Pat Washburn writes:
<<<I have no intention on making any of my opinions on this issue known,
however, I do have a "wish":
I wish that before we make accusatory statements which directly imply
wrongdoing, dark dealings, and conspiricy by our freinds and neighbors,
we would be prepared to support them with facts. These mostly volunteer
people volunteers, make this sport possible and are fellow competitors,
and to see these unfounded and irresponsible accusasions of collusion
and secret backroom politics turns me off very much. I imagine that
this is what others who complain about "us" think as well.
I don't want to pick on Paul necessarily, nor would I ever want to
stifle someone's opinions and freedom of thought, but be prepared to
back up hurtfull statements like this with real facts if you want to
maintain any sort of credibility. (with me anyway) Just a
hopefully-not-too-preachy thought.>>>
Hi Pat,
I know you drive a Neon but try to look at this a bit objectively.
Does the SCCA favor certain marques more than others? I believe they do.
Some agree with me and others disagree. It is just an opinion. I
primarily base this on the way certain marques are classed. Take a look
at underdogs and overdogs over time and see if you can spot a trend. I
believe I have.
Regarding colusion and secret backroom politics, I'd be the first to be
in favor of eliminating any trace of it. What is required to do this?
The first step is no more closed door sessions at either the National or
Regional level. Until that happens I shall continue to have my doubts,
particularly when a program such as SS is ruined after Chrysler showed
up with the Neon and lots of contingency money (and more) to throw
around.
I agree that most of the SCCA volunteers do a highly commendable job.
But I also believe that the SCCA is a _lot_ more than a bunch of
hardworking saints. There are huge bucks involved. There have been
numerous occasions where very bad decisions were made at our expense. I
shall list a few which have occurred in recent years that I happen to
know about:
1) Shelby Can-Am
2) Spec Racer Ford
3) Chrysler Neon ACR in SSC
4) USRRC
Make up your own mind but let's try not to confuse volunteerism with
greed and avarice. This is a very big club and we don't even know how
well or poorly SCCA Enterprises or Pro Racing is doing financially
because they won't tell us.
Paul Foster
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