Rules & Protesting

While these rules cover most situations, racing is complex and nuanced. Inevitably situations will occur that are not covered by the rules, or that breach the spirit of the rule and/or league. In these circumstances, the stewards reserve the right to stray from the letter of the rules as written.

  1. Drivers must read and understand these rules.
  2. We follow iRacing sporting regs as our baseline. 
  3. An incident is defined as any driver who causes another racer to spin, or go four wheels off-track, or suffer mechanical issues requiring an immediate pit stop, or lose one or more positions due to contact, or get a 4x during the pace lap. Some incidents are avoidable, intentional, or the result of hard racing. The stewards will make that determination.
  4. Drivers using threatening, insulting, racist, sexist, or other abusive language, in spoken or written format, will face penalties up to and including removal from the league.
  5. No retaliation at any time. We shouldn’t even have to say this.
  6. PACE LAPS
    1. Drive the pace car speed to the green flag. Don’t leave big gaps to the car ahead of you.
    2. You must stay in your line until the green flag drops.
    3. If you cannot maintain pace and/or your position for any reason, you must tow and start from pit lane. This must be done so others that are forced to pass you don’t get a black flag at the start.
    4. Do not exceed the pace car speed by more than 5 mph before the start.  If a racer is exceeding the pace car speed at the green flag by more than 5mph, and it is protested, it will be a penalty.
    5. Pace lap incidents (car contact or off-track) will result in a penalty. 
  7. START PROCEDURES
    1. Go on the green flag. Pole position does not decide when to go.
    2. Remain directly behind the car ahead until the green flag. Do not offset your car before the start.
    3. Maintain pace lap speed before the green flag. Jumping the start will result in a penalty.
    4. We’ll have a full pace lap if iRacing allows.
    5. MULTICLASS
      1. No gaps between classes.
      2. All cars go on the green flag.
    6. Do not use the apron on a superspeedway to improve your position during lap 1. This will be a penalty.
  8. YELLOW FLAGS
    1. We use a system that will throw a yellow flag if there is an accident within the first 5 minutes of a race that involves 16x or more. This usually means a 4+ car accident.
    2. There are three yellow flag laps, at the end of the third lap it goes green.
    3. Pay attention to Race Control messages and the screens that tell you your position in line and whether or not pit road is open or closed.
    4. Pit road is usually only open for one lap.
    5. We use a single file restart.
    6. Leader decides when to go.
  9. PASSING
    1. If a pass is being attempted in a corner, the passer must be up to or in front of the other car’s door centerline before the turn-in point.
    2. A pass isn’t complete until one car is completely ahead. Up to that point, EACH racer must give space. Until you are clear of the car behind, don’t expect them to slow/concede. Give room. If you don’t know you are clear, assume you aren’t.
    3. As the passer, if it is determined by the race stewards you did not hold the apex and contact is made, you will be at fault.
    4. As the passee, if it is determined you turned down on the passer without giving room, and the passer is making the apex, you will be at fault.
    5. Predictability and communication are the keys to passing successfully. Read the Passing Guidelines.
    6. When shown a blue flag, the slower car must yield to the faster car at the earliest safe opportunity. Usually, that is the first straight after the blue flag is shown.
  10. NO BLOCKING
    1. Only a single defensive move is allowed. A second move in the same direction whether reacting to another car or not is considered blocking.
    2. Returning to the racing line for the braking zone is not considered blocking unless it impedes the progress of the following car.
    3. In the braking zone, a driver may not move in reaction, altering the line based on the actions of the pursuing car, or select a defensive line and move back to the racing line.
  11. When exiting the pits, the driver ahead at the pit exit line has the right of way. A driver beside must yield and exit the pit behind the car ahead.
  12. Not serving a previous race penalty will result in a DQ or 0 points from that race no matter your finishing position.
  13. No car swaps during the season in a series. Car selection will be locked from Round 1 or the first race you run of the series. If you change cars after that, your points up to that time will be voided.
  14. When you are involved in an accident, you don’t have the right to drive your way through another car to get going again. Back up, drive around, or wait. Don’t make a bad situation worse by pushing someone onto the track or destroying their car trying to get there.
  15. No after-race shenanigans until you have completed another lap post finish. Podium photos can still happen after the finish but please don’t block the track right after the finish line. This will reduce admins having to fix incident counts after races.

 

Protests & Penalties

Penalties will be decided by the stewards. You MUST protest if you want an infraction to be reviewed. 

To file a protest, complete this form. Protests must be submitted by the next morning, 11 am Central. Tell us the drivers involved and the approximate lap. We’ll do the rest.

Anyone involved in the race can protest any perceived rule infraction or incident. You don’t have to be involved in it directly to protest. 

Stewards may decide to warn rather than penalize a racer.

  1. Penalty Schedule
    1. Self-Protested Incident
      1. Loss of 20 points per offense
    2. Protested by another racer and no self-protest
      1. Loss of 30 points per offense
      2. Do not qualify for the next same-night race in which you participate.
    3. Not following the penalty start procedure will result in a loss of points for that race.
    4. If the stewards decide it is warranted (ie excessively bad judgment, aggression, etc), racers may be banned for one or more races.
    5. 3 penalties in a season, on the same night, will result in a single-race suspension.
    6. Purposely wrecking someone or yelling at someone over the radio:
      1. 1st offense: Loss of race points for that race or 100 points, whichever is greater, and a one-week race ban from all races.
      2. 2nd offense: Removed from the league
  2. All penalties will be posted on the league’s Facebook page and on Discord. Not seeing a penalty post isn’t an excuse for not following the penalty start procedure next race.
  3. Penalty points are attached to the driver, not the race. They aren’t affected by dropped race