Bumps and Jumps RC Speedway

www.bumpsandjumpsrc.com

I feel I need to address a situation that I have heard too many comment’s about. The following statement is the truth of a series of events that took place ever 10 years ago at Kranzels, of which some of you may remember. Without bringing names into this conversation I am going to use the terms friend 1 and friend 2. The three of us were running oval at Kranzel’s; we would get together and practice on Wednesday nights. Friend 1 had just finished changing the fluid/filter on the transmission of his dodge minivan; in the kit provided by Mopar they supply a black silicone. Friend 1 thought it would work well to coat tires with. Friend 1 applied a layer of the black gooey silicone to a set of dual sport tires he had, a class I was running at the time as I didn’t have the money to race edm. The next week we all got together as usual for oval practice. While Friend 1 and Friend 2 were running edm and sprint, I took the tires from friend 1’s pit box and put them on my dual sport, I went out to practice and was dumbfounded when I passed Friend 2’s Sprint car. We were amazed. Friend 1 went and asked Dave for a copy of the rules which he then brought back to the pits and we all read it, nowhere did it say that silicone was illegal, so friend 1 went and made a set of tires coated with the silicone for his edm. Friend 2 and I went and watched him race it the following weekend, he proceeded to lap the field 2 times in heat #2, Dave teched the car and unwound the armature of the motor and found it to be legal, he replaced the armature for friend 1. Friend 1 then went out and won the main by a huge margin lapping up to 4^th place three times. Dave and everyone else could not figure out what friend 1 was doing. The next week Friend 2 borrowed Friend 1’s tires and went to race his sprint car to do the same thing but had a problem at home and had to leave early. The week after that friend 1 got a phone call from Dave asking him if he had run silicone, he said yes. Friend 1 explained what had happened and that it wasn’t listed in the rules, Dave’s reply was that it was an unwritten rule, the bottom line was that friend 1 and friend 2 were asked to take a two week break from racing at Kranzels. This is the truth of the events that occurred over a decade ago and I am sure if any of you would like to ask Dave Kranzel about this I am sure he will confirm this to be the fact.

I think you can see from the story that it I didn’t cheat back then, nor have I ever cheated at racing. When I race I want to win just like anyone else, but I can’t imagine a win would feel very good if you knew you cheated to get that win. That experience back then taught me something about running the races now. First there are no unwritten rules, and there are many people that play in the gray areas, which I feel most of you think is a part of racing (much different from cheating). When I find things on vehicles that are in the gray area and there is no rule against it I must allow that persons car and run to be legal for that race, that does not mean I can’t change the rules for the next heat, next race, or next day to eliminate the loophole and advantage someone found by working in the gray area. In my mind there has been more chaos caused in Dirt Oval Racing by NDRB bodies over the years than anything, do I think that Nick is a cheater? No. Do I think Nick worked hard to find a competitive advantage? Yes. No different than what friend 1 did. There are many of you who also work hard to find a better way to do something, a way to make your car go faster, and usually you begin this by looking at the rules and trying to find something legal that gives you an edge. While race directors like me really don’t like it when some of you find that loophole/gray area we must also follow the rules and sometimes allow things that we wish we couldn’t. To me a rule is a rule and we all have to live by them, this maybe why I get upset when sometimes people don’t follow the rules that we have in place – putting your car on the tech table, marshalling immediately after your heat race, etc. In closing I would like to ask the people, especially one certain individual to stop spreading rumors. I don’t talk about people behind there back and would appreciate the same courtesy especially when it could affect my livelihood, how would you feel if I spread rumors that might affect your paycheck?  For someone to spread an incorrect rumor about this story is unjust and in my eye probably worse than the actual events that took place. If you don’t like me for whatever reason that’s fine, but basing it on the events from this is wrong, especially when you don’t even know me. The most in depth conversation we have ever had lasted all of 3 minutes. I address a problem I have with someone directly and I expect the same from others. Without mentioning names in a public setting, I would ask this person to have a conversation with me so that we may clear the air.

Sincerely,

Chris