In a message dated 4/25/99 8:02:41 AM Eastern Daylight Time,
jemitchell@compuserve.com writes:
<< Why do you keep implying that someone is forcing
you to spend piles of money on Solo II? You always have the option of
showing up in your daily driver on your street rubber...
It appears to me that what bothers you is that you won't win if you do
that, and that you just don't like all these folks who, well, TRY so
damn hard: "If only everybody weren't so darn MOTIVATED, then I'd win
more. Yeah, that's what I've been trying to say. Everybody just cool it
a little bit and spend less money and don't take this all so seriously,
and then I can win. After all, it's just a half-assed wannabe racer
substitute, for crying out loud. But I don't wanna win just because I
was there. You all gotta try a LITTLE bit so I can feel good about my
trophy." That seems to sum up your attitude pretty well.
Jay>>
Dear Dr. Sigmund Freud a.k.a. Jay Mitchell
Thank you for the additional psychoanalysis which further explains what
I was really saying when I actually said what I said.
I don't expect someone who disagrees with me to remember what I have
previously said nor do I expect an accurate interpretation of what I have
said most recently. It is so much easier to take a line or two out of
context, apply a self-serving meaning that is not in the actual words and
then have a convenient straw-man to knock over with irrelevant debating
points.
There are, it seems to me, two parties at work in autocrossing. One of
them is the party of "let's make it bigger, more expensive, more a national
sport, more important and like a real form of bigtime racing".
The other party to which I belong [and which is losing] says "autocross
is a small amateur form of motorsport which gives people a place to enjoy
some competition without a lot of expense or elaborate machinery--let's work
toward keeping it that way and keeping it local".
At least provide a place in the "big" events for the street-tired
tightwads to play among themselves. In our area there are, for a number of
reasons, fewer and fewer autocrosses each year. A date or two is given up for
a "pro" event or a Tour event from time to time. I know a local Region or
hosting club can install a street-tire class if they like. To lobby for that,
one would need to join every club or Region within 200miles and devote one's
life to lobbying to get such a class. It would make life so much simpler for
members of the Keep-it-Simple Party if the place for us was written into the
national SCCA rules and classes that the autocross world, including clubs
that are not even affiliated with SCCA, seems destined to accept and use
locally. [Street-tire classes that use the @#*&! PAX are another subject
about which more at another time.]
That is essentially what I'm saying. More in-depth analysis of my words
could be amusing but not enlightening.
Everybody cool it and don't spend so much money so that I --or anyone
and everyone -- can COMPETE, not necessarily win, with the same minimal
investment of money and preparation. Rules pushing in that direction rather
than in the bigger-more-costly direction is all I'm talking about.
Ray
|