1.2 Limit On Protests - Each Competitor shall have the right to file a protest within 24 hours after the completion of the event being protested unless otherwise stated.

1.3 Frivolous Protests - All protests must be based on a specific violation of the rules by a driver. Any Competitor submitting a protest that is determined to be invalid or the protest is found to require no penalty, the driver sending in the protest will not be allowed to send in another protest for the rest of the event.

1.4 Filing Procedure - Protests must be submitted via e-mail to the Online 500 Director within twenty-four (24) hours after the completion of the race under protest (unless otherwise stated). The complaint must clearly state the basis for the violation, who the violator is, and must be accompanied by a replay or other evidence. If this procedure is not followed exactly, the protest attempt will be ignored.

1.5 Protest Pending - The results of an Event, including any individual race, time trial, or qualifying race shall not be considered official while a protest is pending. The results of the Event shall be considered official once the decisions of all protests have been announced.

1.6 Finality of Decisions - All decisions by the admins regarding protests are only appealable by the Online 500 Director.

1.7 Competition Board (Admins)- The Competition Board's duty for reviewing protests include the following: 1) The Board will first get the protestee's side of the story if feasible. 2) The Board of Trustees will then review the given data and take a vote based on what they are given. Majority rule will determine what will be done unless overuled by the Online 500 Director.

II - Miscellaneous

2.2 - Any racer may be ejected from the race at any time for any reason. In most cases it will be for causing too many cautions by wreckless/rough driving. You will be told to leave and given ample time to save setups, replays, etc before ejected. If the driver does not comply then he/she will be ejected immediately. These yellows could be because you wrecked another racer or spun by yourself causing a yellow. Therefore, it is highly encouraged to not run your cars too loose or you will be ejected.

2.3 - Always race others clean, or at least the way you would like to be raced. Absolutely no retaliatory wrecking of others that may have bumped you.

2.4 - NO abusive conduct will be tolerated in any way. No flaming or arguing with another driver or admin during a race. Be civil to your fellow racers, discuss racing issues like civilized people after the completion of the race. We encourage you to race and chat with complete control, this avoids personal embarrassment to your own character. Any cursing of any kind (even with the chat filter people have found ways around it) may be subject for removal from the event.

2.5 - If you have caused an accident, or even may have been involved in the cause, it is good racing etiquette to apologize as soon as possible. Please move the slower vehicles to the apron, but only as soon as the track is clear. DO NOT re-enter the track until your car is up to a respectable speed. If your car has received heavy damage, or is smoking, get it to the pits for repairs, or exit the race. I have witnessed a great number of arguments immediately subdued by an individual who has the sense to apologize even when an accident has not necessarily their fault. It's a rather amazing phenomenon actually, but very effective in keeping the peace. Any driver causing a crash by just sitting on the track yelling at someone, or steppingon the gas jumping in front of oncoming cars, may be ejected!

2.6 - NO CHEATING: All drivers must use the stock N4 game with no altered files other than those altered by official patches by Papyrus.

2.7a - Provisionals: A provisional start will be given to past winners of the event. If the driver chooses to take the provisional they will skip open qualifying, the Qualifier races,the Last Chance races, and the Twin 175's and will be forced to start at the back of the field for the 500. They will also lose the ability to use the provisional in future Online 500's unless they win it again. Each driver will get one provisional per win.

2.7b - Provisionals: A provisional spot may also be given by the TSW 500 Director and/or any admin of the TSW 500 to anyone for any reason. The provisional can also be extended to someone not registered for the TSW 500 as long as they agree to obey all rules and procedures. The driver(s) will be forced to start at the back of the field for the 500. The use of this provisional is to only fill the 40 car field if positions are left.

2.8 - Membership Agreement:

Membership for the TSW 500 begins upon acceptance of your registration form and ends at the event's completion. We reserve the right to accept or reject anyone for any reason. As a member of the 2002 TSW 500, you agree and accept the following terms: You agree to follow and abide by all rules and procedures that are given by any and all Admins of the TSW 500. You also agree that all rules and procedures may be changed at any time for any reason. You agree to follow all instrucitons given by the Admins of the TSW 500 at all times while participating in the TSW 500 event in 2002. You agree to never tarnish the name of any sponsors or Admins in any way while a member of the TSW 500. You agree to bring up any quarrels you have with other drivers or any Admins to the TSW 500 Director by private e-mail only. At no time will public degrading of any driver or admin for any reason be allowed by any TSW 500 members. You agree to not hold any admin of the TSW 500 reponsible for any harm done to you, your computer, or any of your posessions. Finally, you agree to the right of the TSW 500 Director to make final decisions on all matters.

 

III - On-Track Rules

3.2 Exiting Pits: All drivers must stay on the apron until the beginning of the backstretch while coming up to speed out of the pits. The apron is plenty banked and wide enough to hold it on the apron. Be sure to not blend higher than the lower lane on the backstretch until all cars are clear. All drivers are required to giving there "EXITING PITS" autochat signal somewhere before entering turn 1 after their pitting attempt. When coming up to speed after exiting the pits all cars must keep it in the low lane until traffic is clear. Penalty=Stop and go during green flag racing

3.3 Entering Pits: All drivers must enter the pits in a safe and efficient manor by safely getting to the bottom as quickly and safely as possible after completing turn 4. All drivers are required to give their "ENTERING PITS" autochat signal on the backstretch previous to their pitting attempt only under green.

