[Alan Roehrich]

I do not agree with the idea that "groups" should band together to protest someone. It already happens anyway, and there's always something ugly about it. The protest fees should not be made so high as to make it necessary or even desirable to "get a group up" to go protest a racer.

There is no need to write a rule about retaliatory protests. If you pony up to tear someone down, you should be willing to take what you dish out. You too should be legal and willing to prove it. If not, you have no business protesting. Think about it this way. Suppose there's a rule about retaliatory protests. Then there is the opportunity for preemptive protests. A guy hears someone is thinking about protesting him. All he has to do is beat the other guy to the tech trailer, and tear him down first.

I am all for real tech inspection, and real rule enforcement. I have no problem with being torn down. No one wants my "slow secrets" anyway. But it shouldn't be done so as to create ugly situations, and it does not have to be.

I'm not convinced that the protest fees are very far out of line right now anyway. But here is an idea. Make the fine for a serious infraction at least equal to the protest fee. If a protest is filed, and the protested racer found to be guilty of a real infraction, the tech group gets 1/2 the protest fee, and the fine, and racer filing the protest gets the other 1/2 of the protest fee returned. But if the protested racer is found to be legal, he gets 1/2 the protest fee, and the tech department gets the other 1/2.

The problem with all of this is still that NHRA management would still have ultimate control, since it happens at their event. And they'd have the ultimate liability. So this ain't real likely, either.