer on the Drag Central site, but it said that while August's last qualifying run at the divisional at Sears Point (yeah, you heard me, Sears Point!) was good enough to get him in the show, was disallowed because he ran out of order. He was supposed to be in the first pair, but instead ran a single at the end of the session.

Did NHRA screw this up or did he just get in lanes too late?

 

Was to bad to see Ron's pass thrown out.. That group works really hard to make their runs and be to the lanes on time. Mike (divison 7 director) makes up run orders first to where the team is in points for the first session then the other 2 sessions are to where you qualified the run before. If Ron was scheduled to be first out and didnt make the call then, I dont understand why they even let him run at all?

 

The fact is that August was first in line to run and had no spark plugs in the car when they went to start it.

If they were allowed to run at the end of the session, then it was NHRA's fault...Asshole

 

Hey Smokey, what bug crawled up your ass?

 

Let me tell you from a person who was at the event and was on a team that was affected by Mike Rice's initial decision, the fit realy hit the shan when Ron made that pass at the back of the round.

After our bubble run of 5.72, John Patton had a chute faliure and put the car in the sand ( better name, gravel pit ). After getting the car back to the pits, we found we had took out a rear main and broke two fingers off the clutch. We swapped bullets, clutches and cleaned the car from end to end. We asked one of the tech guys if we could run at the back of the pack due to all the extra work we had to do from our trip to the beach, we were told no that we had to run in our assigned pair. Well we made it up to the lanes in time to see Ron August pushed off the line. At the time we didnt know why. All the cars that had a chance to knock us out of the field took their shot and came up short. While in the water box waiting to fire, we heard Rinehart say the field was set and we got to play on Sunday. We made our lap and as we towed back we hear that Ron August is making a run. WTF?! He proceeds to run a low 5.6 pass and knocks us out of the field. Well we stopped at the back of the tower and dropped crew chief Steve Neese off to discuss this with Mike. Unbeknownst to us, Bob DeVour was giving some of the officials an earful. Doug Gordon jumped in Mikes sh!t due to being screwd last year at Fallon by a similar situation.

We get back to our pits and Patton hears whats going on and is madder than hell and it was all we could do to keep him in the pit area. We didint need him going off half cocked at Mike. Mike's initial decision was Ron was in and we were out. Well after much deliberation and showing Mike the ruling in the rulebook, Rons run was thrown out and we were reinstated.

THe one bad thing was it was a waste of Ron Sr. and Jr's money on that pass. That and they figured everybody in the alky pits was mad at them, which nobody was, it wasnt their fault Mike screwed up.

By the end of the evening everybody was calmed down and come Sunday morning, we wore Ron's crew shirts on the line for first round. Everybody got a kick out of it. Mike wound up apologizing to John Sunday afternoon but not before John told him what a screwed up decision Mike made and the hornets nest it stirred up.

I dont know if it made any difference in Mikes decision reversal but Len Imbrogno was their that day.

Oh and Smokey, lighten up bro!

 

Frankie, thanks bud for the insight. While it sounds like this never should have happened, I can certainly picture Devour "discussing" this with Mike Rice!

Thanks again.

 

DT told me when RA pulled up and went to fire up his car the first time when it was actually his turn to run they forgot to put the spark plugs in the motor so it wouldn't fire (naturally). They pushed him back. Then he was given permission to run at the end of the session, which they did.

When the rules were explained to everyone (Mike included) cooler heads prevailed. When it's your turn to fire, that's the only shot you get. We had a kill switch malfunction at Las Vegas last year that cost us a qualifying run. Thankfully we were solidly in the field. But that didn't mean we could push the car off to the side of the waterbox next to the Zambonie and fix it, then take another shot at it.

Ron made a great run and even though he wasn't allowed to race it had to have been satisfying knowing he was more than capable. Knowing the August's I'm sure they fully understood why the decision was made and were very gracious about it. If it were me and they said I could make a blast at the end of the session after just missing the field I'd do it even if it didn't count. I think Ron would have done it, too.

RG

 

Randy,

Ronnie did exactly what anyone of us would do given the opportunity. Nobody faulted him for that and no one was upset at him or his team. Although they were pitted next to us and when they rounded the corner to head to the pits they saw the crowd of people gathered at our pit and figured the lynch mob was waiting. Patton went right over to Ron after they pulled in to their pits and told him right up front that he wasnt mad at Ron. He was mad at Mike Rice.

Like you said, I know they felt relieved that the car went out and made an awesome lap, it is too bad that it didnt count. GLad they didnt hurt anything on the run.

When are we going to see you at the track?

 

I want all of you to please look at both situiations, was it NHRA's fault for no spark plugs in the car? It sickens me to always hear that most people are madd with NHRA, I wonder how most of you racers would do in a Divisional Director's hot seat, you would problably RUN. Please look at both sides first and then talk your mess.

Everyone knows what time they need to be in the Staging lanes, and the officials & track personell are always kind. WHEN YOU MISS THE BOAT YOU MISS THE BOAT.

 

Reshuffel The Lineup!!!!

Tell you how I have seen this situation handled in the past. It all depends on who the first two pairs are. If it is the right (or wrong, depending on who is looking at it) people. They simply walk up to the second pair and say now you are the first pair, even if they have to move one car up to fill the spot and give the car that was not ready a single at the end of the line. This of course is only if you have not made an attempt to start the car. In that case I guess it is all over. We had problems starting the car at Topeka one year and the other car started but did not make a burnout because of problems at the other end they shut him off. They would not allow us to crank the motor when the go ahead was given. Was told you get one try to crank the motor.
Hard to figure?

 

Do all the other Division's run there Divisional's with a set run order in qualifying? I know in Division 1 there is never a run order during Alky qualifying, although once you are paired up in the lanes you must run in that pair. It does give the teams that have a problem a little extra time if needed. On the whole things seem to pretty much police themselves, although there have been a few occasion's where some have been known to take a less than direct route to the lanes.
As most probably know, we also only get two qualifying attempt's here in D1.

 

Race Before The Race

Doug, Thats Some Times Half The Fun It May Be The Only Time You Get To Trump The "man" Besides Where Else Can You Come In Last And Win The Battle.. I Know It Can Be Aggrivating But It Sure Is Fun When Ya Lose Em And Roll In Behind Em.. :}
See Ya At E-town Or Indy If You Boys Are Going I Hope!!!
Scott..

 

Scott, I never mentioned any names I really have no problem with the system in D1 it works for me, I was just curious how everyone else does it?
We will be at E-town, still have seven races left on the schedule, no Indy though. C-ya soon bud.