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1986 ARS final in Miami


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#1 Michael Ferner

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Posted 21 December 2014 - 21:53

The final round of the inaugural American Racing Series (later to be renamed "Indy Lights") season was held on November 9, 1986, at Tamiami Park in Miami/FL. First across the line was Juan Manuel Fangio III but, like third- and fourth-place finishers Tommy Byrne and Guido Daccò, he was later penalized 45 seconds for a pit infraction, handing the win to series champion Fabrizio Barbazza, his fifth of the campaign. That's what I always believed, that is.

 

Now I find a (probably syndicated) newspaper listing from November 18, more than a week after the race, tabulating the final points as if the penalty had been rescinded, and crediting the win to Fangio again, with Barbazza back to only four wins! What happened? Was the decision appealed, and did the protesters win out? Mind you, it didn't have much of an impact on the final standings, with the only change in the top ten being Byrne in 6th place instead of Billy Boat, but there was quite a bit of money at stake, with Fangio and his team alone to gain $10,000 in the case of a successful appeal. But did it really happen, or was that a newspaper cock-up, publishing an old news item that had been lying around for a week or so? When was the penalty actually administered? Did the SCCA even publish the standings before that happened?

 

It's all a bit of an odd scenario, but with the season finishing so late, it is quite conceivable that a successful appeal could have been "lost" to the majority of the specialized press, eager to close the book on a long season!



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#2 heidegger75

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Posted 23 December 2014 - 00:32

http://news.google.c...frontpage&hl=en

 

The next day's report in the Miami News (page 6B in the paper; page 21 in the browser) indicates that Fangio was one of seven drivers fined $1,000 for pit violations. There is no mention of an assessed time penalty.

 

The article indicates that three teams filed formal appeals, but it is quite possible that the SCCA had not yet considered and ruled on the appeal by the November 18 listing.



#3 Tim Murray

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Posted 24 December 2014 - 12:44

The Autosport report of the race contains the following:
 

The race was organised by the SCCA and it permits but two mechanics to work on any car in the pits at any given time. Most teams failed to recognise this and so time penalties were picked up. This problem was not set to change the race order, though, as the SCCA had omitted to time the race ... Race order thus remains, with fines likely to be in Dollars rather than seconds.


I can’t find any further update on this until Gordon Kirby’s Seasonal Survey, published in the 1st January 1987 edition of Autosport. Here he says:
 

Then, at Miami the following month, the ARS race wasn’t timed, which opened-up a fine can of worms when timed penalties were called for in the wake of many teams using too many men to change tyres when the weather changed from wet to dry. The result was a totally confused race, much acrimony and revised result issued a month after the race ...

(etc)

Fifth in the points was Juan Manuel Fangio II who looked better and better as the year wore on. He scored an excellent win in the final race of the year in Miami only to be penalised because of a pitstop infraction and moved back to second.


They give the revised final points standings as:

1. Barbazza 145
2. J, Andretti 107
3. Groff 89
4. Millen 85
5. Fangio 69
6. Boat 67
7. Byrne 62
8. Swindell 40
9. Bren 38
10. Rice 37

So it would appear that the results were changed a month after the race, but there's no info on how they managed to incorporate the time penalties into a supposedly untimed race. :confused:



#4 Michael Ferner

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Posted 25 December 2014 - 10:26

Many thanks! I think that clears up the main confusion, but Tim's point is an excellent one given the circumstances! Since 45 seconds was almost a full lap, Byrne and Daccò merely moved to the back of the lead lap finishers, with Rutherford and Fix similarly afflicted one lap down and Swindell in last place anyway, but quite how they got Fangio's position assessed is a bit of a mystery, then.