OPC Rule Change Suggestion for Powerhead Changes

[Ron Hill]

I wanted to suggest that a man should be allowed to change his powerhead, and move to the end of the dock, anytime he wants to change his powerhead.

AND: Even if the first powerhead is deemed illegal, theire would be no penalty, if all boat were allowed to race the final...ONLY LOSS WOULD BE POINTS, NO DQ FOR THE RACE.

Example:

I RUN A cheater MOTOR AND WIN THE QUALIFER...(I know or don't know it is a cheater motor), but I feel it wasn't runnning well the last few laps and want to put on a fresh powerhead...

All I'd have to do, is tell the inspector (s), while they watch, that I'm changing powerheads....if the inspectors, decide my old powerhead isn't legal, all I'd lose would be my points....I'd start last for the final, unless I was displacing a boat....If all boats were going to start the final, changing a powerhead would move you to the end of the dock.

Now, you can only change your powerhead, if it can be proven that it is blown...My suggestion would say I want to change my powerhead because I want to...

[Jakob77]

First off, I want to state two things: A. I have not consulted a rule book yet on what the current rules are. B. I know very little about what happened to RJ except what has been posted here.

I can't imagine a situation where you couldn't just change your powerhead and go to the end of the dock and be done. But, you have to remember that this was at Kankakee at the Nationals. There always seems to be rules at the Nationals that nobody ever heard of before, and there is in fact a section in the OPC rules about that Nationals and there are rules that don't apply to 'normal' races.

For instance:

In about 2000 at the Nationals, Sam Miller was DQ'd after the qualifying heats for fuel. (He had had some pump gas in his tank, but had it inspected and ok'd prior to racing, but that inspector didn't remember doing so, but whatever.) They told him at that time that he could start the final at the end of the dock. We worked on testing Monday morning to get his boat ready for the end of the dock. When it came time to race, Sam started from the end of the dock as instructed and finished in 2nd place. We took the boat through inspection and tore the motor down. Later that evening, on the way to the awards at the boat club, they stopped Sam and informed him that there was a rule in the boat that at the Nationals, any DQ during the weekend meant that he was DQ'd from the whole event.

It's possible that in RJ's case, this is what they may have been getting at.

But, the following year at Kankakee Tylor Kratchowil, who was dominating most SST60 events, came in light after the heats. DQ'd for the day. We inquired if that meant that he'd be DQ'd from the entire event as we were the year prior. We were told that the rule had been changed and that you could now be DQ'd in the heats and still start the final, from the end of the dock, and compete for a win.

If that's still the current rule, then RJ could have run a 60 motor on his boat, come in 100lbs light, installed legal equipment on his boat and still competed from the end of the dock.

It's just hard to say at Kankakee what the Great Lakes Boat Club inspectors are thinking.:confused:

Mark

[Ron Hill]

RJ wanted to change his powerhead as he felt it wasn't running right...He was told the only way he could change it was to prove it was blown.....or he could just drop the gearcase and rev it until it blew......

Once they told him his ports or sometime was wrong, he was told if he wanted to be DQ'd for it, he'd be DQ'd for the rest of the racing, in all classes....

RJ's top main bearing went out, something you can't see with minor engine work...He also, had no desire to blow up his engine, just to change engines.

RJ told me, last weekend, he's raced for 21 years, and plans to keep racing, So, no one is getting rid of one of the best 45 drivers in the world....

Seems to me, it should be made clear, by a rule change, that if you get DQ'd in say SST 70, you can still race your Sport C.... RJ has been running Sport C....Had he been DQ'd in 45 before he ran Sport C, would have been kicked out of Sport C??? Or would they have gone back and DQ'd him for the weekend???

Seems to me a DQ is enough BAD NEWS!!!!

[Jakob77]

I just got off the phone with Titus.

I still don't have the rule book in front of me, but he read it to me. He must keep a copy by the phone... I'll look it up tonight. It's on page 70, Rule 3, Paragraph D.

It was something along the lines of -- in the event of an engine failure, a powerhead change may be allowed at the discretion of the race committee.

There was more, but basically Jeffs claim was that RJ claimed his engine wasn't running right and suspected a loss of compression. They suggested that he remove the head to check for damage. Jeff said the cylinders looked fine, but the head gasket appeared to be leaking so they changed that and a compression check showed that the compression was near where it should be. Jeff claims that RJ never mentioned the top bearing as being suspect. Perhaps RJ didn't know it was suspect at the time. (Jeff and I never discussed finding anything not legal while changing parts.) Jeff states that when RJ left inspection, they all were assuming the powerhead was in good condition and the issue had been addressed.

