Been sitting here catching up on reading the latest digests of
team.rant. I see we're into the early discussions about "Son of Street
Mod". Head nodding...eyes rolling back in head.. blablabla ad infinitum,
ad nauseum..
It's pretty much the same perpetual, never resolved debates that come up
about, well, any class. Just substitute terms and numbers as needed. It
always goes all over the map, with a 15 way tug of war, doesn't it? This
usually being because of all the differing opinions about "achieving
parity" and "creating a level playing field" and all that.
Here's my proposal for SM "part 2":
Entries must be production automobiles with current valid registration
and plates. Tires must be approved by U.S. Department of Transportation
for use on public roads.
weedleeweedleeweddleeweeeeee...BADAAAH!! GOODNIGHT, TOPEKA, WE LOVE
YOU!!!!
..house lights up.
Ooh..it's...dare I say it? So..so..simple! That can't be right, can it?
How does that serve ME? How will this ensure that the most competitive
car will belong to ME? Um, well, it doesn't.
>From where I sit, this class appears to be the opportunity to be a truly
open class. Are you a car nut with a fondness for tweaking and modifying
your car to go faster? Well, there you are. If it's still legal for the
street, you're within the rules. There are your constraints. Work with
it. Bring your car. Run it. See what happens.
What about the "level playing field"? It's over there, that big
black/grey slab with the orange cones all over. Same course for all the
cars at the event. Strap in, crank 'em up, and let us see who is
quickest.
chorus:"But wait! There are some models of cars that are inherently
quicker than others!"
Yeah. That is correct. Go out and see which car, with which driver, is
quicker.
chorus: "But what am I supposed to do if there are quicker cars than
mine?"
You could get one of what appear to be the "fast cars". You could modify
the car you have and see what you can get out of it. You could try to
drive better.
chorus: "But what if I do one or all of those things and I still don't
win?"
Go home, think about it, go to work, and try again.
chorus: "But I did that, and somebody was still faster!"
In that case, after lengthy and careful analysis, it appears that the
most plausible explanation is that somebody and their car was faster
than you and your car. Welcome to motorsports.
chorus: "But those guys over there have a lot more money than I do, and
they bought expensive fast cars and put expensive parts on it and even
paid expensive engineering mechanical type humans to make it even
faster!"
Having put our team of trained, experienced expert consultants to work
on studying this matter, we have to come to the consensus that very
often an automotive competition requires great time, effort, and expense
to produce an entry that is quicker than the rest, who are also trying
their best. Welcome to motorsports.
chorus: "But that could get really expensive and complex and time
consuming!"
Well, then, GO RUN IN A STOCK CLASS, YOU IDIOT! Why do you think they
exist? Maybe you missed that memo.
Alright, I'll go back to sleep now.
JLE
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