auburndale speedway

[dave41]

wayne morris shows true colors.

[Rick Williamson]

meaning?

[Todd McCreary]

[shrugs]

Sportsman race Saturday night, Wayne Morris and Chris Narramore Jr got thrown off the track.

i saw Wayne spend at least 5 consecutive laps on the outside trying to make a pass. at Auburndale. even making the attempt for one turn gets a big thumbs up from me. he wasn't quite making ground but he wasn't losing it either. those familiar with Auburndale know how impressive that is.

then i saw Chris Jr run into him multiple times under the yellow flag. he disabled Wayne's car doing this and hooked bumpers. how cool would you be if someone did that to you?

Wayne got out of his car and almost bodily ripped the side of Chris's car off ( because he was too pissed to try to work the window net release ) before the track workers got to him.

to all the Narramore fans; you do realize that, being under caution, Chris's actions constitute a willful and with malice aforethought vehicular assault? with major property damage resulting? you might want to consider that before you get so hot to trot about pressing charges against Wayne. you have a lot more to lose.

now part of this is the tracks fault. the first time they made contact under the yellow both of those cars ( if not the whole field ) should have been halted at the back pit gate and they should have been separated / penalized / taken off / whatever you feel like doing to whoever you feel like doing it. allowing them to continue cycling around under yellow is just throwing gas on both of them.

and before the contact they were cycling around for at least 3 caution laps side by side and i never saw a determination from the corner workers as to who was supposed to be in front. that was also allowed to go on way too long. at the very least, bring the field to a stop until you make your decision. we drivers aren't always known for being the calmest people on the planet.

don't even tell me that the track was giving instructions over the radio. if a driver was blatantly refusing to observe lineup directions for two consecutive laps he should be sent straight to the back of the field or removed from the track.

there is no excuse for the under caution contact. the lineup order is at the discretion of the race director and score keeper. it's the responsibility of the corner workers and the flag man to communicate the decision to the drivers. Morris might have been in the wrong place, Narramore might have been in the wrong place. i don't care. a driver taking it into his own hands to run into and disable another car at 10 miles an hour does not belong on the track.

Chris Narramore Sr, Auburndale's lead tech man, has always treated us more than fairly. a very good guy to work with. last fall he went way above and beyond the call of duty between the heat race and feature to help Ron get the 12oz Super / Street Stock car to a place where he could consider it legal. we appreciate that. before last night i wasn't really aware that his son was driving.



i don't even remember noticing Wayne run before, wouldn't know him if i met him.

[Rick Williamson]

Thanks for the report. Your story sound in about the middle like it should be. Not one sided. Lots of blame for all parties, including the track. I hope all 3 parties come away from last night having learned some good lessons.

[dnsno]

Your accountability of the "what happened under yellow" is believable but what prompted the other driver to do what he did?

[Todd McCreary]

but what prompted the other driver to do what he did?

Narramore was running second, Wayne had fallen back to running 3rd on the outside of the next guy back. Narramore got himself loose standing on the gas in the middle of the corner and slid up into Wayne's line.

Wayne, already on the gas trying to launch onto the straight, looked like he blipped the throttle for a fraction of a second as they made contact then realized that there was no way to back out without slitting his own throat for 4 or 5 positions ( if not causing himself to get run over from behind and maybe getting his car totaled ) and stood back on the throttle. this guaranteed that Narramore got turned around ( after the initial contact i'm not sure he wasn't going around anyway ) and brought out the yellow.

the under yellow contact happened when both of them wanted to line up behind the leader and they were permitted to cycle around the track for far too long till things came to a head.

keep in mind, a driver who had the entire width of the track but wasn't capable of controlling his own car put a driver who was as fast as him even though he could only use the outside lane of a flat track like Auburndale in a position of sacrificing positions to save the slower driver ... if he could be saved. if i were in his place, i'd have done the same thing Wayne did. Wayne still wound up scraping the wall.

and, in my opinion, Narramore caused the spin by not maintaining race pace. the fact that he didn't maintain his line just meant that the car on the outside spun him instead of the car on the inside. after the yellow he should have been going to the back no matter what. you shouldn't hold the following car responsible when the lead car brake checks him, it's just not usually as obvious as it was Sat night.

i went past Narramore's pit after everybody was thrown off and evidently Wayne had a complaint of his own. i heard Chris say that Wayne was accusing Chris of running him up the track and failing to respect Wayne's line when Wayne had been on the outside of him.

being in the stands in the center of the back stretch i didn't really see any of that but it's a complaint i'm sympathetic too having made a few outside passes at OSW when guys 'conveniently' slid up the track into me. strange how the guy on the inside never thinks he did anything wrong no matter how far off the bottom he gets.