Rally Driver Suspended for Mooning a Competitor

Former Scottish rally champion Jock Armstrong was banned for six months.

By Justin Hughes
    British Rally Championship
    Claire Mackintosh - EMPICS—EMPICS/PA Images via Getty Images
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    A rally driver working the Solway Coast Rally as a stage marshal is in hot water after reportedly exposing his posterior to a competitor reports the BBC. Jock Armstrong, who was the Scottish rally champion in 2015 and 2016 and runner-up this year, has been suspended for six months, putting him out of two upcoming rally events. He was also fined £1,000 (about $1,311) by the Motor Sports Council.

    "The picture was put on social media by a photographer, and whether someone alerted them or not I don't know," Armstrong told the BBC. "The car was coming down at a slow speed but he didn't even see me," he said. "But I admitted to the MSA that it was me."

    A spokesman for the Solway Car Club seemed to have a good sense of humor about the incident in his comments to the BBC. 

    "The event was run by us and it was just a prank that went wrong," he said. "It was put on media and the Motor Sports Association thought it was bringing the sport into disrepute."

    The Motor Sports Council seemed to see absolutely no humor in the situation at all. It told the BBC that as a marshal, he was "under a duty to promote safety rather than to cause any risk to anyone." Armstrong's actions had been "highly detrimental" to the sport and had created a "real risk of danger." 

    Armstrong's own description of the incident seems to indicate that the danger was actually quite low, particularly because the competitor in question apparently didn't even notice him. Yet it is true that marshals are supposed to keep rally events safe, and behavior like this isn't exactly the most exemplary in the sport. Perhaps the Motor Sports Council is making an example of Armstrong's prank due to his high profile in the sport in Scotland.

    Still, despite the incident eliminating his chance to win the 2018 championship, Armstrong seems to be in good spirits about it. In reference to the picture on social media that incriminated him, Armstrong said, "I told him to send a copy of the picture and I'd put it up in my workshop for years to come."

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