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After the race last night I thought I'd see what everyone thought about these situations as well as offer my opinions - freely and gladly.   

Cars that don't start at the start of a heat

I think cases were the cars don't leave the start line at the start of a heat for a reason other than the car wasn't in the slot is cause for a re-start.  We're not really running for pink slips here and miscues can happen.  In my case last night, my controller failed to work for some so far unknown reason.  Other times it has been someone didn't hook the controller up right, the car was in the wrong lane, someone didn't know they were up and so forth.  I think everyone should get their fair shot.

After they leave the line, anything goes.

Which brings me to the second item:

Cars that stop running during a heat

We've all been there.  A wheel comes off.  A wire comes loose.  A gear strips.  Myriad possibilities here.  I'm not sure the proper answer is to reach into the box for another car.  I think the car you start with should have to be fixed or retired.  And that IS racing.  And car preparation.  As well as luck.  But to reach for another car seems like cheating those that can't or don't feel like affording or bringing multiple cars to an event.  We've all done it, I've never felt good about it.

And my third topic is:

Ties - what to do

Nobody likes them but what's a fair tie-breaker?  Or does there need to be one.  Last night we had a 3-way tie for 4th.  The tie was broken by fast lap time.  Worked well for me but that's just luck.  Might as well time who had the longest off.  We've also had run-offs.  My choice would be to award a tie and give them all the same points.  They all ran the same laps.  The guy with the fastest lap probably had the slowest too.  And of course the average would be...  well, the same.  So I would vote that a tie is a tie.

Next up...

Lane Stickers

How can you not have a lane sticker on your car at the start of a heat?  Someone needs to make a check at the start of a heat.  It can happen for many reasons.  Or worse yet, the wrong colored lane sticker.  Perhaps we need to move away from the timed segment between heats and instead just hit the start button when everyone and everything is ready.

Remember, these are MY opinions.  You are free to differ at any point except here:

Thanks Randy!

Since the junior member of the Stumman team has mostly given up the slot hobby in favor of girls and cars if I remember my teens, Randy is pretty much doing this for us.  It's a nice track and a friendly environment.  It's great to have a nice place to go play on a regular basis.  So I just want to say thanks.  I really appreciate it.