On July 30, LE Tonglet was crowned the Pro Stock Motorcycle champion at the Toyota NHRA Sonoma (Calif.) Nationals over Matt Smith.

The only problem with that is the photo finish FOX Sports aired live appears to show Smith crossing the finish line first.

“I’m not mad at NHRA or anybody like that,” said Smith in an exclusive interview with CompetitionPlus.com Wednesday. “I just want to understand and have a clear picture of this.”

Smith acknowledged when he went through the finish line he thought he had won.

“Then, I saw the light come on in his (Tonglet’s) lane and I was like ‘Wow!’,” Smith said. “LE told me ‘I saw you all the way down there, that was a tight race.’ I said it was tight and we went on about our business. By the time I got back to the pits, there were three racers at my pits telling me the photo finish showed I won that race on the big screen. I was like really. Then, I saw the photo finish they showed on live TV.”

With this information in hand, Smith wanted to talk to NHRA officials.

“I immediately went to the tower and I talked to Graham Light (NHRA’s Senior Vice President of Racing Operations) and I asked him have you seen this photo? (of the photo finish). He told me I needed to talk to the race director of the race. I talked to the race director and we filed a review like we’re supposed to. The only thing I asked from the review was I just want a clear photo of either a dead tie or LE ahead, something I can see. They said OK, we will ask FOX and get that.”

On Aug. 1, at roughly about 7:30-8 p.m. (CT), Smith received an emailed letter from NHRA’s Light. The letter reads as follows:

Matt,

I apologize for having to rush away Sunday after the race but was running late for my flight departing Oakland.

Obviously NHRA takes the accuracy of event results and race data very seriously. Therefore, when a situation such as the Sonoma PSM final is questioned, it is incumbent upon us to review all available pertinent information.

The first step was to review the timing increments/splits and speed numbers – these calculated perfectly to what we know PSM runs. The Compulink computer settings in Race Control and the location/placement of the track timing fixtures were all checked – all setting and fixtures were 100% accurate.

Next, we requested an opinion from Bob Brockmeyer (Compulink President and developer of the timing system). Following is Mr Brockmeyer’s conclusion:

Attached please find a posted pic #1 that I think came from Smith Racing  and/or FOX showing the finish. Also, please find pic #3 of what Sonoma's Dan Divita took for me today showing Infrared positions.
Pic #2 from another source shows Pic #1 with another shot above it that clearly shows the Left lane to be ahead. Also note the distorted 'oblong' front wheel shape on Smiths' bike in Pic #1. 

The finish line camera was measured to be approx 50' away from the right guard wall per Danny. 

If you look at pic 1, and draw a line across the overlayed Papa John's logos that are superimposed over the 'camera' finish line, you will see that it in fact intersects the J-Box on the wall in the center, just below the Toyota emblem. Unfortunately, that is a J-box for wiring connections, and not the J-Box where the sensor Infrared is located. If you look at pic #3, you will see the cover off such that the IR lens position is shown in the lower right-hand corner of the Infrared box. The covered J-Box is the one referenced and visible in pic #1 below the Toyota emblem. The center line of above mentioned wiring J-Box to the center line of the Infrared sensors 13". The camera is very obviously centered on the upper J-Box, such that it is 'seeing' a right lane finish line 13" before the actual Infrared sensed position. This angulation causes visual parallax of the two vehicles, making the near vehicle appear to be ahead of the far vehicle. At a distance of 50' from the right guard wall, this Parallax puts the camera at approximately the 1318', 4" point, and not at the 1320'  +/- 0  point that is needed to accurately show a basic dead-heat finish such as the 0.0002 in this race ( 0.69"). 

The calculated parallax is approx 5", and reflects what the one pic shows. Also look at the top border of pic #1. The left top-of-page to guard rail is further than the right top-of-page to guard rail, indicating a clockwise (azimuth) rotation of the camera in relation to the track, again verifying the camera to be before the true finish line.  

Sincerely,

Bob Brockmeyer
President
Compulink/BCS Inc.

Based on this review, it has been determined that the race as posted by NHRA is accurate and correct.

We appreciate your support and participation in NHRA Championship Drag Racing and look forward to seeing you in Brainerd.

Regards,
Graham

The explanation in this letter didn’t sit well with Smith.

“I had gone to the top end after the race and took a picture of the photo finish camera in line with the finish line,” Smith said. “I’m not upset with the other team because it has nothing to do with LE (Tonglet) or the WAR team. It is the simple fact that what FOX and NHRA showed to the hundreds of thousands of people who watched this race live was that my bike crossed the finish line first. So, as an organization, NHRA and FOX have to explain how a photo can be wrong and their timing system is right. From this point forward, if they are going to go off their timing system no matter what a photo finish shows on the TV, then educate the hundreds of thousands of viewers who saw this happen to why this happened. That’s all I have asked.”

Smith responded back to NHRA the night of Aug. 1, regarding the letter he received, but had not received a response back as of Wednesday afternoon.

“He (Bob Brockmeyer) explained how the Papa John’s finish line was not in the correct spot of the race track and that it was lined up wrong with the blocks with the infrared beams and he went on with this full ordeal when in theory, he’s wrong about what he explained,” Smith said. “That’s why I want the letter I received to go out there because he (Brockmeyer) is totally wrong about the way he explained it.”  

Smith is no stranger to photo-finish controversy.

Back in 2005 in the final round of the U.S. Nationals, Smith was racing against Steve Johnson. In this close race, Smith’s win light illuminated.
TV replays, however, clearly showed Johnson ahead at the finish line – something NHRA officials couldn’t quite explain.

Upon further review, 26 hours later, it was concluded that the leading edge of Johnson’s ultra slim front wheel somehow went unnoticed by the pulsating finish line beam. Thus, on Tuesday night after the race, Johnson was declared the winner.

“That happened in the ESPN era with Steve Johnson and I had my time slip that said that I won, just like LE’s did (at Sonoma),” Smith said. “But, the photo finish showed Steve Johnson won. A day later they overturned that because of a photo finish and I accepted that. I didn’t argue about it because I saw the photo. So, that’s all I’m asking, why are we now 12 years later, and we have a photo of me winning the race, and we are going against that now and going back to the timing system, that they say never fails.”

Smith’s purpose for his argument is simple.

“The goal here is to educate the racers, educate the fans and basically tell us how this photo popped up on live TV and the photo is wrong, and their timing system is right,” he said. “There are a lot of fans out there who got on the internet and said I won, they saw it. NHRA and FOX need to educate the new fans, who are out there, how this happened, why it happened and from this point forward what are we going to do if this happens again. Are we going to go with the photo finish? Or are we always going to stick with the timing results? That’s what we have to know.”

The question also arose to Smith as to why are they showing photo finishes at all on TV?

“If we are not going by photo finishes, then don’t have the cameras there to have a photo finish,” Smith said.