7-5-08

I really don't know where to start. I guess the good news first.

We qualified 6th and won the Dash from the pole giving us 2 dash wins so far this season.

Now the fun stuff.

We start the main inside 6th row behind the 33 (Moo man). We take the green and go through 1 and 2 with no problems. As we go in to 3 the 8 (Mills) comes down and hits the right front tire crushes in the fender and rips the nose free. To show my displeasure I thought I would give him a little shot out of 4. Nothing new everyone has done this at some point. Except we end up locking bumpers. So, we head down the front stretch and I let up a little and I feel the pull on my car telling me we are hooked. I then decided I would drop into 1 early to try and free the car. One problem, Mills turned before I did. So, the obvious happens and he spins. I go to take my place at the back and to my to amazement there was the black flag. To say I was upset was an understatement. I didn't know that hooking bumpers was considered rough driving.

In the pits I am approached by Mr. Sparks and after being very good at listening to me and letting me blow off some steam, I explain to him what happened. Later on he came back to me and said that Mills' story was pretty close to what I had said. What really added to my disgusted over the officiating is I had a 10 year old kid come up and he asks "Why did you get black flagged for hooking bumpers?" I am sorry but something is seriously wrong with the officiating when a 10 yr old kid can make the right call and a group of adults with far more racing experience can't. Even the car behind us said we got screwed. He knew we were hooked and he backed up some because of it.

I had fans coming up afterwards asking the same question. It is sad to just think of a fan knowing what they are seeing and the guys getting paid for that same purpose don't. Then, one of my crew members comes over and says one of the late models "intentionally" took out another car and was sent to the rear.

When I left the track I saw Robert and in civil manor and a calm voice I asked if he had time to talk. In a very defensive and rude voice i get "Sure, what do we have to talk about." I told him we hooked bumpers and so on. The reply was just amazing. He told me he saw it then didn't see it and he saw it. Needless to say I just walked off. There was even other people standing there and I am sure they were amazed at your rambling.

The body posturing and the tone of voice combined with the fact you wouldn't look me in the eye tells me that you knew you blew that call. The funny part is that all you had to say was that you missed that call or something along those lines and that would have been the end of it.