More on Schechter

[TedN]

Found this on http://f1.racing-live.com/en/

Can anyone confirm this is reason for Tomas quitting the series?

Controversial racing driver Tomas Scheckter, son of 1979 Formula One champion Jody, has quit his IRL team (Team Cheever) due to safety concerns. The South African driver just didn't turn up for last weekend's event in St Louis after a problem in the previous round saw him refused entry to the pits by his own crew when he wanted to come in due to a problem with one of his tyres. He then crashed a few laps later due to the tyre shredding and as such has refused to participate any further.
Ted

[CCFirebird]

Nothing prevents the driver from pulling into the pits if he/she thinks there's a problem. How can a crew effectively "refuse entry"?

If this is the reasoning, it simply doesn't wash.

[MichaelP]

I think his safety concern had more to do with what Eddie would do to him if he wrecked one more car.

[dream69]

As I recall, in his TV interview after being released by the med center he referenced problems with the tire and seemed flustered by the way things went down.

[IndyJim]

We know that Foyts spotter relayed the message to Tomas's spotter about the tire going down. What happened to the message from that point?

[Skyhawk005]

Tomas has been quoted as saying he didn't get the message that Dare relayed to the Foyt team. If so, how could he have been refused entry to the pits?

[ramdacf]

I wondered why Tomas didn't get the word either.

I was wondering about the scenario where Foyt's spotter tells the 52 spotter or the IRL. How does anyone know that this isn't just a sneaky way to get past a car in front of you? Could have been that the message was recieved, but not believed. Or perhaps they were trying to confirm the problem on telemetry. As I recall the warning came 6 laps (less than 3 minutes) before the crash. Could have taken too long to get the word to Tomas. (I don't recall the timing of it, maybe a pitstop was scheduled shortly anyway.)

Then again, could have been some other reason. I still think there is more than a 50/50 chance it was Tomas fault. (He has an excuse for every crash. It can't always be bad luck.)

[Maddog]

That interpurtation just goes to show the lack of respect F1 has toward the IRL.

[silva]

If Dare knew that the tire was going down then why did he stick around to be collected in the crash? Seems I would have backed off and given Tomas a number of seconds distance. It of course would be made up as soon as the caution came out.

[Cant_hit_apex]

Safety issues are sacred and should always be taken seriously.

That being said, this just doesn't sound like that. When Eddie promoted Buddy over Tomas, I think Tomas decided on the spot to leave ASAP. This just sounds like Tomas, his lawyer, and his agent got together and said "Okay. We need a compelling reason for you to break your contract." After a few items were scratched off the whiteboard, the 'safety reason' remained. Presto. "I can't honor my contract any more."

My $.02

[PHJIndy]

What in the world is a tyre??

[TedN]

Originally posted by PHJIndy:
<STRONG>What in the world is a tyre?? </STRONG>

Tyre = A covering for a wheel, usually made of rubber reinforced with cords of nylon, fiberglass, or other material and filled with compressed air.

Ted

[Ren Butler]

Originally posted by PHJIndy:
<STRONG>What in the world is a tyre?? </STRONG>

It's a close cousin to a "tar," which is found at Talladega.

[stan]

Trye, is an old NHRA funny car driver Jess Trye. Drove for Pontiac. Or was that Jess
Tyre? Hmmmm. Still driving exhibition in his 70's.

[rrrr]

Originally posted by PHJIndy:
<STRONG>What in the world is a tyra?? </STRONG>