Jim,
First of all, forgive my guys for being a little confrontational about this
situation. If you have had anywhere near our level of luck for the past
seasons, you'd be a little tweaked too when someone takes you out of
contention. Getting punted will pump anyone up.
Slow in the corners for a couple of seasons eh? So the track records at
Grattan, Elkhart Lake, and Mid-Ohio weren't much of anything I guess as is
running away with Doug 2 years ago at the RunOffs and pulling away last year
until the wheel went. Forgive me if I don't agree with that statement, I'll
let my points championships, race wins, track records, and poles speak for
themselves.
I will admit that we were not as quick in the corners at HPT because we
weren't able to get the car setup correctly since we only had warmup on the
car after we repaired our frame and suspension cracks after qualifying.
We'd basically been trying to tune on a broken car for the entire week. The
car was pushing and it definitely was not anywhere near as quick as it
should have been in the corners. In the end though, that doesn't mean jack
sh*t. If I was slower in the corners then thats what it was and he has to
deal with it and that is NOT a contributing factor to the accident. Thats
just something that all drivers have to deal with at some point in time and
Wiley was unable to deal with it obviously. The only factor in the accident
was someones brain fade (And I really hope that it was just that). He had a
great drive from the back to get up there and probably made some really nice
moves but what he did was rediculously stupid and completely avoidable. If
you have to check up, you check up, you don't take out another driver. If
you're quicker in the corners you find a way to pass them NOT take them out.
The counter protest was also rediculous. If that protest was well founded
as you state and I was blocking then the stewards would have spoken to me
about it during one of our many conversations; they did not. The only thing
that they told me was that he had filed a protest against me for blocking
but that they had denied it after looking at the tape and because he had
brought no evidence or witnesses. It sounds to me like it was just
something he was attempting to bring up to maybe give him a reason for
initiating contact with me. I was keeping my line but at the time that line
did involve me coming back across the track to setup for four. It is
possible with the way my car was handling that he could have been close to
getting under me on the exit of 3 and when I came back across the track for
4 that he misconstrued that as blocking. Whether you look at that issue
from a rules perspective or from the line I was driving, it was not
blocking. You also seem to insinuate with many of your comments (Wiley let
him by etc etc) that I block, or maybe that I should let a faster driver by.
News flash, I do not block and I have no reason to start, especially on
the 3rd lap of a race and also, I'm not waving anbody by at the RunOffs....
ever. Ask anyone I have ever raced closely with, I race clean, I race hard
and I don't block.
And as for squirrely, I've been driving in F500 since 2000. I have never
once taken out or spun any driver that I was fighting with for position,
furthermore I don't think I have ever initiated a touch of someone when I
was racing with them. With approximately 7 races a year for six years that
comes to around 42 races. He managed to initiate contact with more guys in
one weekend than I have in my entire career. A reputation is earned, not
pulled out of thin air.
Now, Wiley is a great guy. I've never had any real issue with him up until
this point. It is obvious that he is a fast and talented driver and that he
is capable of running up front. It is also obvious to me from this incident
and others that he lacks some paitence and maybe some common sense. He had
moved all the way up from the back and was putting on a great show and all
he had to do was settle in and wait. A little paitence would have went a
long way and would have not only saved himself a penalty, but would have
kept two other top contenders in the race. Wiley has a rep with many
drivers out there and I have found that it is greatly deserved.
And thats that. I've had enough of this issue. Its between Wiley and me
and the officials. They found that he took me out, causing an incident that
removed the leader of the race and the polesitter from contention. That was
the ruling and it was his fault, black and white. I hope he learns from
this and comes back next year to drive a clean race.
Brian Novak
P.S. The only reason there is a could have won for him last year is because
I failed a wheel. There isn't any "could have" if I don't have that issue.
Don't forget that.
----Original Message Follows----
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Reply-To: [email protected]
To: [email protected]
Subject: [F500] Dave Craddock & Jay Novak - The Rest of the Story
Date: Sun, 22 Oct 2006 09:57:07 EDT
Ya'll started this so I am going to provide the rest of the story you did
not. Please ensure that you get all of the facts before you attack
someone:
1. Please re-read my previous email - I did say TWO incidents. One was
obvious and had been talked about already, thus did not need further
mention as
I was wanting to talk about the fact not many people knew about and that
was
his bent suspension. I feel that the Novak/McMahan incident was most
unfortunate and regrettable and really wished that it had not happened at
all. BTW,
Clint's counter protest, though turned down, was deemed well founded by the
stewards and his protest fee refunded. To counter balance the insinuation
that Clint is "squirrely", I must point that ALL of his other passes were
clean
during this race from his charge from 12th up to 2nd all the way to when he
allowed both Golay and Cox to pass his injured car without any trouble
later
in the race. Several drivers and Quadrini all stated that Brian has been
real slow in the corners for several seasons now causing them to really
check up
behind him - this is a contributing factor that has not come out before.
2. The McMahan/Jondal contact in the bridge corner - both talked afterwards
and agreed that it was unintentional and left it amicably.
3. In last year's Runoffs, Clint did NOT lose his nose due to contact with
another car but lost it when he went off course when his motor started
cutting
off in certain corners. BTW, Clint was hit hard from behind by another
driver (Hamilton?) in a corner and by some miracle was not damaged. Clint
should
have protested but he did not. Also, Clint waved Doug Marsh by on the last
lap when he could have made it very difficult to pass. So again, Clint
could
have won last year except for a motor cutting off.
Be careful before you speak on a public forum.
Jim
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