I read something on team.net that has been bugging me ever since I read
it. It was a general statement to the effect of, "The competitors in Y
class were clearly convinced that Racer X wasn't illegal or they would
have protested Racer X."
FIRST, I AM NOT SAYING OR IMPLYING ANYTHING ABOUT RACER X (heck, I can't
even remember who X was or even what class X was in). In the 6 National,
1 Divisional, and 17 Regional events I've run at this year (there, I dare
you to even try to figure out who I'm talking about), I've seen several
things that suggest people do not always protest competitors even when
they are SURE the car is illegal. For instance:
Camber bolts on an MR2 are legal in the front only. Without them,
depending on the idiosyncracies of the individual car, you get about a
degree and a half or so negative camber in the rear. Some folks are or
have been running camber bolts in the rear (by their own admission). I
haven't ever protested any of these guys.
During an event, I saw one competitor arguing heatedly with another one
(DURING their runs) about whether or not a particular update/backdate was
legal in SP. The one guy was VERY clear that he thought it was illegal,
but he didn't file a protest.
So far this year, I've run against several misclassed cars that belonged
in AS, BS, ES, or CSP. The ES car I pointed out to the driver and
scoring so they could put it in its real class--figured that was a
mistake due to the misprint in the rule book (two CS listed and no ES,
for those of you who don't look at either of those sections). The others
I pretty much ignored.
A driver in a Street Touring car with the catalytic converter removed.
There are other examples, but most of them are too identifying for this
forum. My point is that there are lots of considerations that go into
whether or not people file protests, and although whether or not I truly
believe your car is legal MAY BE the most important consideration, it is
by no means the only one. One other thing (just because we haven't
trashed ladies classes in a while and the "Is Kevin McCormick the savior
of BS or evil incarnate?" and "Street or Spec Tires--the inside groove"
debates seem to be winding down), when was the last time you saw a Ladies
Class protest that was not connected to an open class protest (i.e., ASPL
gets covered by the ASP protest because the same car is being run in both
classes)?
Not that it's relevant, but about half of the time the potential
protestor finished ahead of the protest bait, and a couple of times, the
protestor lost a significant trophy to someone in a car that wasn't,
strictly speaking, legal.
mlc
'91 MR2 NA
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