- Joined
- Dec 10, 2002
- Messages
- 3,329
Guys, here is the deal on this F mono record discussion. First, I take full responsibility for the mistake. John and I had been on the stand for hours and had timed MANY passes and had read thousands of numbers at the time Randy made his runs…no excuses, just the facts. For those of you who have never run the clocks at a record trial here is what happens…when a driver calls for a time (this is often only a few seconds before the boat gets to the lights) we have to reset the clock and position the switches to get a “ready” light on the console. When the boat breaks the beam at the number 1 buoy, we have to confirm the clock starts “timing” and watch the boat for any buoy cuts. After the boat finishes the first lap and is on the back straight on his second lap we have to reposition a switch to set the clocks for the finish.
After the boat breaks the beam at buoy 1 at the completion of lap 2 we have to look at the console to confirm the clock stopped, read the time (the numbers are only about ¼ inch tall in about a ½ inch wide liquid crystal display…mix this with lots of sun glare on the screen and us having to wear polarized sunglasses to keep from going blind after 10 hours of staring at the water and you can understand how it is possible to misread a time), call the time, and write the time on the score sheet. And oh, by the way, this all has to happen before the driver gets back around to the front straight and calls for his next time. And this all happens within about 30 seconds. Again, no excuses, just the facts on what has to happen to time a 2-lap oval.
Now to the specifics of Randy’s F mono run. He was the first F mono to run just after we had been timing some of the faster classes and so when I looked down and called a time of 21. something for his first run it didn’t catch my attention as being anything different. His boat flipped, or quit, or something, and did not get a second time so after the retrieve boat came in we just went to the next contestant. It wasn’t until the third contestant asked how he stood in the times and I told him he was second behind a 21.something that we discovered the posted time for Randy’s run was under the existing record. John and I immediately talked about what we remembered seeing for a time and neither of us could recall for sure that the clock had said 21. something and not 27. something or that something else had stopped the clock before the boat (fish jumping, etc.). We then called Randy, Ernie, and Bill Z to the stand and discussed what had happened. After several minutes of talking over different options we agreed to give Randy a complete new 6 minutes of run time to get two complete times and if he ran close to a 21 second time again we would give him his original time, tech his boat, fill out the record application paperwork and I would give him the record. As soon as Randy was ready we he made his two runs and his best was over 24 seconds. I am glad he did well enough to place first in the 2 lap oval competition, but he was not anywhere near a record.
So you ask, if I am not sure what time I read on the clock, why am I sure it was not a record? If any of you have ever seen a 21 second 2 lap run, especially with a mono (there are probably only a handful of boats capable of this) you have ABSOLUTELY NO DOUBT knowing it was something special! I say this because I saw David Showers make dozens of runs close to the record and I tell you when his boat was running, everyone at the pond stopped what they were doing and just watched…the sight and sounds of a big mono running that fast is NOT something you can miss. Randy’s boat runs very good and is fast, but on that day it was not close to record fast. When Mark says he didn’t see any 21 seconds runs, he knows it with or with out looking at the time on the clock because you can just tell. Yeah it might be a 19 or 20 or 22 second run, but you KNOW it was something that catches your attention.
Does Randy’s 24+ second run give reasonable proof the he had made a 21+ second run? NO! Like Don said, there is an eternity between those two numbers when you are talking about a two lap record. Before David Showers finally set the record he had made almost a dozen runs over a 5 day period within 00.8 seconds of the old record and once they had their setup close, they never made a complete run more than approximately 1 second off. And that was with really good air around 55-60 degrees, not with 90+ degree July air.
If Randy really did set the 2-lap record, I bet he turned a really fast speed in the SAW part of the event right? During David’s attempts to set the record we timed him down the front straight (coming tight around buoy 6 with NO run-up into the lights) and he was running over a 77 mph average. Randy’s boat ran 61 mph during the SAW event (setup for SAW speed with a running start into the traps).
I’m sorry this is so long, but you folks complaining need to know enough information to base arguments on. Yeah, I wish I hadn’t made the mistake of misreading the numbers on Randy’s run, but you know, if I only misread 1 digit out of the 1000’s I had to read that day in the time critical situation record trials require, I am happy with being better than 99.999% accurate. It would have been much easier on me to just say, “yeah I’ll give you the record”, but that is not how I am. Having fair, honest and accurate records is of utmost importance to me and I hope it is to you.
