Jay, I appreciate how your response was responsive to my own points, and I
mean that seriously, not sarcastically. :)
If you noticed, in my own earlier response to this thread, I said I'd
learned enough more about autox to see why R tires make sense in SP -- so
I'm making progress!
And I'll have to admit that I slipped in the critical thinking area myself,
when I failed to notice that Ray was talking about Stock classes. And
because I'm an SPer, I responded from my own bias, and so I apologize to
all. To quote Charleton Heston, "mea culpa, mea culpa".
(Only, as I also said in my earlier posts, *there* I think street-only tires
make sense, for Stock as a class, and Rs would make sense as the prep level
for Street Prepared. But that's just me.) :)
If I disagree with you, that doesn't make me wrong, and you right, of
course; and vice versa. I may not be able to prove to you in the space of
an email that the world is round and not flat -- but it is! :)
Richard.
-----Original Message-----
From: Jay Mitchell <jemitchell@compuserve.com>
To: richard nichols <rnichol1@san.rr.com>; RacerRay52@aol.com
<RacerRay52@aol.com>
Cc: autox@autox.team.net <autox@autox.team.net>
Date: Tuesday, May 11, 1999 11:52 AM
Subject: Re: Street Tire Handicap
>Richard sez:
>
>>Gonna have to use more critical thinking, guys, when considering
>others'
>>ideas. "Critical thinking", as in "look beneath the surface".
>
>
>We're doing that, but I just don't share the belief that his
>ideas will help.
>
>>As I understand Ray's original thought, if I may "reflect" what
>I think he
>>said but in just a few words: "is there a way for those driving
>on street
>>tires to compete for trophies when their cars are prepped to SP
>rules?".
>
>Ray's been referring to HS as if that's his present class.
>
>>There's nothing in that concept that says that someone with low
>driving
>>skills wants a better deal, or a cheaper deal, or a competitive
>advantage,
>
>I'm not accusing Ray of having low driving skills. I've
>personally known several very good Solo II drivers who very much
>resented being beaten by competitors who, in their perception,
>spent more money on their cars. Or, in a couple of cases, being
>beaten by competitors who knew enough about cars to do their own
>setup work, which costs time more than money. Without exception,
>these drivers perceived themselves as "better" and therefore
>more deserving of a trophy than the folks who were beating them.
>
>My response has always been that optimal vehicle preparation is a
>perfectly legitimate competitve factor in any form of
>motorsports. If you aren't interested in optimizing your car for
>a given competitive activity, then you'll just have to accept
>that you'll be at a disadvantage compared to someone who has.
>Changing the rules won't prevent this from happening. Look at
>Showroom Stock for an excellent example of what overly
>restrictive rules can cause. In any case, spending the extra
>money can never make a bad driver good.
>
>If we add enough classes and indices - I see this starting to
>happen in several Regions, BTW - we'll ultimately succeed at the
>following:
>
>1. Pissing off registration and Timing/Scoring folks so badly
>that they won't be willing to help anymore. "Sir, you'll be in X
>Stock Street Tire Novice Class. Please put XSSTN on your car
>along with your number." There's a practical limit to what
>volunteers are gonna be willing to tolerate. There were 50
>classes in the rule book BK (that's Before Karts). Now in my
>local region there are all the usual open and Ladies classes in
>addition to Novice, Street Tire, Street Touring Street Tire,
>Street Touring Not Street Tire, Novice Street Touring Street
>Tire, Junior Kart, Novice Junior Kart Street Tire, etc. I
>exaggerate, but it really could become a PITA to administer and
>score.
>
>2. Making so damn many classes that everybody at an event will be
>in a class of one, ergo everyone will finish first (and last) in
>class. Whatever a trophy might mean now will be rendered
>absolutely null and void.
>
>>I know I've looked at the street tire classes, both national and
>local, and
>>either some of my SP-legal mods lock me out, or my turbo locks
>me out.
>
>The only national street tire class is ST, and lots of stock cars
>aren't included in that. For the most part, the issue is a local
>one and the solution, if one is really called for, must be
>realized locally.
>
>> Am I
>>going to change cars? Nope.
>
>That's your option. Does the club necessarily owe you a class in
>which your car is competitive the way you happen to have modified
>it? Nope.
>
>I understand the motivations for the proposals, I just don't
>share the belief that there's a problem with Solo II that will be
>solved by them.
>
>Jay
>
>
>
>
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