Nobody is perfect

Nobody is perfect, that has been said many times, many ways and by many people, and it's very true. Nobody is perfect. While we try to be flawless with this league, we make mistakes, we make bad calls and we do things that we wish we wouldn't have later on. Sometimes, we wait too long to make a change, other times we jump the gun. Sometimes we nail it right on the head and do it correctly, but we never can be assured of anything. I have never claimed to be perfect, we as ASRS Officials have never claimed to be perfect, we try our hardest and many times look pretty good doing so.

Over the course of the last two years, I have done things as the ASRS President that I regret, but I have also done things that wre called "stupid and crazy" but they worked out well for the league. I have made good calls and bad calls. I have made good decisions and bad ones along the way. But through it all I have had the best of intentions for this league and it's members.

Now, I ask you all to stick with us, while we are having somewhat of a downturn, we are building towards the future and are keeping out minds on the goal of giving everyone the best place to race.

Very soon you will all find out that Modifieds will be returning to ASRS, possibly as soon as the middle of June. I will have some news about a very special event later this summer and some exciting news for everyone involved in ASRS regarding our special events at the end of the year.

We're going to try alot of things with this league this year, some will succeed, other will fail. But please stick with us, it will all work out for the best. We need each other to keep NASCAR Racing 2003 Season alive and well, and all of us at ASRS are going to do everything we can to keep things going well for everyone!!!

-JF

Change on the Horizon

Change can be a good thing, and that is our expectation here at the American Sim Racing Series. We are changing for the better. Some announcements will be made this week regarding changes we are making to make the league better for our members and to promote growth.

First off, we are making a change to our membership structure. Details will be released later this week, but this change could have a great impact on the league.

Secondly, we are going to sit back a little bit and let things work themselves out. Gone are the days of penalties flying off the walls, we are still going to penalize when necessary, but we are going to be a little more laid back about it. We feel this will not only allow our drivers to not worry about getting penalized for every little offense, but it will promote better racing.

Third, We are going to take a look at the divisions offered and realign the different series to allow everyone a chance to race in the division of their choice. The exception to this will be the Truck Series, with the strict schedule and tracks we follow, there is very little room for change.

Another change will be the forum layout, we have placed sub-forums into the division forums. Most will include an "Announcements” forum and an “Event Information” forum. These forums will allow the important information to be better organized. The “Announcements” and “Event Information” sub-forums will only allow postings by ASRS Administrators, but all members can reply to topics if they feel the need to do so.

The forums will also have a new forum going live soon, the “Question and Answer” forum will be posted as a sub-forum under ASRS General Discussion. This will be a place where members (new and old) can ask a question to the community, and receive an answer from the many talented members of ASRS.

It will be quite interesting to see how these changes work out in the long run, we will be constantly reviewing these changes and addressing any issues which may arise. We look forward to serving you, the member!

If you have any questions, comments, concerns or suggestions you can email me at jim@americansimracing.com. I will be happy to speak with anyone about the changes and what we can do to make ASRS a better place for us all!

Change can be a great, great thing!

Sincerely,

Jim Foose
President & General Manager
American Sim Racing Series
http://www.americansimracing.com
Email: jim@americansimracing.com
AOL IM: FOOSERACING42

Penalties, Procedures and Some Explanation

I wish I had better news to report to all the blog readers, but I have some negative news to report. Recently a rash of suspensions have been handed down to drivers, who unfortunately did not follow the rules. So I want to take a little time to explain why some penalties are more harsh than others.

First off, as the top ranking official here at ASRS, it is my duty to ultimately decide if the penalty is appropriate and then report it to the league. This can be a challenging task at times, as different circumstances lead to different penalties. For example, a driver was suspended for an incident a few weeks back where he spun the leader after making contact with the leader no less than three times on the straightway leading up to the incident. The driver was on probation at the time (for a similar incident), and was suspended for two weeks. More recently a driver slammed another driver after the checkered flag, to pay the driver back for an earlier accident, which coincidently was not that driver’s fault. Not only did this driver hit the car he targeted, he collected the race winner and other drivers in the mess. When the smoke settled, the winner did not get to celebrate his victory with a burn out, and the other driver sat on the backstretch in smoking heap of twisted debris, but it is a simulated race so nobody got hurt. Had this occurred in a real race, the driver that retaliated probbaly would have been charged with some sort of criminal negligence. The driver was suspended indefinetely from the league for his actions and will not be eligible to return until the Series President (that’s me!) and Series Vice President determine he is no longer a threat to the orderly conduct of the ASRS.

So, two somewhat similar incidents (a driver crashes another), but different circumstances in both (one occurred during an event, the other after the event). Both drivers lost all points earned in the event the incident occurred, received probation to follow their suspension and were placed at the rear of the field, but the suspensions vary in length.

Someone is going to ask why I went through these two scenarios in detail, and the reason is this; more often than not, I hear about unfair penalties, a lack of consistency in making decisions, and bias toward particular individuals. I continue to remind our valued members that every incident involves different circumstances and therefore different levels of action that must be taken. There are some drivers who a one week suspension doesn’t matter, so a two week suspension may be issued, others are not racing for points, so a points penalty would do nothing to deter further incidents, but probation and a suspension just might. There are yet other drivers who have been suspended in the past, so a second, third or even fouth incidend should have an increased penalty.

Moreover, as much as we have tried to standardize penalties, we have realized that no two incidents are the same. What if a driver who is 27^th in points decides to crash the points leader, because his teammate is 2^nd in points and needs it to happen? Don’t think it could happen? It has.

Just two years ago, as I battled for my first Truck Series Championship the driver in 2^nd place had his teammate crash me into the wall to allow him to gain points on me. Ultimately, it led to one driver being asked not to partipate in the truck series because sadly, I was not his only victim. And even more fitting, I went on to win that championship, without using my teammates to crash the driver who pursued me. (He did not end up 2^nd in the final points, he fell out of the top battled before the season’s end).

Finally, I would like to say that while we do look at the driver’s history, the nature of the incident, who was involved, any motives we can think of, the driver’s experience with ASRS, and even the quality of the race the incident occurred in (higher series will have stiffer penalties), no two incidents are alike. Each has it’s own elements that led up to the incident and each offers its own unique circumstances.

And unlike many other leagues, we offer protests of official decisions. We set up the Championship Committee for that reason and also allow the ASRS Officials to review decisions usually the day after they are announced (before a penalty is issued, the ASRS Officials, usually two or three of them, determine the appropriate action to take and the penalty to issue).

Sometimes we let little things go, sometimes we feel as if we are being too nice and feel we must make an example out of someone, and we do. But in the end, everyone gets a fair shot. That’s what this league is about, a fair chance for us all to have fun racing online. When we lose sight of that, we lose our entire mission and purpose.

-Jim Foose, ASRS President & General Manager