[SStockDart]

It is understood that the spectator experience is enhanced with no "oil downs". Spectators do no pay to watch the track being cleaned up, they want to watch racing.

At issue here are the questions; "Do racers oil the track deliberately?", "Do racers gain a competitive advantage by building engines that fail more frequently?", "Does the racer have anything to gain by blowing an engine and oiling the track?" I believe that the answers are a resounding "NO" to these questions. Placing a financial penalty on someone the oils the track will not get the desired results if their is no desire to do so. In fact, hasn't the racer already penalized himself/herself enough if they oil the track? They probably lost the race, in which they need to win in order to get money. And they obviously have a financial loss with any engine failure. Probably, at minimum several thousands of dollars. Therefore, I believe that this "oil down penalty" is a misguided attempt to minimize oil downs.

Respectfully, I believe that this penalty should be rescinded for Sportsman Racers.

On the other hand, something needs to be done that will get the desired results and make for a better experience for the spectators by minimizing the "down time" for oil downs. Perhaps something could be worked out regarding racers that "oil the whole track" This is not to say that racers would deliberately oil the entire track. However, a case could be made that oiling the whole track is "possibly" intentional in order to win a race. We have all seen it. The guy/gal that looses oil and runs it all the way down the track instead of pulling to the side. How long does it take to clean up fifty feet of oil versus the entire track? I would support an "oil down penalty" for someone oiling the track "unnecessarily" based on an officials' decision that the driver "should have known" and pulled to the side, thus minimizing the oil down.

Gary Hansen
Poison Dart Racing