Need Feedback: Use of Peers to Penalize Rough Driving

Tri C just added a new +55 100cc TaG class. Someone floated the idea of having your peers (the racers in this class) decide on penalties and DQs. Maybe use a voting app with just thumbs up and down and then just publish the results or maybe a penalty for too many thumbs down.

Too millennial?

Any thoughts?

Not a bad idea, but to me it would require too much time and energy on the part of all of the racers in order for the type of structure to be successful. At some point if we’re paying to race we shouldn’t be paying to do the officiating as well.

I think it also does a bit of a disservice to insert that type of obligation. I’m sure many like the simplicity of “show up and race”, and may not want to spend the time checking an app for ruling updates, etc.

2 Likes

I’m not a fan. There’s too much room for factors outside of the incident or infraction to play a role in the process. For example, I could see someone with a few buddies in the class convincing them to vote against someone else in an incident that really was 50/50 which would be extremely unfair to that other driver. Even if everyone in the class has an equally positive opinion of one another right now, that scenario could still eventually play out as the class makeup changes. It doesn’t even have to be actively malicious - said drivers’ opinion of the people involved could easily color their own recollection of events, leading them to unintentionally vote on an incident unfairly. Also, drivers can really only see the stuff that happens directly in front of them. Asking someone to weigh in on an incident they didn’t see just based on descriptions from other drivers and officials isn’t going to work.

3 Likes

I agree. I pay to race. And say I break something in the race. The last thing I look at is my phone. It’s back to the trailer fixing things, making setup changes, etc. then depending how compact the schedule is it further pushes that.