Notice: hladas has not [yet] responded to these incidents to the stewards' satisfaction and he has been removed from the online registry and will remain ineligible for WRS-Online events until he does. He will not be allowed into any of our official practices or races and I've instructed stewards to remove him from the lobby if he joins. If any of the non steward drivers start their own unofficial practice rooms, those are outside our jurisdiction and they are welcome to do as they please, but don't come to us with any complaints about drivers that are not listed on the the online registry.
I'm not getting into the specifics of this particular case as we'll keep that private, but I'm going to give you all an idea on the process involved and what we are expecting from everyone.
When a driver joins this community and enter our events we assume he/she understands the OLR. We don't ask the driver to pass any test. We give everyone the benefit of the doubt. We don't care about pace as long as the driver can handle the car in a safe manor around others. All we ask is you follow rules/instructions of each event, which always includes the OLR, and always respect other drivers. Have fun and feel free to compete, but allow others to do the same. If you make a mistake, make concessions per the OLR, take ownership and responsibility even if it wasn't intentional.
Lack of intent does not absolve you from responsibility.
However, once a driver shows beyond a reasonable doubt that they do not understand the OLR we have no choice but to change our approach with that driver. At that point forward, in the interest of all other drivers, we have to suspend eligibility and ask the driver to undertake a three part process:
- Carefully read and review the OLR
- Perform a written self-analysis/evaluation of the incident(s)/race(s) involving the infraction(s) and reference the OLR in that analysis to show a complete and clear understanding of the rules and what's expected of you. Include in the analysis the approach that should have been taken to avoid the incident and/or avoid an infraction.
- Attend practices and practices races to prove the new understanding will translate to on track behavior.
Part 2 must be completed to the stewards' satisfaction before the driver will be eligible to practice and can begin step 3. Race eligibility will be reinstated with probationary status after a couple successful practice sessions. Good behavior in races will ultimately remove the probation status.
It's our goal to provide an environment where every racer knows they'll be respected. They know that if another driver doesn't follow rules the situation will be handled and they don't have to take matters into their own hands. They know what's expected of them and every other driver and that all drivers will be held to the same standard.
Hopefully all of you share our vision and appreciate that sometimes we have to draw the line and come down hard to protect the community.
