The Steve Nogas incident at Summernats

I-filed said :

Lowey said :

Just checked the employment status on facebook. Wtf?

Worth noting that the Summernats PR around a “life ban” was just puff. One of the banned (Marlin Griffin) says he is already discussing with Summernats officials having his ban reversed:

“Marlin Griffin: Just been talking to the officials at summernats again, working on a resolution to lift my life ban, i would like to apologize to any of the track officials and staff that i may have endangered and if i am back at summernats next year I’m more than happy to buy the blokes on the skid pad a beer.”

So much for maintaining standards. Summernats are hoodwinking the ACT Government with little motherhood appeasement statements.

He may be discussing it but are they listening?

damien haas said :

Buzz2600 said :

Controversial hu? Yawn ….

Anyway, I thought smoking was banned in the ACT.

While sitting in the stands at the Burnout Pad just before eliminations began on Friday, a gent sitting in front of me lit up a cool refreshing Laramie. Within about 30 seconds he was asked by security to put it out. Minutes later clouds of rubber smoke started wafting over the entire area, repeatedly, for hours…

That incident alone would make it worth being there.

Buzz2600 said :

Controversial hu? Yawn ….

Anyway, I thought smoking was banned in the ACT.

While sitting in the stands at the Burnout Pad just before eliminations began on Friday, a gent sitting in front of me lit up a cool refreshing Laramie. Within about 30 seconds he was asked by security to put it out. Minutes later clouds of rubber smoke started wafting over the entire area, repeatedly, for hours…

Lowey said :

Just checked the employment status on facebook. Wtf?

Worth noting that the Summernats PR around a “life ban” was just puff. One of the banned (Marlin Griffin) says he is already discussing with Summernats officials having his ban reversed:

“Marlin Griffin: Just been talking to the officials at summernats again, working on a resolution to lift my life ban, i would like to apologize to any of the track officials and staff that i may have endangered and if i am back at summernats next year I’m more than happy to buy the blokes on the skid pad a beer.”

So much for maintaining standards. Summernats are hoodwinking the ACT Government with little motherhood appeasement statements.

This is Canberra’s premier event is it not, after Floriade? Let’s see this footage on the next tourism ad for Canberra. Next time any of Katie “Kate Carnell” Gallagher’s government spout “city of culture”, or any such, or any environmentally sound credentials or intentions in this city, it should be “Bull-sh*t! Bull-Sh*t, Kate!” in unison.

Lowey said :

Just checked the employment status on facebook. Wtf?

wow, just wow.

Lowey said :

Just checked the employment status on facebook. Wtf?

Of what the driver? The official? Yours?

Funky1 said :

Deref said :

Can any Summernats fans here explain to the rest of us what they enjoy about burnouts?

If you need to ask then you wouldn’t understand regardless of the answer.

It’s something you’re born with?

(Like foetal alcohol syndrome?)

Just checked the employment status on facebook. Wtf?

matt31221 said :

The official kicking Steve’s car @ 1:04 then almost assaulting Steve @ 3:07 seems to be walking a fine line.

Unprofessional yes, but in the heat of the moment when a tool is gunning his engine and moving his car towards you and other people, I can excuse the official for losing his cool.

Deref said :

Can any Summernats fans here explain to the rest of us what they enjoy about burnouts?

While I’m not as fanatical about burnouts as the thousands of people who lined the Summernats power pit, for me the attraction is the combination of risk and noise. There’s an appreciable skill in unleashing a few hundred horsepower in a confined space and then controlling it. There’s also the constant curiousity about whether the engine will blow up before the tyres part company. Then there’s the roar of a V8 bouncing off the rev limiter (which makes my hair stand on end). That being said I don’t think you’ll find many who enjoy the smell, or being coated in bits of rubber.

Back on topic, the issue of Steve Nogas was handled poorly by both sides. Having been there to see the whole thing unfold I absolutely agree that Nogas should be banned for endangering people, but the marshall who kicked his car and pushed Nogas around should also be booted. It is one thing to have a hot-headed driver, but the marshalls should have the training and resources to to defuse a situation, not escalate it.

Deref said :

Can any Summernats fans here explain to the rest of us what they enjoy about burnouts?

If you need to ask then you wouldn’t understand regardless of the answer.

The Motorcycle Riders Association had their BikeFest at the same venue this year. One thing that was missing was the Cunning Stunts motorcycle stunt riders. When I asked why, I was told that the venue wouldn’t allow them because they do burnouts during their shows. Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

Deref said :

Can any Summernats fans here explain to the rest of us what they enjoy about burnouts?

Ain’t a summernat’s fan, but a good well controlled burnout (with excellent car control – aka not hitting the wall) can be a bit of fun to watch. I don’t think I could sit there and watch it for hours though.

Regardless of who was in the right, the guy is a moron for ignoring the officials. They are there to make the event safe. Whilst this time the discussion was over if he qualified for the event or not, how do they know if they let him back next year he’ll listen to the officials if there was a danger (to him or someone else) on the pad. For an event involving cars, it’s just too dangerous and too much of a risk to allow someone to return who has shown such a disregard.

Tooks said :

Deref said :

Can any Summernats fans here explain to the rest of us what they enjoy about burnouts?

I’ve never understood the enjoyment people get out of burnouts. It’s a complete mystery to me. Each to their own.

Loud. Vile smell. Impenetrable haze. And that’s just the spectators. The burnouts are relatively innocuous.

