----- Original Message -----
From: <MBD96@aol.com>
>
> You are absolutely right again, and again, and again, and again (and again
> and at least again) about this 'problem'. Not only does it dilute the
> quality of the competition...
I don't see it. The "new" classes -- STS, the "new" CSP, DSP SM and F125
had fields which compared pretty favorably with other classes in those
categories (these are the open class totals):
AM (18)
BM (16)
CM (35)
DM (16)
EM (22)
SM (20)
F125 (13)
ASP (21)
BSP (42)
CSP (32)
DSP (24)
ESP (37)
FSP (old-DSP) (39)
STS (27)
You *could* argue that SM competitors take their cars to EM, and STS
competitors would go to the appropriate SP class (CSP and DSP), but I doubt
it -- the winning SM time would have placed mid-pack in EM, and the winning
STS time would have done the same in either CSP or DSP, even allowing 2
seconds for sticky tires.
More importantly to the quality of competition, these classes also compared
favorably with the number of places falling within 2 seconds of the winner,
between 2 and 10 people in the SP, Mod categories. STS had 8 (about even
with CSP's 7 and better than DSP's 4), SM had 3 (about even with EM's 4) and
F125 had 5 (right in between BM's 3 and CM's 6). So it appears to me that
these classes hardly in terms of participation, nor were they ill-contested
walk-overs. And frankly, the numbers don't look bad, considering they're
matched against classes which have been in Solo II since a rock disk was the
hot tire. Personally, I'd rather see five and six-way fights in several
20-car classes than a 100-car class with 90 backmarkers.
> ...it has diluted the quality of the awards that go with it (on a national
level). I don't know about anyone
> else, but this year's hunk of wood looks very cheap next to 1980's leaded
crystal vase ...
I suspect this is an economic issue that larger classes won't solve if the
rules don't change to reduce the number of trophies issued, or the number of
entries go down dramatically. It doesn't really matter if you issue 25
trophies in one 100-car class or 35 trophies in five 20-car classes -- once
you get to these sorts of quantities, there won't be any leaded crystal
vases for anyone....
Jamie (sick today, so has time to compile useless stats)
'92 Prelude Si
Speed Demon Racing
http://www.mindspring.com/~jsculerati/sdr
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