Randy, if you would like to bring your F mono down to Speed Week III, I will not charge you an entry fee, I will do all I can to help you, and will be the first to celebrate with you if you do set it!
Glenn
After the boat breaks the beam at buoy 1 at the completion of lap 2 we have to look at the console to confirm the clock stopped, read the time (the numbers are only about ¼ inch tall in about a ½ inch wide liquid crystal display…mix this with lots of sun glare on the screen and us having to wear polarized sunglasses to keep from going blind after 10 hours of staring at the water and you can understand how it is possible to misread a time), call the time, and write the time on the score sheet. And oh, by the way, this all has to happen before the driver gets back around to the front straight and calls for his next time. And this all happens within about 30 seconds. Again, no excuses, just the facts on what has to happen to time a 2-lap oval.
Now to the specifics of Randy’s F mono run. He was the first F mono to run just after we had been timing some of the faster classes and so when I looked down and called a time of 21. something for his first run it didn’t catch my attention as being anything different. His boat flipped, or quit, or something, and did not get a second time so after the retrieve boat came in we just went to the next contestant. It wasn’t until the third contestant asked how he stood in the times and I told him he was second behind a 21.something that we discovered the posted time for Randy’s run was under the existing record. John and I immediately talked about what we remembered seeing for a time and neither of us could recall for sure that the clock had said 21. something and not 27. something or that something else had stopped the clock before the boat (fish jumping, etc.). We then called Randy, Ernie, and Bill Z to the stand and discussed what had happened. After several minutes of talking over different options we agreed to give Randy a complete new 6 minutes of run time to get two complete times and if he ran close to a 21 second time again we would give him his original time, tech his boat, fill out the record application paperwork and I would give him the record. As soon as Randy was ready we he made his two runs and his best was over 24 seconds. I am glad he did well enough to place first in the 2 lap oval competition, but he was not anywhere near a record.
So you ask, if I am not sure what time I read on the clock, why am I sure it was not a record? If any of you have ever seen a 21 second 2 lap run, especially with a mono (there are probably only a handful of boats capable of this) you have ABSOLUTELY NO DOUBT knowing it was something special! I say this because I saw David Showers make dozens of runs close to the record and I tell you when his boat was running, everyone at the pond stopped what they were doing and just watched…the sight and sounds of a big mono running that fast is NOT something you can miss. Randy’s boat runs very good and is fast, but on that day it was not close to record fast. When Mark says he didn’t see any 21 seconds runs, he knows it with or with out looking at the time on the clock because you can just tell. Yeah it might be a 19 or 20 or 22 second run, but you KNOW it was something that catches your attention.
Does Randy’s 24+ second run give reasonable proof the he had made a 21+ second run? NO! Like Don said, there is an eternity between those two numbers when you are talking about a two lap record. Before David Showers finally set the record he had made almost a dozen runs over a 5 day period within 00.8 seconds of the old record and once they had their setup close, they never made a complete run more than approximately 1 second off. And that was with really good air around 55-60 degrees, not with 90+ degree July air.
If Randy really did set the 2-lap record, I bet he turned a really fast speed in the SAW part of the event right? During David’s attempts to set the record we timed him down the front straight (coming tight around buoy 6 with NO run-up into the lights) and he was running over a 77 mph average. Randy’s boat ran 61 mph during the SAW event (setup for SAW speed with a running start into the traps).
I’m sorry this is so long, but you folks complaining need to know enough information to base arguments on. Yeah, I wish I hadn’t made the mistake of misreading the numbers on Randy’s run, but you know, if I only misread 1 digit out of the 1000’s I had to read that day in the time critical situation record trials require, I am happy with being better than 99.999% accurate. It would have been much easier on me to just say, “yeah I’ll give you the record”, but that is not how I am. Having fair, honest and accurate records is of utmost importance to me and I hope it is to you.
Randy, if you would like to bring your F mono down to Speed Week III, I will not charge you an entry fee, I will do all I can to help you, and will be the first to celebrate with you if you do set it!
Glenn
Keep up the good work.
