From: Hottvr@aol.com
> The point is not about the car or cars and where they were made! Its
about
> the idea of a US National champion. The point I was trying to make
is that
> there are some real inconsistant rules as far as cars and the
drivers go! I
> did not meen to offend anyone. I was just trying to make a point. I
wasn't
> saying that you should have to be a citizen of the U.S to belong to
SCCA. I
> do think that you should be required to hold
> a valid drivers permit in one of the 50 states.
Getting a state driver's permit is easy. All you have to do is prove
residency or at least have a buddy who's willing to let you use his
mailing address in that State. SCCA events registration doesn't check
for authenticity so even fake ID would make me eligible. So it'll
cost a me a few bucks to have some east side homeboys make me a bogus
driver's license. BFD. I've just circumvented your desire to limit
the Nationals to U.S. permit holders only. Besides, what's the point
of being a U.S. National Champ when you know that somewhere out there
is someone better and faster?
The vehicle eligibility requirements exist to prevent 'one-off' and
grey market cars from competing. It's obviously unfair when some guy
shows up in a special 'stock' vehicle that's not available to everyone
in the U.S. via regular dealer showrooms. It's a pain in the ass to
have to run a bone stock Canadian-spec '85 Civic 1300 in E-Prepared
but them's the rules as there is a perceived performance difference.
It has nothing to do with Nationalism. Sometimes, cars from different
parts of the world do perform differently.
However, your point about having consistency cannot be applied to
driver eligibility. In Canada and The U.S., any schmoe can apply and
get a driver's permit. There are no special high-performance
components to our driver's ed. classes. For exclusion of non-U.S.
drivers in SCCA, there has to be a legitimate reason for doing so.
Since there are no entry limits, it's not like we're taking away grid
positions from Americans. Unless you can prove to me that 'foreign'
drivers should not be allowed because it makes competition 'unfair',
I'd say you have no point to make. The inconsistency is non-existent.
-c.
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Cliff Loh, Vancouver, B.C. CANADA
"I started out with nothing & still have most of it left."
cliff_loh@infoserve.net,
inbred_hick@yahoo.com (alternate)
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