As some may know I was in a bit of a crash last SW. Subsequently during a "investigation" they found I did a few things wrong and decided to ban me from competition for 5 years. Well...its true I made some mistakes and while I have reasons for the things I legitimation did wrong, they were an error of judgment on my part. While I feel 5 years is EXTREMELY aggressive it is what it is. I am not implying that the ban isnt entirely justified, the problem is that the person(s) were so aggressive with looking for things I did wrong, about 98% of the things I was accused of doing were incorrect, unfair (*as in others that were in similar crashes were not judged under the same scrutiny) or complete fabrications (lies). As apposed to giving a guy the benefit out the doubt, asking my crew, (*the one crew member I had even felt threatened by an official during questioning and was not able to leave the area to pick me up from the hospital until finished with their aggressive and directed questioning) asking me about the items they took everything on a worst case basis and presented it as fact. They (some of the SCTA officials) even said a mean spirited joke about my crash. I dont know if they didnt care or assumed I would not find out about it but I did and it is very hurtful. I honestly believe (hope) that this was an isolated attitude but it again confirms my belief that it was the intent of the person doing the investigation to do whatever they could to justify punishment (*a few days after the meeting where I was banned I was called by a board member and they say "wow man, you must of really pissed someone off for them to come after you like that". Its was all laughs but in the back of my mind I was very much wondering exactly what I had done to get someone so worked up).
I had initially planned on appealing the ruling due to the item after item after item of things that were wrong about what I was accused of. (without going into massive detail it was things like:
My inertia switch was mis-wired. (*THIS WAS A CORRECTED AND SIGNED OFF ITEM FROM MY TECH INSPECTION.) I guess its the norm for an investigator to go to someones log and bring up items from the inspection as things that the driver did wrong??? What exactly did this corrected item have to do with my crash???
I had a broken weld, although I didnt find one I will assume there was we...lets see any car roll 25+ times at ~200mph and see if there is a broken weld somewhere. Exactly how was this wrongdoing on my part and brought up in a meeting to 'ban' me? The right thing to of done was to say "on your next build lets make sure your welds are all perfect, let me show you what we are looking for....." but no....I get another kick when I am down.
Ironically (*still in the Salt Lake Trauma) my 'crew of 1' said that they didnt like that my weld broke so cleanly on my king pin boss.....My reply to him was "I wonder if they knew that axle assembly came from SpeedWay Motors with the bosses already f-ing welded!" I knew at THIS point it was going to be a witch hunt. [I also remember a few years ago an H lakester whose boss separated exactly like mine....and their axle came from SWM......I wonder if they got banned because 'their' weld wasnt good too!
They also said that I 'purposely' mis routed my harness lap belt and said that I said "I did this because it was more comfortable". Well....this is a lie.....and if I find out who said this....you will be in for a significant confrontation of the highest order. This is an outright lie, I didnt know it was routed incorrectly.....YOUR LINE OFFICAL DIDNT CATCH IT I was unaware that it was like that up until a conversation with my crew chief a couple months ago. I also personally investigated HOW this happened. <Not that anyone was or is concerned what the truth really was but...It was a result of an inexperienced 'crew' (*inexperienced crew as in a 'photographer who we met at SW and was riding along for the day' because the 2 guys that were supposed to crew never showed, never called.) My father was going through a schedule of chemo and could not attend; my father is the one who had always buckled me in. I guess I should of trained the guy better that day....so I will accept that its my fault in the end. Again....saying I knew it was not routed correctly, did it on purpose and because it was more comfortable.....wow.....and F-YOU for lying.
(THIS IS JUST A COUPLE THINGS OF A UNREAL MASSIVE LIST OF SIMILAR ITEMS).
I was encouraged to appeal the ruling by a few of the board member who told me they knew some of the things being said were not correct/fair. As much as I appreciate the fact that they were supporting an appeal, these guys knew some of the things were not accurate....my thought is that:
-Why if you knew some of the things were being said were wrong, why didnt you stand up for someone that was not there to defend himself? Why wouldnt you taken a stand for someone that was down and needed your help when you KNEW some of the things were wrong?
-Why would I spend the 1000$+, time away from work and fam. and effort to appeal a decision when at least some of the member(s) would try SO hard to disparaged a hurt racer by going to the extents of an onslaught of accusations and other members, some knowing things were not all on the level, still followed along or didnt speak up in defense of a friend FOR THE CHANCE of getting a break among people so willing to drown a guy?!
I feel its a very sad situation where an organization of whom I stood up for, even when they themselves were disparaged by others including prominent racers held in high regards in the racing community now so easily turned against me for 'unknown' reasons. I had often 'wrote off' things I would hear about how the SCTA 'did this or that'. I must say however that over the last past few years I have seen and experienced what seem ever increasing examples of bulling type behavior from SCTA crew/officials to individual, especially to small teams with 'non traditional' vehicles and non club members.
I can only speculate on why the person took such an aggressive manor in coming after me. Maybe it is because of my unworldly handsome face, maybe it was because they didnt like my 'Hotnuts' name....whatever the reason was clearly I rubbed someone the wrong way and they felt they had to teach me a lesson. If someone does something wrong and they are punished for that, that is a give a take relationship. The moment that someone does something wrong, gets accused of things that they did AND didnt do, the person will always feel as if they were prosecuted under false pretenses.
I have decided NOT to appeal the SCTA 5 year ban. I feel I shouldnt have to defend myself over all of the false things I was accused of. The people that were conducting the investigation KNEW there intent was to justify punishment rather than give a guy a fair shake. I would rather wait 5 years then to beg for forgiveness for things I didnt do or were not the standard for what others are judged.
I made some mistakes, I will not try and make excuses but I did have reasons (not like anyone was ever concerned with my reasons, no one ever even gave me the curiosity to ask me if ANY of the things I was accused of were true). I will say that because of the large number of BS things I was wrongly accused of I will attest to my dying day that the SCTA banned me for things I DIDNT do.
At this point I would like to thank the people that supported me I will not name names but you know who you are. For the person(s) that felt it necessary to be so 'aggressive in investigating' what I did, to accomplish the goal of punishment, I only ask that you try in the future to overlook your personal feeling about an induvial/team and give people an equal and fair shake. There is no reason why ANYONE should be falsely accused or judged with higher scrutiny based on pre held ideas or notions. Its not right, not racer friendly and is not what the SCTA was in the past or should be.
Also...
If anyone wants to dispute any of the things I am saying, you better be on your toes. I would not say the before mentioned items unless I had justification. Oh....and my 'chunk of concrete that was held in by a tow strap'....the SAME tow strap that held on my front axle? Well it was in there since LK told me I had to loose the 14" Goodyears. Subtract radius R7 from R13 you will get the height of my ballast brick as it was under the axle in a welded box when my axle center rose 6"! Yes I have pics of the build....from 4 years ago (another BS things I was accused of.....)
Again....no benefit of the doubt for me. Maybe the World Trade Center bombing, Global warming and AIDS is all my fault too! LOL
Sincerely,
Mr. Jonny Hotnuts