How does a car that has never competed in a BITD race, or any race for that matter be allowed to race with out going through SAFETY INSPECTION first?
Go ahead and let everyone run a cheater motor. They are just going to blow belts faster. Seriously it wasn't that hard to get to the spark plug on the last minute substitute car that we ran so sure, why not. It might have sucked on some cars though. Cheating with thin tubes? Don't think you would save enough weight to matter. But it is a safty issue that could effect the whole series if someone got hurt and BITD's insurance company got wind that a safty standard was allowed to slide.
I had a total of 4 hours from the time I layed eyes for the first time on car we ran to the time we had to load it in the trailer and head to tech. In those 4 hours we replaced a broke siren, mounted fire extinguishers, mounted mirrors, diagnosed a wiring problem with the rear lights, installed a proper fire wall over the under seat fuel cell and when through the rules line by line to make sure we would pass every item. The only performance thing I took the time to mess with is eye ball a rear alignment as it was visually way out of whack. We showed up at tech before it was officially supposed to close knowing cory had his own stuff to worry about. We hadn't even started the car and the battery was dead. We got a new battery hooked up right when it came our turn to tech.
At the race I saw one car with undersized fire extinguishers, one with no mirror, one with no main battery shut off and I wasn't even looking that hard. My point here is that people need to stop whining about cheaters and spend some time making sure their car is safe, for the good of every one. I'm not harping on cory for missing those items on those cars as he was there much later than planned and I am sure he was trying to get everyone through. But I do think if someone can't even read through the rules and follow them why are they even allowed to race?
Johnny's RZR, the machine that won, failed tech due to some door bars and interior gusset / lacing tubes being too thin. Cory gave him a one race pass. He will need to replace those tubes before next race.
Cory also confirmed that he will be sealing the engines. If that seal is removed or broken you will need to have it re checked at tech. Not a big deal if you have to change an engine between races or work on one.
The Burnett situation is sort of crazy. I mean I get it and I like Marc and I am glad he was able to make it to the race and compete and all but I am shocked it was approved. I for the life of me could not imagine what would happen if this situation occurred in TT or Class 1. Those guys would lose their mind if a competitor was allowed to just show up and run without technical inspection or attending a drivers meeting. I want to be clear, no one should be mad at Marc for this. That's a BITD decision.
It is my guess that Cory considered craftsmanship and reputation when deciding to allow both Johnny and ourselves the chance to race. Johnny's car, like himself is a class act, and Marc has been racing in SCORE and BITD races for the better part of 25 years.
It's not like we drug our feet here, and strolled in late like rockstars to the season opener in Parker. We received a
bare space frame from Thad at Fabwerx approximately 2 weeks prior to this event, and Thad was gracious enough to allow me into his shop from the beginning to help with the build. The suspension components from Long Travel arrived in house only 3 days before race day. The wiring wasn't started until Tuesday on race week. We worked tirelessly and diligently to make it to the race when we did. Marc drove an amazing 8,000 miles in the 2 weeks leading up to the race to keep me fed with parts and materials to complete the car. I was actually wrenching on the car
in the enclosed trailer as Marc was driving (more like flying. The ride in the
rear of a 45 foot enclosed trailer while traveling at speeds of up to 100 miles an hour is not smooth. Especially when making final suspension adjustments, mounting tracker devices, cutting and fitting skid plates on the fly..literally. Once unloaded, I still had to do a final front toe alignment, tighten brake lines, tap 2 holes for the skids, tighten the steering shaft, and address a few more items before sending Marc out.) For the record, there was a BITD official doing a visual inspection the moment the car rolled off of the trailer.
We didn't receive a contract from Polaris until early December, so this whole project had to be completed from scratch in just 30 short days in order to fulfill our obligation per the contract we signed. Cory allowing us to start the race under the circumstances he did was just amazing, and we are extremely grateful for his support. In doing so, we were able to begin our contractual obligations in good faith. Cory and Marc were in contact far before race day regarding safety and technical requirements, so Cory was familiar with our efforts.
I'm quite confident that anyone in disagreement with the accommodations made to us by Cory would have happily received them if they were in our shoes. Hey, look at the bright side, at least we didn't win the race! Congratulations Featherweight, ahem, I mean Moneybags on winning round one
. I was happy to see you and your handful of cash at the end.