Now, as for making a rule that allows a powerhead change for any reason. The biggest reason to oppose such a rule is series racing. If this rule existed, what keeps me from going to every APR race and winning back to back heat wins with a 'hot' motor and changing to a legal/reliable motor and starting the final last on the dock and finishing 3rd or so overall? If I consistantly did that, the series points awarded in the heat wins could possibly give me a series championship at the end of the year.

Is that the rule you propose, or am I missing something?

As far as someone telling RJ that he'd be DQ'd for Sport C after getting DQ'q in 45, that's can't be right. But again, I don't have all the facts.

Mark

[Scott23]

If you went out and won both qualifiers and then change motors to start at the end of the dock , they would still inspect the motor that you won with in the qualifiers.

[Ron Hill]

I thought I said the engine would be inspected and if found illegal, any illegal motor would DQ'd with all points lost from the DQ.

RJ had no clue it was a top bearing, he discovered it later, after the race.

From what I heard, and this may be second or third hand, WHOEVER the inspector was didn't mention anything about the motor no passing, but another inspector did say it wasn't legal, an though the other inspectors still didn't see the problem, one "CHIEF45" inspector did the DQ and RJ just went home... A DQ for a fourth place wasn't worth the appeal...

Seems to me, the BLOCK RULE needs to be looked at too...and changed...

[NERSTROM]

FYI,
The OPC Rule Book is available on-line at APBA-Racing.com. The thread to the rule book is APBA-Racing.com > Resources > Downloads & Forms > Rule Books > OPC. How easy was that.

[Scott23]

I was replying to Mark's post...

[Jakob77]

This is the rule as currently written:

"In the event of failure of the outboard motor or boat, a major repair or replacement may be made at the option of the Race Committee under the notification and control of the Motor Inspector, and all parts involved in the change are declared legal by the Inspector. The Race Committee, at its option, may handicap that competitor’s starting position for the next heat/race. The outboard motor and/or boat to be used for major replacement cannot be competing in the same set of heats with another driver."

So Ron, then all you really wish to change is to strike the words "at the option of the Race Committee" from the first sentence? The only thing left is to define what happens if the parts that are removed are not legal.

However, this still may not have saved RJ at Kankakee because of the following rule: "D. The final field for the National Championship shall consist of the first place boat with the best time from the qualification heats. Other boats will be taken from the qualification heats, according to their positions of finish. In case of a tie, the qualified position shall be awarded to the tie boat which has established the least total elapsed time in its qualifying heat. Positions for the final field must be the same boat, motor, and driver as entered in the qualification heat, subject to Rule 3, paragraph E."


Mark

[Scott23]

J. says Any technical disqualification during a sanctioned event shall disqualify that participant for all racing preceding the disqualification under that sanction in that class. The participant can compete in future racing once the infraction is corrected. So, the inspector should of dq'd him for the first qualifier, then he could of switched motors for the second qualifier which was the next day, start at the end of the dock, and get points for that heat. He still would of made the final seeing how everyone was elligible.

[Jakob77]

Scott..

I agree 100%.

There USED to be an exception for the Nationals where a DQ at any time during the event DQ'd you for the whole weekend, but as I stated in a previous post, this was changed to the rule you have posted.

So, does this mean that the rules are fine as they are, or not? Did RJ ever ask what would happen if he did just go and change powerheads?

Mark

[Scott23]

No he did not. I think he was just going to take a chance w/ that motor seeing how the inspectors said that they weren't sure if the motor was illegal at that time. His motor was sealed so if he changed motors for the other heat then who knows what would of happened. Scott

[Jakob77]

So what do you think Ron?

Still think we need to add or revise the rules, or does it work the way it is? The only question remaining is to ask what would have happened if RJ had told the inspectors that he was just going to change the powerhead to be on the safe side. I doubt they would have not let him run. I would imagine they would have just made him start at the end of the dock.

Mark

[Ron Hill]

RJ told me if he took the DQ, the inspectors told him he was done for the weekend...

He had no clue the top main was bouncing around in the case, are he could have proved his engine was hurting...a good driver know when his motor isn't running right.