Sun in eyes (1 Viewer)

Nitro Fiend

Nitro Member
I was surprised that Friday evening during the PS session they were sending cars even though some of the drivers were having difficulty seeing due to the sun.
I know that in Seattle sometimes they stop running until the sun sets lower. Are there no specific rules regarding this? I know that with live TV they don't want
any delays but it seems like this could be a real safety issue.

They should at least offer a rerun to the affected drivers.
 
the sun was behind the starting line and affected seeing the tree (per EE), not necessarily in the drivers eyes like in Seattle
 
Sonoma in early July is the worst along with Seattle.
I think it was the 1st or second year of the Sonoma race, someone was holding up a piece of plywood or something blocking the sun so we could see the staging lights. I was in the right lane, could not see anything until they did that.
 
I think it was the 1st or second year of the Sonoma race, someone was holding up a piece of plywood or something blocking the sun so we could see the staging lights. I was in the right lane, could not see anything until they did that.
Rockingham is like that. They have a giant piece of plywood mounted behind the tree pretty much year round for that reason. Sucks for the fans because they can't see the lights on the tree, but I suppose it's much more important that the drivers can see them over the fans
 
I think it was the 1st or second year of the Sonoma race, someone was holding up a piece of plywood or something blocking the sun so we could see the staging lights. I was in the right lane, could not see anything until they did that.

Back in 1996 I was running the third qualifying session at Sonoma in TA/FC in the late afternoon at the division race in early July in the right lane against Bucky Austin. This was back when the GoodYear bridge was over the track at about 1,000 feet. I told the new division 7 director , Glen Cromwell, that we should probably allow a 20 minute dinner break so the sun could set off the horizon because we can't see. He told us he was not going to stop and if we didn't run that was our choice. I wasn't qualified so I ran. Like you said, Glen had a guy hold a sheet of plywood up behind the Tree so we could see it because the sun was right in our eyes.

When I took off on the green the clutch dust rose from the bellhousing between me and the windshield of the car, and it lit up like high beams in the fog because of the sun shining through. I thought I was ok and figured it would clear. Next thing I know I get into the shadow from the GoodYear bridge down track and all of the sudden I could see. Yea, I could see I was aiming at the wall at 1/2 track. BAM. First time I ever hit any wall. I bounced off it and tore the right side of the car up including trashing the quarter panel, folding up the header and bending my right rear wheel. Glen comes down to the shutoff area and tells me they just installed an infared timing system and I just cleaned a $600 infared sensor off the wall. I reminded him of our conversation where I asked to wait 20 minutes, then I asked him if time was so important and they couldn't wait why couldn't he run Super Stock or something else slower until the sun got below the horizon. He told me they asked them if they would run but they didn't want to because the sun was in their eyes. Seriously. About that time one of my guys handed me the time slip, so I told him the infared still worked when I went by it because, according to my time slip, I was going 200 miles per hour at the 1/8th mile when I hit it. I don't remember his exact words, but they were something like "I didn't know you guys were going that fast at 1/2 track."

Several thousand dollars later we were at the next race.
 
Back in 1996 I was running the third qualifying session at Sonoma in TA/FC in the late afternoon at the division race in early July in the right lane against Bucky Austin. This was back when the GoodYear bridge was over the track at about 1,000 feet. I told the new division 7 director , Glen Cromwell, that we should probably allow a 20 minute dinner break so the sun could set off the horizon because we can't see. He told us he was not going to stop and if we didn't run that was our choice. I wasn't qualified so I ran. Like you said, Glen had a guy hold a sheet of plywood up behind the Tree so we could see it because the sun was right in our eyes.

When I took off on the green the clutch dust rose from the bellhousing between me and the windshield of the car, and it lit up like high beams in the fog because of the sun shining through. I thought I was ok and figured it would clear. Next thing I know I get into the shadow from the GoodYear bridge down track and all of the sudden I could see. Yea, I could see I was aiming at the wall at 1/2 track. BAM. First time I ever hit any wall. I bounced off it and tore the right side of the car up including trashing the quarter panel, folding up the header and bending my right rear wheel. Glen comes down to the shutoff area and tells me they just installed an infared timing system and I just cleaned a $600 infared sensor off the wall. I reminded him of our conversation where I asked to wait 20 minutes, then I asked him if time was so important and they couldn't wait why couldn't he run Super Stock or something else slower until the sun got below the horizon. He told me they asked them if they would run but they didn't want to because the sun was in their eyes. Seriously. About that time one of my guys handed me the time slip, so I told him the infared still worked when I went by it because, according to my time slip, I was going 200 miles per hour at the 1/8th mile when I hit it. I don't remember his exact words, but they were something like "I didn't know you guys were going that fast at 1/2 track."

Several thousand dollars later we were at the next race.
 
Back in 1996 I was running the third qualifying session at Sonoma in TA/FC in the late afternoon at the division race in early July in the right lane against Bucky Austin. This was back when the GoodYear bridge was over the track at about 1,000 feet. I told the new division 7 director , Glen Cromwell, that we should probably allow a 20 minute dinner break so the sun could set off the horizon because we can't see. He told us he was not going to stop and if we didn't run that was our choice. I wasn't qualified so I ran. Like you said, Glen had a guy hold a sheet of plywood up behind the Tree so we could see it because the sun was right in our eyes.

When I took off on the green the clutch dust rose from the bellhousing between me and the windshield of the car, and it lit up like high beams in the fog because of the sun shining through. I thought I was ok and figured it would clear. Next thing I know I get into the shadow from the GoodYear bridge down track and all of the sudden I could see. Yea, I could see I was aiming at the wall at 1/2 track. BAM. First time I ever hit any wall. I bounced off it and tore the right side of the car up including trashing the quarter panel, folding up the header and bending my right rear wheel. Glen comes down to the shutoff area and tells me they just installed an infared timing system and I just cleaned a $600 infared sensor off the wall. I reminded him of our conversation where I asked to wait 20 minutes, then I asked him if time was so important and they couldn't wait why couldn't he run Super Stock or something else slower until the sun got below the horizon. He told me they asked them if they would run but they didn't want to because the sun was in their eyes. Seriously. About that time one of my guys handed me the time slip, so I told him the infared still worked when I went by it because, according to my time slip, I was going 200 miles per hour at the 1/8th mile when I hit it. I don't remember his exact words, but they were something like "I didn't know you guys were going that fast at 1/2 track."

Several thousand dollars later we were at the next race.
Unbelievable!!
 
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