High Octane Rules of the Road

NASCAR Racing 2003 has plenty of built in rules, but the High Octane officials have set a few guidelines for general race procedures, driver errors, and verbal abuse via a rule system.

All rules and conduct of league members are subject to the interpretation of league officials.

(1) NO FLAMING of any type will be tolerated . This will include any Thank you's (TY) after a wreck, "WTH", WTF" etc. Comments about the race itself, or any comments directed towards any driver in particular. This also includes post race chat!

Penalty:

(1)Warning issued and 25 points deducted depending on the severity. ( Extreme cases could result in immediate league dismissal )

(2)One race suspension

(3)League dismissal.

"Any flaming by email that is brought to our attention also falls under this rule"

(2) Restarts: No restarts except under extreme conditions or as deemed necessary by division administrator. "Once the leader crosses the start-finish line to begin lap 2 restarts are no longer allowed except under extreme conditions such as a server crash".

(3) Unsafe Passing: If you don't understand this we'll explain it with a penalty. This includes "dive bomb" passing going into a corner, you need a portion of your car inside the other car "BEFORE" you start entering the turn. If you don't have position back off and try again at the next turn.

(3A) Aggressive Driving: Over-aggressive driving that results in an incident will be penalized in obvious situations. These races are fairly long and nobody likes being around an over-aggressive driver. That type of driving generally aggravates most people and people are not here to get aggravated, they're here to have fun!. A little patience will go a long way in building respect among your fellow drivers and will not keep you from moving to the front if you're fast enough to do so. Please show some respect to your fellow drivers out there in the way that you race them. "Race the other driver the way you want to be raced". Of course if we're late in the race and everyone is battling for the win we all have to expect things to get more aggressive in that situation :)

(4) Do not "shotgun" the starts. Maintain .5 second gap or less between you and the car ahead of you (the car behind you is responsible for that gap)

A: If you happen to be catching the field from a late pitstop, try to catch the field and get back to pace speed before going green.

B: It is also the leaders responsibility to maintain steady pace speed, no brake checking and/or accelerating before green flag drops. Pace speed is determined by the pace car and everyone needs to check it offline and know it before the race!

"Again, it is the race leaders responsibility to pace the field at the correct pace speed!"

(5) "Hold your line" while attempting a pass and if a car gets even a bumper under you, give up the inside line.

(6) "DO NOT" drive on the apron or on the grass. (only exception is to avoid a wreck)

(7) Warp: If you are experiencing warping during a pace lap, maintain pace speed and pull your car to the apron. Do not stop on the track. Wait until the warping stops and then find your spot in the line again. If a car in front of you disappears from the pace line, do not try to fill its spot. The other car may suddenly reappear inside your car, damaging both cars and possibly collecting other cars as well.

(8) Drivers "WILL NOT" attempt to warm-up tires during pace lap by weaving back and forth or dropping back then accelerating. This does very little good and greatly increases the odds of a pace lap incident.

(9) Yellow Flags: "No racing back to the line unless there are 10 laps or less to go in the race"

A. When a yellow flag comes out, ALL Drivers are to immediately slow down and maintain their current position. No driver is allowed to pass at this time. Any driver that does pass MUST give the position back before getting to the Start finish line, unless the incident is right before the start finish line, and is determined the driver did not have sufficient time to get slowed down without causing another incident.

B. When taking the yellow at the start/finish line, do not brake, gradually slow down by lifting, braking only if you're enter a turn like at Marty or Bristol, you can pass the pace car and once under control let the pace car pass you back.

(10) Pacing line: maintain .5 second gap or less between you and the car ahead of you, (this includes the 1^st place car and the pace car) for safety you should stagger, but is not mandatory, however hitting the car in front of you under yellow can draw a penalty if damage occurs.

(10A) Field Invert Rule for Outlaws: When the green flag drops for the start of race #2 the field will continue to maintain pace speed. After all cars have crossed the start/finish line the admin will throw a yellow flag and then immediately direct the field to stop on the track. After all the cars are stopped the admin will direct the first car in the inverted starting order to drive up and stop "before crossing the start/finish line". He will then tell the next car to move up and stop behind the first car, then the next car, etc., until the entire field is lined up in the inverted order at the start/finish line. Once the field is lined up it is then frozen and the admin will direct the field to cross the start/finish line and take the yellow. The field will then catch up to the pace car and continue around the track under caution until the race goes back to green. This will be the official start of the race. Under no circumstances will anyone be allowed to pit during this initial caution period.

