Dale has actually hit upon a lot of truth there, he can be very perceptive
for a Neon driver. ;)
I can shine a little more light on things where Dale has guessed.
Once Roger determined for me that I was going to run in SM for the 2000
season, I knew that I'd have to go to as many National-level events as
possible early on in the season to get the early participation numbers up.
This offered an exciting (and disturbing) possibility - it was entirely
likely that at these first few events I would be the driver/car combo with
the most experience and highest-prepped car.
This was exciting, in that odds were that I'd win an event or two before
the rest of Solo discovered the class and people with more money and talent
than I started showing up. Winning is good, especially after I ran a
sacrificial year in P2 trying to support Howard's Pro classes. (The DSMs
were HOPELESSLY outclassed in P2 against the RX7 and CRX, but I ran a full
season anyway to show my support, and hopefully angle for a reclass to P3
in 2000)
It was disturbing, in that if I, having had a large hand in the creation of
SM were seen to dominate the class, then it would look like all I had done
was pull off an "I" class - and SM deserved better than that.
When I heard that Kent was bringing the Supra to SM, my first reaction was
that of suprise and alarm - all my friends are ESP folks, and they had just
spent 2 years bitching about the Supra in ESP, and it had quite the
reputation. Think "Holy shit, is that even allowed!!?" I went running to
the rule book, talked to Kent a couple of times, and determined that by the
letter of the rules, the Supra was a legal car.
Now I had a choice. I could "let" Kent run, and establish precident that
the Supra was a legal car, or I could fight it as being an example of
"Sports car Based"
I had the following data points:
1) Kent and I had run against each other at the '99 ProFinale and at
Nationals '99 in SP trim. Knowing what I did about my own performance at
those events, I figured that was a pretty fair fight.
2) The SP Supra had just been banished to BSP, where I did not think it
would be competitive, and Supra folks like Kent and the Abersolds deserved
a place to play - I know what it's like to be one of those "evil turbo
people".
3) Having at least one other driver of equal or better skill than myself
running the class early on would keep me honest, and help dispell any "I
class" illusions
4) The Supra is one of the regularly featured SCC cars, so it was smack in
our demographic
5) SM needed the larger turnout numbers - we couldn't afford to be turning
people away.
6) With the technical freedom I had (and for cars similar to mine) in SM, I
felt I had a legitimate chance to eventually get my car to the point where
it could beat the Supra - it probably would take a little while, but it WAS
possible. As such, the Supra was a very good car, but not an overdog.
7) Having competitors the calibre of Kent and Karen Rafferty in the class
could do us nothing but good on the "set the example for the newbies"
front.
Based on this data, I decided that allowing the Supra in, while not good
for me, personally, was good for the class as a whole, and so I opted not
to try and have it banned. If I HAD tried, would I have been successful?
Don't know, don't care to speculate.
Now, with the 2000 season in the bag, I look back on that decision as the
correct one. While Kent won almost every single major race he entered, I
was snapping at his heels the whole way, and Karl got us both once - that
car was NOT an overdog. Instead, it provided the most exciting, most
nerve-wracking season I've ever had. Oh, and Kent and Karen DID provide the
kind of example I hoped they would. I admit that car can be pretty scary,
but it IS beatable - and it is a good fit for the class. No regrets. I
would NOT support any effort to have it banned.
DG
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