[onewheeldrive.net] - Another Mexican 1000 Crash with Fire ? NORRA, Safety Culture, a

[Ninjette Newsbot]

A May 1st NORRA race incident involved a with one vehicle countering the flow of the race direction, creating a fireball but no injuries. Is there a pattern of indulging unsafe behaviors within NORRA culture, leading to potential tragedy. A lack of transparency exacerbates the issue.

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Details are scarce, and nowhere to be found NORRA press releases, but May 1st, 2024 there was another “backwards travel accident”. Sources report that the incident was between a chase vehicle, and trophy truck, with one going counter the flow of the course direction. The result was “a big ass fireball” as spare fuel ignited. Luckily, no one was injured in the conflagration. So, it’s time to talk about Foone Turing, noted for describing how a series of small mistakes, errors in judgements, and shortcuts cumulatively lead to disasters. And, Foone’s work is 100% applicable to barreling ****-snowball of cataclysm that NORRA is becoming.

One point we should have made more strongly in the Steve “Wrongway” Kamrad Affair, is that Kamrad’s act of going backwards along the race course, and the acceptance of his arrogant, facile toddler-like defenses of that act, are a symptom. A symptom indulged by Race Director Jimmy Lewis.

Now, I know that the May 1st bonfire isn’t in Jimmy’s motorcycle class, but what if this latest crash is a symptom of organizational rot. And Jimmy is helping that rot right along.

Big deal, Jimmy Lewis gave the Kamrad a break. The problem is, we don’t really know how many times Jimmy has indulged other “Wrongways”. And, that should leave you sick to your ****ing stomach. And here’s why, Foone Turning1 and the Space Shuttle Challenger, one of the best known disasters caused by organizational culture.

Every time you indulge these unsafe behaviours, it stretches whatever safety systems an organization like NORRA has in place just… a little… more… You are also introducing an unexpected elements into that system it was never built for. More of these elements, the more risk they carry.

In the case of vehicles going the wrong direction, racers now have to race, and keep a look out for oncoming racers. That is a pretty big unaccounted for element to throw at someone who’s four days in the saddle and has slowed reactions times from fatigue, and a touch of dehydration. Eventually the system hits breaking point… and BOOM!

It’s gets worse though, enter Diane Vaughn2 and her concept of “Normalization of Deviance”, where every time you bend those rules for someone, well your organization culture adjusts… just a little. “We’ll let you off just this once”, becomes, “We’ll let you off just this tenth.”

Foone (honestly one of the best names in engineering) says of the Challenger;

“It was a whole series of mistakes and flaws and coincidences over a long time and at each step they figured they could get away with it because they figured the risks were minimal and they had plenty of engineering overhead. And they were right, most of the time. Then one day they weren’t.”

For every “Wrongway” Kamrad, the individual risk is minimal. The engineering overhead in that case was the quality of Glade #55’s gear. When Kamrad plowed into him, he transferred his risk to Glade in the most kinetic way possible. Right there though the system is failing.

Then along comes Jimmy Lewis, the Race Director, a figure who “commands” authority and respect within the motorsport community, and who is supposed to put a freaking stop to this **** before real disaster strikes. Well, recent events are throwing that confidence into question.

Jimmy equivocates, he waffles, he doesn’t pay attention to the issue, and the culture shifts just a little more for Wrongway.* True, given the proliferation of safety issues across the Mexican 1000, it is entirely possible that Jimmy Lewis and team have been dealing with different events involving bigger vehicles elsewhere in the failing NORRA culture of safety.*

And you know what Jimmy, too ****ing bad… screw your weird old boys club weird ass bromance that justifies soft-shoeing around Steve Kamrad, his 10,000 followers, and AdvPulse outlet, and do your job.

Given the feedback here around the Wrongway Affair, the normalization of deviance has done more than shifted… it’s spread to those who idolize or may join the sport in the future.

Commenter Eric Hall, has stated “You’re not supposed to right [sic] the other way but it’s done a lot when a waypoint is missed or trying to get back to the last known point when lost.” That’s a pretty big apologist stretch from lost and circling to find a hidden waypoint, to racing down a desert double-track out to the liaison. Well done Eric, you are the indicator of spread, and normalization.

What else is normalizing deviance? NORRA not posting about a vehicle bursting into flames due to a collision. Why is that not in a press release? Let’s just sweep that little gaff under the rug, no one should know our safety record. Pretty ****ing hard when the flames are visible from space… That hiding the bad stuff, that’s almost always rot coming from the top down.

You know what it also does, Jimmy and NORRA? It leaves your racers uninformed as to the severity and frequency of “safety incidents”.* Sure you’re old school, we know you’re not going to do comprehensive reporting.* But transparent communication of incidents, that you can do! Without that, your participants have no way of gauging how safe your events are NORRA… That type of subterfuge is down right despicable.* If not legally actionable.

And if you can’t hide the dangers, normalize and minimize them with old-school he-man wanna be machismo – that’s fantastic.* Call anyone “a whiny bitch” for raising safety concerns lately Jimmy?* Yep, people are going to be flocking to you with their concerns, you cultural icon you.

Maybe instead of flocking, your racers should be fleeing.* Taking their lovely rally dollars, and finding safer events, or ones that at least try.* Vote with your feet my friends, get out now while you can, cancel next year and live to walk another day. If you have loved ones, get them out now. Before we are sitting here in an article about desensitization to tragedy.

Jimmy, you are normalizing the deviances, and making your part of the rally more dangerous and unsafe that your racers know. So man-up, woman-up, queer-up, or whatever, and do your job, because your system is at breaking point.* Otherwise, Jimmy and NORRA, if you want to see where tragedy is coming from… grab a mirror. The Challenger is about to go FOONE!

1. https://foone.wordpress.com/2019/02/...n-of-deviance/
2. The Challenger Launch Decision