3.4 Bumpdrafting: Bumpdrafting will be allowed but at your own risk. If you cause the driver to crash, cause him to crash another car, or cause damage to his or someone else's car you will be penalized. If the driver requests that you not bumpdraft him or her and you persist, then you will also be penalized. Penalty=Docked two(2) laps the first offense. Removed from the race the second offense.

3.5 Blocking: There are so many arguments and different types of blocking that we will allow it. However, we will not allow a car to run another car into the grass or wall. Once a car's front bumper is aligned with the other car's rear wheel the car being passed must hold his/her line to avoid contact and/or an incident. In other words, rough driving will not be tolerated. We realize racing at these tracks is close and it is not easy to see all the way around the car, so common sense will prevail in making penalty decisions.Penalty for rough driving=Admin's discretion

3.6 Damaged/Lapped Car Rule: If a caution comes out within 13 laps (or less) left in the race, any driver a lap down must come down pit road the 2nd caution lap around to restart in the back of the line. Drivers do not have to pit but obey the official at the end of pitroad. The driver(s) must only do it the first time around, after that it is up to the lead lap cars to stay in front of you. This will ensure the leaders to be able to line up nose to tail for a final restart (if when everyone gets the 1 lap to green signal and the spotter tells you to line up under the leader then go ahead and do so). If another caution comes out within the same 13 laps, the lapped cars are not forced to pit again, but must line up wherever their spotter tells them to. However, if damaged you are very encouraged to do so. Penalty for not pitting when suppose to=Dropped to the end of the lap in standings

3.7 Slow Cars: Cars off the pace must stay in the top lane when cars are coming unless racing for position. This applies to all slow and/or damaged cars that are off the pace of the leaders. This should give the leaders enough room to be double file or even three wide in some cases. Penalty for causing a wreck for being in the way while damaged/off pace will depend on situation Penalty=Admin's discretion

3.8 Warping: If you get clock zapped you must let off to try to get back to where you were before you were clock zapped. If you, and only you are warping and are told by several other drivers (at least 2 or more), and are becoming a danger during the race, please exit the race or put yourself on pit road or at the end of the group you are in. We all know there is a little warping sometimes, but if you are told by several other drivers that you are warping badly be respectful to everyone and get out of the way or get out of the race. If you continue to cause incidents while warping and do not leave or get out of the way you will be severely penalized. Penalty=Admin's discretion

3.9 End of Race: After the completion of a race all drivers must drive around back to their designated pitstalls. We don't need crashes after the completion of a race and we don't need cars scattered all over. The real boys drive it back so we should to.

3.10 Qualifying: See Procedures.

3.11 Rough/Wreckless Driving: Any driver may be penalized for rough or wreckless driving during an event. Rough driving includes but not limited to: Purposely attempting to take out or taking out another competitor; Running another car into the grass or wall after he/she has a nose along side up to the rear wheel(also see rule 3.5) Penalty for obvious rough or wreckless driving=Admin's discretion

3.12 Chatting: All drivers must turn their chat on. There is a box to turn the incar chatting off, however, in the Online 500 you must be able to see all chatting, especially from admins. Miscellaneous chatting from drivers will not be allowed. The occasional "Thanks" or "Welcome" or even "How's my front bumper"... "Fine" will be allowed. NO MISCELLANEOUS CONVERSATIONS. This will be at the race admin's descression. There will also be no chatting during qualifying. Anyone who chats during the qualifying session must serve a drive through pit penalty between the laps of 2 - 4 under green conditions. If a caution comes out within this time period you must start at the rear for the restart.

3.13 Racing to Caution: Racing back to the yellow flag is allowed, but in this long race it may be wise to just give each other room and get sorted out before reaching the start/finish line to take the checkered flag.

IV - Race Settings

V - Car Damage

5.2 - If you receive severe enough damage that a panel of any kind has been removed from your car for any reason; you must pull into the pits immediately upon notification of the missing panel(s) and exit the race. We all know the damage model in N4 is not as realistic as we would like. As of now this is the best way we can force people to be patient and save their car. Lets face it, if you have a panel missing you must have hit pretty hard.

5.3 - If you have to use the tow truck for any reason other than for running out of gas; you must also exit the race. Using the tow truck usually means you crashed hard enough for the car to not be able to be driven back to the pits.

5.4 - Removal from the race for the above is strictly of the admin's decision. If he does not catch you with a missing panel or for calling for a tow truck, or decides it wouldn't be fair for you to leave, then consider yourself lucky. However, it is good sportsmanship to obey the rule on your own. Once you are told by an admin to leave, you must leave or be ejected. (NOTE: The admin's decision clause is not to be biased, but to be as fair as possible. Some crashes may require removal of a panel that was not much of a hit. In most cases, however, you will be asked to leave)  

VI - Clauses

6.2 Anything not mentioned in the rules does not make it legal. All things protested and/or suspected as unfair to the drivers can and will be decided upon any or all of the Online 500 admins.

6.3 Any rule can be modified or added by the Online 500 Director at any time for any reason.