Call the Chaos Cars a circus act, a gong show, an entry level division, pure entertainment, or whatever you want. I've got no problem with the division/concept as a whole and I hope the division grows and prospers into a fan attraction similar to what the King of the Hill is now.
But I do have a problem with some of the individual behaviour of some Chaos drivers, especially in the last event. I personally witnessed quite a few displays of blatant disregard for other competitors in the division, the speedway, and the fan experience.
- I got to watch a wounded SnotRod limp off the track into the pits on turn 3-4, looking like his night was over, only to have him wait for the right time to explode out onto the track and deliberately T-bone the unsuspecting red Sunfire. That was a pretty disgusting display from a driver that I thought from reading these boards was a leader or ambassador of the division. Ignore everything else, but what if SnotRod kills the kid pulling a stunt like that? This isn't Days of Thunder. Save the Cole Trickle stunts for PlayStation.
- I got to watch the RedBaron (another regular like SnotRod) spin into the new concrete pit wall all by himself. OK, it happens. But to follow that up by deliberately slamming into the wall two more times (once forward and once in reverse) was terrible. Nice message your sending. "Thanks for the new pit wall Arlen, here's how much I appreciate your investment!" You don't see LM drivers pulling stunts like that. Sure they cost more, so that would be exceedingly stupid. But it's about respect. I put what the RedBaron did right alongside keying someone's car. It's gutless. There have been some comments in this tread about people not respecting the Chaos Car division. Well, stuff like this makes it easy to see why.
- I also got to watch Wednesday deliberately taking out obstacles. Perhaps the driver thought it was amusing, but I bet the safety crew members who were run ragged resetting the obstacles over and over were not amused.
Those three displays stick out to me. Three individual acts that turned me off the division completely. This is a new division clearly met with mixed reviews. Opinions of the division should not be based on a few selfish acts, but alas, such is life. One bad apple can indeed spoil the whole bunch.
My suggestion for the division as a whole is to decrease the track size even further for Chaos Car events. Keep the speeds down and the cars closer together. The change to hundreds of bumps and bangs at low speed from a couple large wrecks at speeds exceeding the safety engineered into the vehicles will result in a better show and increased car count.
My suggestion for the division as a whole is to decrease the track size even further for Chaos Car events. Keep the speeds down and the cars closer together. The change to 300 bumps and bangs at low speed from a couple large wrecks at speeds exceeding the safety engineered into the vehicles will result in a better show and increased car count.
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I agree with Jamie on the Chaos cars. However, what I think needs to happen is to have these run at 7 pm when the drivers meeting is on and race preparations are underway. This might encourage more families to come earlier to the track and get everyone revved up for the racing program that lies ahead. At the end of the night, a lot of kids are just too tired to enjoy this. Many people want to go down to the pits after the race but either leave because they don't want to watch Chaos cars or stay because they have no choice if they want to go down to the pits. By the Chaos cars run earlier in the program, you may see more people go and visit the drivers in the pits after the races and it might also allow for the racing teams and their families to get out of the track a little earlier. This may cause some logistic issue, but I don't believe that these would be insurmountable.
IMO, I think it is decent entertainment (with a reasonable car count) but it is just slotted in at the wrong time in the program.
As for KOH, the crowds are never larger than on KOH night - so it's hard to argue with that one. I think there needs to be a limit on the number of cars allowed to participate in order for it to not get boring though.
- I got to watch the RedBaron (another regular like SnotRod) spin into the new concrete pit wall all by himself. OK, it happens. But to follow that up by deliberately slamming into the wall two more times (once forward and once in reverse) was terrible. Nice message your sending. "Thanks for the new pit wall Arlen, here's how much I appreciate your investment!" You don't see LM drivers pulling stunts like that. Sure they cost more, so that would be exceedingly stupid. But it's about respect. I put what the RedBaron did right alongside keying someone's car. It's gutless. There have been some comments in this tread about people not respecting the Chaos Car division. Well, stuff like this makes it easy to see why.
... ummm, do you think you're giving the driver that was doing the barrel turns twice a bit too much credit lol. Usually people don't hit walls "deliberately" lol. What's everyone think of that one?
... ummm, do you think you're giving the driver that was doing the barrel turns twice a bit too much credit lol. Usually people don't hit walls "deliberately" lol. What's everyone think of that one?
You're right, hitting walls deliberately isn't normal. Nor is it smart. I didn't make any such accusation. Just calling it like I saw it, and I had a pretty good vantage point. Judging by the reaction of those around me, I'm not alone in my view.
As for doing double 360s around the barrel, I just assumed he was trying to be funny/entertaining since he was already long out of the "race".