This, except 'for the lulz' assumes the other driver did it on purpose.

Last weekend in SC 2 I was leading the last qualifier (on IFMAR) after starting last on the grid, several seconds faster than TQ (also me) until I caught the guy who was running second on the clock (he started 10-15 seconds in front of me). Every time I'd wait for him to make a mistake and pass him, he'd over drive a section and run me over, or cut a corner and hit me, or otherwise dump me because, well, how do I say this nice - he's kind of all over the place? The guy just had surgery on his back on Thursday and I'm sure he's loaded up on all sorts of pain meds, so I'm cutting him a ton of slack.

Anyway, after this goes on for five or so laps and the announcer says I'm no longer beating my TQ, but behind by 4 seconds, I decided I needed to pass him using my secret weapon (aka the chrome horn, the wheel, the front bumper of my truck) because I was slowing us both down by not putting this dog out of it's misery, so to speak. Wound up finishing 0.3 seconds off TQ.

As soon as it happened, the other driver took exception and got vocal on the drivers stand, said I showed poor track ettiquete by not pulling over (it's IFMAR FFS! I started 14 seconds behind you. I passed you on the clock long ago!), and refused to let up about it even off the track. I asked him if he hit me on purpose the three or four times I passed him clean, and he said he hadn't, it was totally incidental (oddly enough, he never pulled over for me the way he was demanding I pull over for him ). The look of horror/confusion was pretty priceless after I explaned to him that (1) Unlike him, I had hit him on purpose and with malice and only once in response to the three or four hits he gave on accident, (2) he was running this series for points and the two fast guys aren't here today so he stood a great chance in gaining a whole bunch on them but IF ONLY IF (3) he knocked this cheap ish off, else I would spend the whole main turning his car into a bag of broken parts and not feel the least bit bad about it because I'm running here to relax (not in the series) and at the end of the mains I get to pack up and go home. He hit me in two out of the first three corners of the main, but that's not the point.

The late Brent Wallace (Reedy Race champion, NORCCA champion, AE factory driver) told me when I first started driving that the fast way through a corner isn't necessarily the fast line. I was 20 years old, he was like 15, and it was totally cryptic at the time. I just didn't get it, but I didn't forget it either. Over the years I've thought about it from time to time, and I think what he meant was just because somebody scrubs out in a slow corner and you get by driving the preferred line without contact, it doesn't prevent him from over-driving the next corner and blowing the apex thus punting you into the middle of next Thursday. Same if the fastest line in your truck conflicts with the fastest line with the other guys truck, or (like I used to see in sedans a lot) if somebody is running a one way and everyone else is running a spool. The lap times might be comparable, but where they are fast makes contact almost unavoidable.

The point is part of racecraft is racing guys the way they race you. If somebody runs you hard and with respect, you should treat them that way. If they don't, well, short course is a full body class with nerfs and bumpers for a reason. This is certainly an underrated tool you have at your disposal, and if your other fellow racers are using it on you and you aren't returning the favor, you are allowing yourself to be taken advantage of.