Deref said :

Can any Summernats fans here explain to the rest of us what they enjoy about burnouts?

I’ve never understood the enjoyment people get out of burnouts. It’s a complete mystery to me. Each to their own.

Can any Summernats fans here explain to the rest of us what they enjoy about burnouts?

Interesting to hear the usual suspects saying that Summernats is good for Canberra because it brings in so much money. I was in Fyshwick on Saturday and it was almost deserted. Even outside the sex shops, brothels and gay beat. There was also nobody in DFO wearing Summernats wristbands.

On radio they said that the restaurant strip at Dickson had experienced no boost in patronage. Even business at the Scottish hamburger restaurant wasn’t more than usual.

I’d like to see a proper cost/benefit analysis carried out because it seems to me that this event is bringing us no benefit whatsoever and we are paying dearly for having our city hijacked by these interstate hoons and ferals.

Well, when I saw the first video I thought yeah, he’s an idiot, and to a degree, I think he still is. Then I saw the qualifying video and thought well, something is not adding up here. If the qualifying video was shot when it was claimed to be, well yeah, he does not appear to have disobeyed the fire marshal and seems to have qualified.

Having said that, the driver was still completely reckless for what he did. It so clearly put people’s lives at risk and the potential for injury was massive. Why get so worked up about it? It would have been better to calm down, switch the engine off and sort it out with the officials. Why all the stupid bravado?

Well done, Steve. Likely to ruin the future of the event for everybody else. Not that I can understand the appeal of it anyway, but each to their own.

Idiot.

matt31221 said :

The official kicking Steve’s car @ 1:04 then almost assaulting Steve @ 3:07 seems to be walking a fine line.

The official should have punched the idiot right in the face. He deserved a lot more than he got. I’m glad he got banned, but would have been happier to see his car/weapon torched.

Ban everything!

Smoke and swinging bellies hide little di##. Lift, separate and blow……..you see.

I was really not happy when my partner told me we were going to summernats, being two young lesbians I figured we would get a lot of crap being there. Aside from being very expensive, I had a wonderful time. Had a few sly comments made about us but nothing worse than a standard night out. Didn’t see any fights or anything. This seems to be another case of one person ruining it for everyone. I can imagine that the security team didn’t have a fun time after this incident.

Controversial hu? Yawn ….

Anyway, I thought smoking was banned in the ACT.

fgzk said :

WTF,….. Id rather see his tits.

Swingbelly action wasn’t enough?

WTF,….. Id rather see his tits.

Considering how easily one of the marshalls could have slipped into the belt system this idiot should be charged. There is no place in society for people willing to use a vehicle as a weapon against authority figures.

That said I am amazed at how people are impressed by watching something like that do a burnout. Theres very little skill involved in getting a good burnout out of such a ridiculous power plant, I found it a much greater demonstration of driver talent when a mate generated about as much smoke as that out of his bog standard 84 corona wagon while parallel parked or when I watched two ke20’s doing synchronised figure 8’s and circling within inches of barrels in a pad much smaller than that.

Sgt.Bungers said :

The scariest thing about this incident was the display of having absolutely no concept of how dangerous it is to use a 1+ tonne machine to force your way through a group of people.

A life ban from Summernats, as well as an “assault with a deadly weapon” charge should be on the table.

Agreed, They should be banning more people if they act unreasonably.

The scariest thing about this incident was the display of having absolutely no concept of how dangerous it is to use a 1+ tonne machine to force your way through a group of people.

A life ban from Summernats, as well as an “assault with a deadly weapon” charge should be on the table.

Well, that was five minutes of government subsidy well spent…

It wasnt handled well. What impressed me was the footage – pretty good effort, Im presuming from a amateur in the crowd.

p1 said :

I’d be interested to the the vid from the camera on the roof.

Don’t know about the cam footage for this round itself, but here is the link to the qualifying round….

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=egZ4hZsJkqc

Some more info about this including a response from Mr Nogas.

http://onfourwheels.blogspot.com/2012/01/summernats-2012-how-to-get-banned-from.html

Yup, he has been banned for life. He apologised on his FB page yesterday & asked if he could negotiate his return.

See how hardline the organisers are I guess but regardless of the circumstance there is no excuse for pushing past the marshals & nearly running them over. It could have been so much worse.

What a wanker. Deserves a life ban: can’t see anything overly wrong with what security did and his juvenile burnout-fuelled tantrum shows that he certainly doesn’t do the Summernats cause any favours.

What a great event. Surely the government can provide even more funding for this amazing ‘fun for the whole family’ event. All class!

What a tosser!

Oh my.

It’s all so “family friendly”.

OK Summernats fans… here’s a quiz for yez (you get twenty chances to get it right by the way)…

Guess who won’t be allowed back in to Summernats, ever?

The official kicking Steve’s car @ 1:04 then almost assaulting Steve @ 3:07 seems to be walking a fine line.

Revving your car like you’re going to mow someone down is unacceptable. So he disobeyed a fire-marshal, event staff, and security, serves him right imo. Having said that, the security guard who approached the scene after the burnout didn’t handle the situation appropriately either. I hope it’s worth the lifetime(?) ban

I’d be interested to the the vid from the camera on the roof.

Is Nogas his given name, or did he change it to better represent the worlds gasoline reserves after he drives it for a few minutes?

Im told that he wasnt informed that he had been disqualified until his car made it to the start of the burnout pad, after sitting in the queue of other cars for at least an hour.

Neither side has handled this well.