An argument you can not win!!!!

[pro7474]

What a mess, everything started normal Reg Wilson lit his prestage bulb and then Justin lit his then Reg went in full stage on his side and Justin started creeping forward at this time Rick Stewart ran in front of Reg's car waving his hands and Justin saw it and thought that there was either something wrong with the track or with Reg's car. What Reg and Justin could not see was a ESPN cameraman in front of the right front fender of Reg's car with 3 bulbs lit and autostart on. Justin then saw Rick run back to between the cars so he tried to get staged as fast as he could but as soon as he moved forward the bulbs started flickering and the tree activated. Justin saw a flash of the tree so he instantly matted it and let go the button but saw a red lite and shut it off. Reg never even left the starting line even after getting a clean tree because he saw the same thing Justin did and thought Rick wanted him to stop. At about this time Rick went over to Reg and told him that he had won because Justin's car had backed out of the beam and had Reg go down the track. This is when Justin got out of his car to argue with Rick. Reg told Justin that he though that they were going to restage them and have the final that is why he never left. Was it the right thing to do? we are talking about a National event final who knows if he will ever get back to another one and on top of that there is a $8000 difference between win and r/u

Food for thought
what would have happened if Justin was lucky enough to get his car into a full stage and Reg never left the starting line? would that be fair to Reg?

But we the whole Lamb Family would like to tell Reg Wilson you drove a great race all weekend and you are now a National Event Champion. Great Job and enjoy it.

Chris Lamb
702-379-8286

[lazrcng]

Thank you for the clear view Chris.

Based on Chris' information Justin has a right to argue, Rick Stuart was in the right to protect the camera man and Reg's race.

IMO camera guy was the cause (wrong place wrong time - safety issue and potential distraction to Reg). Rick should ALWAYS void the process first (let the two racers know to stop, then wave the camera guy out of the way) if he sees anything that is going to potentially disrupt the race then restart the contest.

In hindsight Justin should have sit there with Reg (not taking the tree) and both demanded a clean race.

2cents!

[DIAPERMAN]

Come on Rick Bailey tell us your Rick Stewart story

[roseracing]

I wouldn't know what to do in that situation. I know that I would be upset if that happened to me.

Thanks Chris for clearing everything up. I hope someday we can cross paths again.

I think Rick Stewart made a mistake on this one. Heck, he's human too.

This race shold have been rerun.

Thanks,
Brad Rose
Rose Racing

[Kevlar]

Thanks Chris for the explaination.I knew there had to be more to the story.You ,your family and racing operation are all first class and a stand out in our sport.As racers, all we ask from any sanctioning body is a SAFE AND FAIR competition event.Sounds like you got screwed but I have a feeling we will see you in the winners circle very soon.
Good Luck Kevin Briles s/st7848

[Rich Biebel]

If Rick Stewart interferred with the stage sequence after 3 bulbs were on he clearly should have backed both racers out and allowed them to re stage and race for the title.
There has to be a video record of exactly what happened.

It's a shame the guy who is in charge of the starting line does not have sense enough to realize his actions may have caused a major issue that cost someone a possible win..........

[Jason Oldfield]

If Chris' version of the story is truthful (and I don't have any reason not to believe him, but I wasn't there to see it first hand), then Rick Stewart screwed up. Rather than running in front of Reg's car, he should have simply thrown the switch on the tree to put on the blinking red bulbs (I don't know what the official term is for this state). Had he done that, he could have gotten the camera guy out of the way, and re-staged both competitors.

Too bad for Justin. Obviously, there's no guarantee that he would have won, but it would have been nice to have seen the race settled under normal conditions. Unfortunately, I'd guess the events on the starting line won't get Justin anything except a conference call with the suspension review board (and the ~$300 fee to pay for that review).