Man oh man, does it ever end? lol. Personally I like all parties involved in this. They're all a great group of racers who are as competitive as any I've seen.
The thing is though, you can rake this situation back and forth across the coals, and argue for weeks on what makes a legal "sport B" tunnel. Like I think Andy mentioned, if you really want to get technical, you can call a boat illegal if it has a head shim removed because on the outside there will be several thousands difference between the head and the case. If that's the case, then every boat in Atlanta should have been DQ'ed. I mean how specific do you really want to go?
While yes, rules are put in place and should be followed, there's one unwritten rule in the rule book and that's called SPORTSMANSHIP. We tend to forget how much time and effort and money we all put into these boats. Not to mention the entry fees and all the hours spent driving to a race and the hundreds of dollars in gas.
With this in mind, protesting someone is NOT something that should be taken lightly, nor should it even be a forefront option. If you have a problem with someone's boat and think that it doesn't adhere to the rules, then talk to them about it. In this instance, if somebody didn't like the fact that Jimmy's cap was polished instead of blue and therefore he had a competitive advantage, then ask him to change it because you don't think it falls in line with the rules.
We're all a big family here, especially in district 3 and district 13. I guarantee you that if somebody had just asked or said something to Jimmy saying, "Hey man, I don't think that water jacket is legal. Can you change it to make sure we're all even?" I guarantee you he would have and the race would have went on without a hiccup or any of these threads.
Sure, if he's a peckerhead and cusses you out about it, by all means protest the mess out of him. But talk to him FIRST. What if it's a new guy to the hobby and he shows up with a similar setup and doesn't know any better. Are you gonna protest him without saying anything and instantly turn him off to this hobby altogether? NO. Then why would you do it to one of your fellow racers?
Not trying to speak for Jimmy, but I think it was Gene Duncan who told me they bought that engine from somebody like that. They didn't polish the cap themselves, somebody sold it to them like that and they didn't think it was a big deal so there was no use in spending $25 for a new one, and have raced it like that for a while now without any complaints until now. Had they of thought it was an issue, they would have changed it a long time ago but nobody said anything to them about it.
But instead of talking to Jimmy about it now that it's an issue, he was protested, DQ'ed, lost out on the $20 for the entry fee, prolly another $10 in fuel and plugs, and lost district points and overall had what was supposed to be a fun weekend, turned into this mess. Is that really what this hobby is about?
And to clarify, it was NOT the whole head that was polished. The O.S. has a 2-piece head. The headbutton, and the outer cooling cap that sits on top of it. It was ONLY the outer cooling cap that was polished. The actual button was still anodized blue from the factory so there was no way there could have been an aftermarket special head button in place as was suggested.
I know Kevin is a good guy from meeting him this past weekend. Racing against him, we had an incident on the race course and he immediately came up to me after the race and apologized for what happened. I can respect that a lot and it shows a lot about a person's character. I don't think he wanted any of this controversy to happen and being a relatively new racer, I don't think he had any idea what kind of firefight it would start. In reality, I don't even think he knew a whole lot, if anything about protesting. It might also be worth mentioning that there was an "altercation" earlier in the day before the protest was filed between the Duncan's and a few of the people near/in Kevin's tent. Whether or not that was the spark that helped to light the match, I guess we'll never be able to say....but that's another conversation altogether....
Not bashing anybody for this incident, just something to think about for the future. The bottom line is, respect your fellow racers. You don't always have to call the cops because your neighbor is playing their music too loud, sometimes you can just ask them to turn it down.
Now back to the shop to put a muffler extension on my water cooled O.S...... What? It's legal in NAMBA?? :lol:
-Mitch Jr.
