The facts from BROWNSTOWN!!!!

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voigt30

Voigt30
For all of those who "heard" or "said". . . this is to set the record straight. During the heat race, Mark and Rodney were racing hard for second behind Mark Gansmann. Mark Gansmann got a little sideways on the front stretch and Mark and Rodney both had to check up and door slammed - just a plain old hard racing incident. Obviously, Rodney didn't see it that way. He was angry and coming out of the 4th corner, Rodney hit Mark in the left wheel and broke the left rear suspension. After the race was over, Mark pulled up beside Rodney at the scale and asked him what was going on. Rodney was still angry and made a bunch of gesters and they both left the race track and headed back to their prespective pits. Before Mark and Rodney got back to the pit area, a couple of our crew saw Randy Korte heading for Rodney's pit area. Mark hadn't even got out of his car and Rodney was over in our pits, beating on the roof, cursing and pushed one of the Voigt crew guys. The Voigt crew member pushed back and told Rodney to go back to his pit. Mark got out of the car and tried to talk to Rodney. Rodney then left. We figured the whole ordeal was over. However, Randy Korte pushed his way through the crowd and proceeded to mouth his opinions as well as Rick Heck, his wife and sons -stirring the pot all over again. One of Rick Heck's sons started mouthing and screaming. Then pulled his arm back to hit someone. That's when one of the Voigt crew tackled him. Rick Heck then proceeded to kick the crew member. Out of defense for the crew member, two other Voigt crew members went in to help break up the fight. While the other two crew members were trying to get Rick Heck off the first member, Randy Korte got his cheap shots in as a couple of people saw him kick one of the Voigt crew members and then stepped away. Rick Heck's wife was on top of the pile, beating them with a clipboard. She got tossed off - not punched. The entire fight lasted about three minutes and then the sheriff was called. Rick Heck requested that the crew member who tackled his son be arrested because his son was a minor. Because of previous animousity between Charlie DePew and one of our crew that was in the fight, DePew ordered the sheriff to arrest him also. We tried to explain to DePew what had happened and he would not listen - he did not want to know. He proceeded to kick out our crew chief and when Mark tried to defend him, DePew told us that he never wanted us there to start with and therefore, we were kicked out for life. Mark was not too concerned about this and thanked DePew for the small favor. DePew and the sheriff both stated to the Voigt crew that Rodney's crew was kicked out as well. As we were loading, Rodney's crew was fueling his car to race and DePew was over talking to Rodney. We then left. As the results state, Rodney and Korte were both allowed to stay and race. The rules state that anyone fighting, regardless if its driver, crew or owner, he/she are kicked out for the rest of the year and a possible fine. Just a recap, this all happened in the Voigt pit area - not one of the Voigt crew left their pit area - all we did was defend our ground.

This was written by the entire Voigt Racing team - not just one person's opinion.
 
sounds to me you guys got s@#$%#,some tracks I 've beento if you are in someone elses pit you are subjectto spending a night by your self if you know what I mean
 
Just goes to show where the favortism falls. Mt. MELVIN strikes again.

Keep coming to Pevely Mark. We appreciate you racing there!
 
i was there and saw the hole thing and to be frank it was a great sight to see i think you should go to mt melvin and get it on saturday night :D
 
This is the way it happened, Rodney and Mark had words in the center of the track. When Rodney returned to the pitts he went to voice his opinion witch was the wrong thing to do at that time. this had nothing to do with me or my family. I was standing in my pitts when the big goon in the black shirt pushed rodney in the head away from Mark's car. AT that time I headed to voight's pit to get Rodney out of there. It was at this time that the man in the blue shirt came out of voight's trailer and blasted my fifteen year old in the eye. Immediatetley, other people began to hit and kick my son on the ground. I laid on top of my son to keep them from hitting and kicking him. Immediately, they begang kicking me in the face, in the ribs, and the big goon in the black shirt along with two other guys, one in an orange shirt began beating me in the head at will. My only concern was to protect my son. I did not at any time, hit any of voight's people. My wife had nothing in her hands, and was trying to pull the goon in the black shirt off of me. He then stood up and with his fist, hit her in hte face and knocked her to the ground. The guy in the orange shirt began to hit my fourteen year old son for trying to pull him off his brother and his father that was laying on the ground getting the **** kicked out of them. Then continued to beat the two of them for five to ten minutes before it was broken up. For all of you that think me and my family deserve this, there is something wrong with you! What would you do if grown men were beating your fourteen and fifteen year old kids. What would you do if a gutless goon punched your wife in the face? What would you do if they were jumping on your fourteen year old Kid? I did what any father would have done, I got on top of my son from keeping him from getting beat! The lies you are telling in your story just don't fit. Not at any time did the police or Charlie tell us to leave. And they did not tell the voights to leave, they left on their own. What kind of a person does it take to beat up two kids and a lady??? The kind that runs around with Mark Voights. Do you feel like big men today for beating up a fourteen and fifteen year old and their mother? You sissies gave me the best shots you had, and I got off the ground! I have no respect for you or your crew. And then you had the nerve to get on here and convince people of your lies. Rick Heck and family.
 
