[Mickey Whaley]

Originally Posted by Ron Ortiz

And now comes the opinion of a slow car driver's view of this situation.

First of all I see that I should have some sort of credibility to enter into this fray.
I have never won a national event. I have several class wins, most against some guy named Bye. I have one Indy class win as the number 96 qualifier in a 96 car field. I have stayed at a Holiday Inn. I am usually in the first three pair at 8:00 AM looking into the sun. I know the weather better than most of the people in the lanes. I've been a tech guy and have raced since 1968. I have been racing Stock in U/SA since 1988. I can run the 100 yard dash in over 16 seconds. I hope this satisfies you all as far as credibility.

I leave first just about all the time. I have left second only twice since 1988. Other than those two times I have always had a clean tree. I usually can tell if it is a good, average or bad light when I leave. If I go red, I usually hit the steering wheel and say something like damn it. Then I continue down the track, wide open to see what I will run, knowing that it will be dead on due to the red light. If my opponent goes red, it just frustrates me just a little bit, but I know that they were just taking a free shot at the tree as they already have won.

If I go green, along with my usually huge head start, it put way more pressure on who I am racing. I know that they say they pay attention to their side of the tree, being totally focused, but they still see me leave through peripheral vision and know if it was a good light or not, but they know it is green which is a lot of pressure. They also see how far out I am when the tree comes down on their side which adds more pressure. If they go red it is usually ridiculous red, like their foot took control of their brain.

For me it doesn't really matter if they implement the rule. I will always have my advantages in place. Like Billy said, what, where or when. But some of you all on here need to calm down a little bit. Your letting thing get out of control like people did in this recent election.

I can only see this rule being really effective in close races where dial ins are within a tree span. In my situation with a clean tree, if you go red after I go red, what the heck were you thinking.

Ron Ortiz
U/SA P R E S S U R E

Damn ron why did you wait since 1968 that beef jerkey is good