(11) Slower cars are encouraged to move up to the high groove in corners to make room for lead lap traffic. However, it is still the responsibility of the car passing to execute a clean pass. If the race is under caution and will be restarting "Inside the Last 10 lap Window", all lap cars must pit on 2nd caution lap.. It doesn't matter how many caution laps there are, nor what lap the caution started. Pitting cars are not required to actually make the complete pit-stop, but must at least do a drive thru and fall inline at the tail of the field, staying behind all cars on the lead lap. This will allow the leaders the chance to race for the win. Following this procedure will result in lapped cars maintaining their respective positions behind the lead lap cars for a single file restart.
Note: Concerning the less than 10 laps to go procedure, if any lead lap car decides to pit on the 2nd caution flag lap, there will be no special accommodations made for him. He will restart where he is lined up coming out of pits.

(12) Two Spin Rule: If you cause 2 incidents that bring out a caution flag park it for the night. You may stay and watch the race. If you spin and do not bring out a yellow race on! The 2 spins rule is only counted towards you if you bring out a caution, or involve another driver. If you cause an incident after the yellow is out this could be counted against you. Any warp induced yellows will not count against you (although warping drivers may be asked to park anyway). If you are involved in an incident that you think is marginal you may race on, but be aware we will not score you after the 2^nd yellow if you are charged with causing two accidents. If you stay and continue to race and cause additional accidents there will be additional penalties depending on the situation.

(12A) Incident Rule for Monday Outlaws: If you are involved in an incident........."your fault or not" you will go the end of the longest line for the restart. This is any and every car involved in the incident. We will use the honor system as far as this goes unless or until we have a live admin for the races. If we have a live admin then he would review the incident during the caution and tell which drivers to go EOLL. If you are in this situation speed down pit road as you would if you are the lucky dog. The admins will clear your black flag after the race goes back to green. The game will decide the order of EOLL if there is more than 1 driver involved. Also if there is a live admin you will have a lap taken away for your 2nd incident and any incident after that. We will not require a driver to retire after his second incident but please do your best to keep it to a minimum.

Note: The admins may use their discretion and ask a driver to retire if that driver continues to cause incidents during the race.

(13) BLOCKING: Do not block, you can protect your line, but don't drive using the mirror.

(14) Black Flags: We do not clear black flags so please don't ask! Also, no laps are returned caused by warp.

Note: If a live admin is present for the race and has the time to determine without a shadow of a doubt that there is a bogus black flag he will clear it. This will "only happen" if he has the time to review it after he completes his other duties and "it's clear that it was a bogus black flag".

(15) Chatting:

A. Entering the pits: Signaling is not mandatory entering the pits, but don't surprise the driver behind you, use your head for something besides a hat rack (as my Dad use to say :)

B. Exiting the pits: Signaling is always mandatory when exiting the pits.

C. Upon entering the pits, stay in the lane farthest away from the pit stalls until just before you reach your stall.

D. Stay alert any time you are driving down pit road. Pay close attention to auto-chat messages and watch for other cars exiting their stalls suddenly.

E. Never drive down the row of pit stalls. A car "on the tow truck" may suddenly appear in a pit stall you are driving through, severely damaging both cars.

(16) Protests:

A. All Protests must be submitted within 24 hours of end of race.

B. All protests must be accompanied by a cut section of the replay. Please include the lap before the incident also.

C. All protests must be submitted using the protest form accessible from your division page.

D. Replay cuts must be no larger than 3 Mb.

E. Please be professional with your comment.

F. All information requested in the form must be completed.

G. Please zip and upload replay cut to Division director through the protest form.

(17) Race Attendance Policy. If a driver misses 3 consecutive races without reason and prior notification to his division admin, it will be assumed that he is not longer interested in being an active member of that division. Once this has happened he or she will be removed from the active roster and moved to the bottom of the waiting list. We are currently capping the number of drivers in each division at 20 drivers.

Note: Drivers are expected to make every effort to attend all races but we do understand that since this is a hobby and at times work, family and other outside influences can and will have an impact on your ability to make any given race. But since there may be other drivers who would be able to make every race we feel that this is a fair compromise to make to ensure full fields of drivers.

(17A) Missed races: Provisional points for missed races is 100 points. That equals 21st place points. If we have a 21 car field provisional points will be 22nd place points minus 10 points.

(18) Post Race Inspection: The winner of each race is required to post his or her results file in the forum no longer than 24 hours after the end of the race. Only the race winner is required to do so!

Note: Posting of the winners results file is "not mandatory" in the Buschwhackers division but is encouraged!

Note: Posting of the winners results file is "not mandatory" in the Outlaws division but is encouraged!

(19) In general use the golden rule. "Race the other driver the way you want to be raced". If you feel someone has committed a "racing" foul, cut a replay and send it through the protest submission within 24 hours of the race. We race for fun, and with everyone's help, we will continue to do so!!

"Due to the nature of the simulation, rules are subject to change as needed"

High Octane Racing Leagues