No Matter what, you had no reason being over at Voit's pit .. So I ask you what kind of Dad would let his 14 & 15 year old kids and there wife go over to a hot spot like that when you knew there was problems? It's funny Rodney is always in trouble for something.

I am only looking at both sides!
 
Yeah, for sure the only thing that seems to be completely consistent in the story from both sides is that the Heck boys, Melvin, et al were all over in Mark's pit starting the trouble. You sure as heck (sic) didnt go over there to say well done, now did you?
 
I did not see what happened, I wasn't there, but I do think that all tracks you should be at least 16 to enter the pits, this is just one reason.

Kids DO NOT BELONG IN THE PITS !!!!
 
The age limit is irrelevant because the parents sign a release waiver to get the kids in. The parents need to do a better job of controlling the kids. I say this because I have been in the pits since I was 13. At that age I knew I still had to answer to DAD so... They should also know that at 14 and 15 years old you do not go to another drivers pit area after a conflict on the racetrack because you are jeopardizing the driver you came there with to support!
 
if u went over to "protect" an ***hole like rodney an thought there was even a chance that a fight would happen why did you let your children go with you!
 
The fact is that it all started at Voigt's pit. If they are in Voigt's pit, how can Voigt's pit crew start all the ****.lol I don't feel sorry for any of them. I definately don't feel sorry for someone who puts their fourteen year old in that situation and expects me to beleive he was just standing there and got hit for nothing.
 
Not sure about Bellville but at I-55 you can be 1 day old as long as the parents sign a waiver. The age used to be 16 I believe. But some of the drivers were bringing the kids or babies and keeping them in the hauler. So to cover his heiney he had to allow it. The way it was explained to me by Ray he said if something happened to one of the kids they could get sued. So they allow you the opportunity to cover all the bases. This is a catch 22 situation.
 
It's sad to see this crap happening at the track. What are we teaching the kids that are in the stands week in week out just to watch what they love and to cheer on their favorite drivers? These two idiots are the cancer of our sport.
I think other tracks should consider what both these "teams" call sportsmanship. I could care less if I ever see these guys race again.
 
I really didn't want to get into this but I am very concerned that this occurred and the possible negative affects it could have on the future of racing in our area. I don't like to see or hear about fights in the pits or anywhere at a race event. They usually never solve anything. All they seem to do is create more fights and more verbal arguments. If the hatchets aren't buried and buried real soon we could be in for long, ugly summer. This board won't be about the top five finishers in the LM feature, it will be about the top five punches after the races.

You all know we have some of best drivers in the country competing at locals tracks each weekend. There's nothing better than seeing three abreast coming out of turn four for the checkered. But if the fighting and arguing like this are allowed to continue, I fear the only person that will have a good 2004 is the parts man or a lawyer.

Someone, either the promoter, UMP, or both, needs to step up here and set things straight so this doesn't happen again. (Maybe UMP needs a big red trailer like NASCAR.) If not, this thing won't be over and odds are it will happen again. And if you thought round one was ugly you don't even want to see how ugly round two could be. Someone, man, woman, or child, could get seriously hurt and that's not good for them or for racing or a promoter's insurance rates. And don't kid yourself, insurance rates do drive up the cost of tickets and pit passes while driving down the size of the purse for promoters who have too many injury claims due to fighting.

In my opinion, if there are issues/differences between drivers, they should be settled by the drivers. Not their kids, not their wives, not their pit crews, not their car owners, not their fans. And I am not implying that they beat the hell out of each other either. They either agree or agree to disagree on the issue. Then buckle up and go racing. Things will get settled between the drivers, I can assure you of that.

Folks, what's done is done. No words on this board will change that. But, what happens from this point forward will set the tone for the rest of the season.

There's a lot at stake here. I hope everyone realizes this and acts responsibly.

I'm not sure when I'll retire from announcing but I do know it will come a lot sooner if I have to call a boxing or wrestling match at a stock car racetrack.

TTG/MM
 
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