BMW CCA CLUB RACING
		From the Comp Steward - Jeff Lutes

   Incidents: What to Do? 

Last time I talked about the concept of “racing room” and the shared responsibility of making a safe pass. But, what happens if you are involved in an incident?

First, if you are by yourself and contact is made with a stationary object, you are subject to penalty just as if there were another car involved. However, the Competition Steward does have some leeway in how long your probation can last (3, 6 or 13 months). This will basically depend on a) how stupid your mistake was, b) how much damage was inflicted, and c) how much risk you became to other drivers nearby.

If you make contact with another car while racing, things are a little different. Bear in mind that, as stated in the rulebook, the driver(s) involved in any contact incident are required to report to the Competition Steward (with their car(s) within thirty minutes of the end of the session in which the incident occurred. Failing to do so will ensure a minimum of a three month probation. The Comp and Tech Stewards must then attempt to determine who is at fault in the incident. This is done by gathering whatever evidence can be found. This entails inspecting the damage to the vehicles, talking to corner workers who witnessed the incident, interviewing the drivers of the vehicles, viewing videotape of the incident whether taken from inside one or more of the cars involved or from another car or even from a spectator. After all the evidence is weighed the stewards will make a decision as to where the fault should lie. The offending driver(s) will be placed on 13 months probation and excluded from the remainder of the event in which the incident occurred. If it is a multi-day event the Comp Steward can make the exclusion effective for the rest of the day of the incident or the remainder of the event. (There is also a substantial penalty in points, but I’m not going to get into that here.)

The only way that this decision can be overturned is through the appeal process. A penalized driver has fourteen days from the day of the incident to file his appeal with the National Competition Steward. The NatCompStew then reviews the submission, copies everything submitted (including videotape) and distributes the materials to the Appeals Committee. The Appeals Committee consists of the National Competition Steward, the National Technical Steward, one Regional Competition Steward, one Regional Tech Steward, and one CRAC representative. In the event that one or more of these individuals were involved in the original decision, they will be replaced by a suitable substitute. The committee will independently review the appeal filed and render a decision. This decision is final.

What constitutes a good appeal, you ask? Well a good appeal is not based on the statement “It wasn’t my fault”. A well-founded appeal will contain new evidence or some evidence not considered by the stewards originally involved in the decision. This is a key point. Unless some evidence of this nature is submitted, there is no basis for the appeal. The appeal should be well organized and clearly and concisely stated. Any videotape submitted should be of good quality and be limited to the time frame of the incident in question, unless the appellate feels that some prior behavior or event has some bearing on the incident that took place. If this is the case it is very important that the appellate define what event or behavior is relevant to the incident under appeal.

Well, I hope that this little treatise on the appeals process has been enlightening for you and that since it is such a hassle to file a proper appeal, all of you will decide its just better not to risk contact than to have to go through the very time consuming process of filing a proper appeal. Remember that you’ll still be on probation/suspension until a decision is rendered by the Appeals Committee.

   Sue Rathbone - New Steward 

We welcome Sue Rathbone to the fold as our newest Competition Steward. Sue will be working the New Hampshire races this year. Here is what she has to say:

"My first track day was at a COM weekend in 1991 at NHIS because someone offered me the use of their racecar. That winter I started ice racing in a road course, pack style series in New York and raced there for several years. When summer arrived, I got a SCCA license to go road racing. I raced Show Stock nationally and professionally along with regional IT racing for several years. A friend of mine from SCCA was registrar at the Boston Chapter BMW ice time trials and I went along one day to give him a hand with registration. He loaned me his '87 Audi Quattro to take out on the ice (way sweet!). Then he took me to the Chapter board meetings because he said they were a good group of folks and yakked nonstop about cars. He was right, so I joined and have been there since 1995 helping out with chapter driving events."

   Anne + Bob Varey, Two for the Price of One! 

We also are pleased to welcome Anne and Bob Varey of Pickering, Ontario!

"Anne has been the Canada G.T. Challenge Cup Series Chief Steward for the last four years and prior to that she was the Series Deputy Steward. This Series was a closed wheel professional race series of 9-12 events sanctioned by the national sanctioning body in Canada - ASN Canada FIA. She has been a Regional Race Steward for 9 years as well as a Scrutineer [that's Canadian for Tech, ehh. -ed.] for Regional race events. Anne also competed as a Regional Race Driver for several years and has recently re-qualified for her race license (after taking a break as a competitor).

"Bob was volunteer Regional Chief Scrutineer for seven years before retiring to spend all his spare time looking after the Canada G.T. Challenge Cup Series as Series Director, Deputy Steward and Series Chief Timekeeper.

"As members of the local BMW club for several years we both have enjoyed assisting at the Club race events as well as participating in our own cars in the advanced drivers schools. Bob holds a current Ontario Regional Race License. In addition to assisting at the BMW CCA Club Racing events in Canada, we also have assisted at the Porsche Club race weekends.

"We look forward to our association with the great group of workers in the BMW CCA organization [and we, yours! -ed.]."

 

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