BADBOYVETTES.COM - Mid-Oh-Crap-It's-Red-Flag-Raining Results

OK, I'll start it off. Great race and Corvette Racing was strong all day. From the first few opening laps when they moved up to take the lead right up until the end. It was Corvette Racing race to win or it appeared that way until the rains came. Still a second place with the BMW's behind helps in the points. Never Give Up is a true statement for this team.

--- TR6speed from Florida on 08.07.11 at 5:36pm

no worries here. team corvette is the best without a doubt. looking forward to great run at more victories and championships.

--- chevytech34 from florida on 08.07.11 at 10:21pm

Great race and as BBV said - even better for the championship points! Race control had an itchy trigger finger for stop-and-go penalties (some were a bit ridiculous). The C6Rs flexed their muscle the entire race and had it not been for that VERY late spin in the monsoon by the #3 car (totally unavoidable given the conditions) it probably would've been a 2-3 finish. Incredible job by Ollie Gavin to recover from that spin prior to the final caution/red to get back to 2nd place. 'Never Give Up' is it - and no prisoners were taken once the BMWs were reigned back in a bit. That rules change really showed during the race in my opinion.

Very entertaining to watch streaming on ESPN3 - not sure how much the ESPN2 broadcast will catch but the S2000 (WTH?) pace car lost it's transmission on a pace lap. This race TRULY had everything. I did have some bad flashbacks to Road Atlanta 2010 with the massive rain though.

Which brings me to an 'opinion' question - should ALMS stop the clock during a red flag? It was painfully obvious that the rain had stopped by the time the clock ran out. They could have had 8-10 minutes of green flag racing if the clock stopped on red. I personally think it wouldn't be a bad idea or at least a discretionary call by the stewards. People want to see racing, not parked cars. Just my opinion.

--- DarkKnightC6 from Aiken, SC on 08.07.11 at 12:12pm

Team Corvette I think is usually more concerned with getting a good race setup than a good qualifying setup, and I agree 100% with that philosophy. It's nice to be on the pole, but the winner is the #1 finisher, not the #1 starter. I'm still not convinced the BMW's are at the same level as the rest of GT2, but I think Road America will give a better indication of that, it's been a good track for both Corvette and BMW. I don't think the BMW's will hit each other again, Bobby Rahal was diplomatic about it on camera, but I'm sure he had some stern words after the race, as Doug Fehan did after Corvettes Sebring fiasco in pit lane last year. I'm sure it won't happen again. The Championship is still wide open, the team that runs the best and makes the least mistakes will win, it's all about staying clean on the track, and being quick in the pits. If you watch the replay of the BMW incident, it was a brain fade move, no way does he make that pass in that spot on cold tires on a pit-out lap, big mistake, they're just lucky it didn't take one or both cars out. All in all, I guess a good day, we gained points on BMW, so bring on Road America.

--- GS10tk from Syracuse, NY on 08.07.11 at 12:25pm

Good point DarkKnightC6, I agree. Maybe they could monitor the radar a bit more closely and keep an eye on track conditions, then make the call. I think maybe stop the clock initially, check things and go from there, if it clears as it did here, restart andfinish under green, if it looks like the rain will continue, then call it.

--- GS10tk from Syracuse, NY on 08.07.11 at 12:51pm

I too like the idea that if a red flag is out because of the rain or whatever and there is a chance to complete the race then they should at least try to complete the race. However there were a few things to think about on Saturday. First with the amount of water on the track, how long would if have taking to get it off the track. I don't mean a dry track, but no large areas of standing water. I could just see a P 1 car with its low ground clearance running down the back straight and hitting a 3 inch deep puddle. There would have been areas with standing water just with the different elevations. Second with only 8-10 minutes of green flag racing would it be worth the time to wait it out then try and get the track in some sort of race condition. Now had there been say 30 more minutes, than yes go for it.

--- TR6speed from Florida on 08.08.11 at 10:27am

I watched the tape delay on ESPN2 and I just couldn't believe my eyes. BMWs come out of the pits together and not more than two turns after leaving the pits do two of their own drivers wipe out the other!

And then the rains came. I never saw the PLM that was red-flagged due to the rains but if last weekend's Mid-Ohio was any indication of what went on in PLM, the track officials were right in calling the red flag.

I do, however, wished they would've waited for the rains to end (e.g. rain delay in baseball) and then try to race again.

--- SYF from Las Vegas, NV on 08.08.11 at 4:24pm

Flaggers/Corner Workers did not appreciate the torrential rains. Thank god for Red Flags.
It looked awesome from that vantage point though!

--- Andrea from Michigan on 08.11.11 at 6:27pm

cars were back on track racing maybe 20-30 minutes after the race was called. i think they were imsa lites? the rain came down pretty hard though. every one knew it was coming at the end of the race, so i made sure i was by a pop up tent. wish i would have grabed a pick of the falken porsche, too busy shooting the vettes. as to PLM 2010. that was miserable. it had rained to 2 weeks straight. atlanta had been flooded already, so there was no where for water to go. and it rained for 3 straight hours. the track looked like waterfalls with rivers crossing it.

--- c5r363 from atlanta on 08.25.11 at 4:32pm

Last comment:
cars were back on track racing maybe 20-30 minutes after the race was called. i think they were imsa lites? the rain came down pretty hard though. every one knew it was coming at the end of the race, so i made sure i was by a pop up tent. wish i would have grabed a pick of the falken porsche, too busy shooting the vettes. as to PLM 2010. that was miserable. it had rained to 2 weeks straight. atlanta had been flooded already, so there was no where for water to go. and it rained for 3 straight hours. the track looked like waterfalls with rivers crossing it.
--- c5r363 from atlanta on 08.25.11 at 4:32pm