G2 Radios presents The Waterford Speedbowl Message Board

to your posts, I just said, no SK lights were in the field. if my reply to you was rude, please point it out to me.

Yeah Shadow is an official...he works in the spotters booth trying to keep us spotters in line...good luck with that...lol

After watching the replay from Sid, I don't think the 57 spun the 4 intnetionaly...he was already under him entering the corner and the 4 never gave him room...just my opinion, BUT, either way, he was told to go to the tail and after some argueing, he was allowed to go back to his spot.

I just want the same for EVERYONE....that includes courtesy laps after crashes. We only had to change a tire after being walled, but once the car got in the pits, the gate was closed and they doubled up and went green. I know that had it been others, they would have been given at least a lap.

BE COINSISTENT....THATS ALL, JUST BE CONSISTENT.

Rules aren't the same for driver eligibility between an SK Lite and X-Mod. WATERFORD'S RULE BOOK SHOULD BE CORRECTED SO THAT BOTH ARE THE SAME. Sk-lite's can't drive in an upper level but an X-Mod may be able to if the officials approve.

According to the drivers meeting 2 weeks ago any contact under yellow you are parked for the evening.
Muffy they should have given you either 3 or 4 laps from the time the yellow comes out. Not sure if they did or didn't but that is the info they put out in the meetings.

as the bowl turns. lol

If you spin a car out...you should go to the back (Don't go past go don't collect $200), if you come off the track and you put your car inside your hauler for an hour or so then take it to tech (Hmm I wonder why..sounds sneaky huh?) you should get penalized, a drivers call happens to get reversed because your the tracks favorite or if you have a flat you get 6 laps to get back on the track (only applies to track favorite)....etc etc etc. But this doesn't happen once in awhile...it happens more than the people in the stands know.

Sorry guys, I’m a little late because I haven’t been near a computer….but I know that I’ve always hated when things get questioned and people don’t take the time to address those questions, so I’m going to address them now because I feel like that’s the right thing to do.

I realize that I’ll never make everyone happy with every call but it’s important to me to speak on things like this because I’ve never been a fan of ignoring people’s thoughts or opinions and I like to dispel total fabrications.

-Regarding an SK Light running the SK race on Saturday….First off let me be clear, the track and/or myself did not ask, insinuate or tell ANY car to compete in the SK race, period. Several different teams asked that if the car meet the rules, the tires were correctly inventoried and if they had the correct license, could they run the SK feature to get some money and since they only race 7 times this season, they also wanted to know if they could race on non-SK Light nights and the answer is yes as long as they meet those requirements.

Now the rule regarding eligibility in the published rule book is different from what I wrote
because for some reason it never got changed online, an error on the side of the site but one that I fixed thru contacting those registered drivers and teams. I had sent out an email to all registered SK Light/X-Mod teams that the rule that I had was to read “any driver that hasn’t competed in an SK Modified or higher division (i.e. WMT, WSMT, VMRS, RoC) in the prior year is eligible to complete”. Two of those legal drivers willingly entered the SK race Saturday night based on those rules and unfortunately Greg Moran’s car blew up in the SKL feature before he had a chance to compete in the SK race.

-Secondly, regarding the call reversal….. The fact is that I screwed up the initial call, pure and simple, and I’m always going to fix something that I screw up if it’s possible. Sticking with a bad call even though you know its wrong is just because I’m too stubborn or hard-headed isn’t how I want to be doing things. In my 17 years involved in racing I have seen calls changed to the correct one based on further information have always been a firm believer in that system and doing the right thing, even if it make me feel like a fool in the end.

As the car spun in turn one I called for the caution and was looking directly at the wreck, when I turned my head to the left I saw the 4 car going backwards up the track and in a moment of total disgust with how things had gone in that race to that point I immediately said “57 to the back” without even seeing the incident in full, my mistake and I will own up to it. I had two of my trusted officials that, approximately a minute after my initial call, told me that I was probably too quick to pass judgment because they saw it as the 4 car checking up for the yellow and the 57 was too late to check up and incidental contact in sued after the caution. These are seasoned officials with all of my respect and I had to believe that they were correct and in the end, I’m certain that they were and I was wrong with my initial call.

Now we can debate that any call is right or wrong all day because everyone sees things differently. At the end of the day, it’s all about personal integrity of making the correct call based on judgment that has zero to do with who drives what car and who owns what car, everybody is a car number and that’s it. I’m the type of person who wouldn’t be able to live with myself if I were purposely inconsistent for the sake of one driver over another; it just won’t ever happen with me, period. I have too much of my life invested in being the fairest RD possible and won’t accept any other alternative.

I have had many new challenges with this new position, some I think I’m good at and some I’m still learning about. So far the biggest challenge for me is stomaching those times that I’ve been told that I have done or said something that I have never even thought, let alone said. It is very easy for someone to just post a rumor as though its fact and the general reader will just assume that it is no matter what, whether it defamates my character or not, and that’s hard for me to accept still.

As I said in my post in a different thread, feel free to contact me with any questions at stapley@speedbowl.com in the future. I have no problem answering questions factually and honestly, even if it’s your opinion that I suck, should have stayed in the East Series, should move back to where I came from or just plain don’t like me. I will still answer to the best of my abilities.

I hope to see you all on Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday nights this week and I will continue to give 100% of myself to making the Speedbowl the best place to be.

Thank you and God Bless,
Scott Tapley
Race Director
Waterford Speedbowl

Tapley layin' down the law.

Not layin' down the law, just layin' it down thick !!!

[quote="Muffy they should have given you either 3 or 4 laps from the time the yellow comes out. Not sure if they did or didn't but that is the info they put out in the meetings.[/quote]

Oh yeah, 3-4 laps went by by the time the wrecker got there and car got hooked and then towed in. The infield road is so bad they can't go fast through there, that took a lap just for that. They still should have given a lap after entering the pits....it was just a flat tire.....we got it changed and back out, but we did not have time to check anything else.

First I want to preface my post by saying that if Gino, or his staff feel that this isn't the place to air my following comments, I apoligize and respect any decision to remove them.

I am a team member and the spotter of the #25 SK, and everyone is well aware there was an incident between the #51 and #25 cars during last Saturdays feature event. My personal opinion on the incident is pretty simple and doesn't involve math equations, or the use of words like "overlap" and "undertaking". The #51 spun his tires and didn't get the best of restarts and was beatin fair and square by the #25 for the lead Then the #51 attempted to loosen up the #25 to retake the lead but pushed the issue too far spinning the #25.

Once again, just my opinion and just like the #51 teams crew chief/spotter/webmaster is entittled to his, I'm entittled to mine.

Also, as far as the lesson he hopes everyone will learn from this, I feel my 15+ seasons of spotting at all three CT race tracks, and pretty much every other track in the northeast in pretty much every division that allows the use of radios and having the privilege to do it for some of the best short track racers in the area over those years gives me enough "credits" to skip that class.

Now am I the best spotter there is? Not hardly. Have I ever made a mistake? Sure I have, but I have no problem owning it when I do.

Hey at least Tucker didn't turn hard right and fence himself.